Social Engineering Definition:
Social Engineering is a technique used by attackers to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security. It relies on psychological manipulation rather than technical hacking methods, making it difficult to detect and prevent.
What is Social Engineering?
Social Engineering Exploits human behaviour to gain unauthorised access to systems, data, or physical locations. Attackers typically use deception, posing as trustworthy figures or authorities to convince targets to share sensitive information or grant access to restricted areas.
Why is Social Engineering important?
The aim of Social Engineering is to bypass traditional security defences by targeting the human element, often considered the weakest link in cybersecurity. By Exploiting trust, fear, or urgency, attackers can gain access to systems or data that may otherwise be well-protected against technical Exploits.
How does Social Engineering work?
Social Engineering attacks can take many forms, including Phishing emails, pretexting, baiting, and tailgating. For example, in Phishing attacks, attackers craft convincing emails or messages that trick users into clicking malicious links or entering credentials on fake websites, effectively giving the attacker access to sensitive data.
Social Engineering Examples:
Examples of Social Engineering include Phishing attacks that impersonate a trusted source, spear-Phishing that targets specific individuals, and baiting techniques, like leaving infected USB drives in public places, hoping someone will plug them into their computers. Tailgating, where attackers follow authorised individuals into restricted areas, is also a common tactic.
Social Engineering Issues:
Social Engineering poses significant risks as it can evade even the most advanced technical security measures. Organisations need to raise awareness through employee training, enforce policies against sharing sensitive information, and implement multi-factor Authentication to minimise the risk of successful Social Engineering attacks.
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