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Social Engineering
What is social engineering?
Social engineering is a cyberattack technique that manipulates individuals into revealing sensitive information through deceptive tactics. It exploits emotions, thought processes, and social behaviors to influence their actions. Understanding social engineering is crucial in today's digital age, as these attacks often get around tech safeguards by targeting how people think.
Top social engineering email attacks
Social engineering attacks can come in various forms, targeting individuals or organizations through email, text messages, or voice calls. Here are the main social engineering attacks that use emails to perform the attack:
- Phishing: Attackers send fake emails pretending to be someone victims trust to fool victims into sharing sensitive information like passwords, financial details, or personal details.
- Spear phishing: A focused type of phishing where attackers tailor emails to specific people or groups, often using personal information to seem legit and boost their chances of fooling the targeted individual.
- Whaling: A more specific method of spear phishing that uses email to target elite groups such as government officials, CEOs, or other executive officers with the hope of achieving a corporate or financial security breach.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): Fraudsters impersonate company executives, business partners, or vendors using email to trick coworkers or employees into transferring funds, disclosing sensitive company data, or performing unauthorized transactions.
- Email spoofing: Attackers alter an email's origin headers to make it seem as though it is coming from a known trusted recipient, thus increasing the likelihood of being able to carry out fraud or phishing the intended target.
- Malware-embedded emails: Emails contain infected attachments that, when opened, install malware such as ransomware, spyware, or Trojans on the victim’s device, enabling attackers to steal data or gain unauthorized access.
- Credential harvesting emails: Emails contain links to fake login pages designed to steal user credentials when victims attempt to log in. These login pages mimic login pages of legitimate websites, such as banking portals or corporate login pages.
- Extortion emails: Attackers use fear tactics to exploit victims. Ransom emails are sent under the premise that they have compromising information or sensitive data that if not paid for, will be exposed to the general public.
- Quid pro quo: Cybercriminals send emails offering something valuable, such as free software upgrades, tech support assistance, or financial rewards, in exchange for sensitive information. These deceptive emails trick recipients into sharing credentials or downloading malware.
- Pretexting: Attackers create a fake scenario (pretext) in emails to manipulate victims into revealing confidential information, such as pretending to be IT staff requesting login credentials for security verification.
- Baiting: Cybercriminals exploit human curiosity or greed in emails by offering tempting incentives, such as free downloads, gift cards, or exclusive offers, to lure victims into downloading malware or revealing sensitive information.
Best practices to prevent social engineering attacks
To defend against social engineering attacks, organizations should implement the following best practices:
- Recognize threat cues: Watch for urgent subject lines, inconsistent sender details, persuasive content, and immediate demand, which are the common indicators of malicious emails.
- Identify unsolicited requests: Attackers often create a sense of urgency with fake scenarios, like package holds or account issues, to deceive victims into acting quickly. If you receive such unsolicited messages, pause to assess the situation and avoid taking immediate action.
- Exercise caution with sensitive data: Never share credentials or sensitive information without verifying the source. Be cautious of phishing links that mimic legitimate websites.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Adding an extra authentication step can prevent attackers from accessing compromised accounts.
- Enforce strict access controls: Clearly define roles and approval levels for sensitive actions like financial transactions and data sharing.
- Educate employees: Educate employees by providing mandatory security training and evaluating their awareness with simulated social engineering attacks.
- Deploy email security solutions: Email security solutions can identify sender and content patterns with a high level of accuracy with their advanced algorithms. Deploying advanced email security solutions like Zoho eProtect can detect, report and/or block most social engineering attacks that occur via emails.
By implementing these measures, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to social engineering attacks.
Want to dive deeper into social engineering threats and cybersecurity best practices? Read our article on Social Engineering Attacks: Types & Prevention.