Social Engineering

November 21, 2023 - Around 3 mins mins to read

Understanding Social Engineering

Social engineering is a malicious activity that exploits human interactions to deceive users into compromising their confidential information or willingly giving it away. Cybercriminals often use this technique to steal online identities. Vulnerable internet users who lack knowledge about internet security are often targeted by social engineering attacks. Many users neglect to use antivirus applications and ignore security protocols, making them easy targets for cybercriminals.

Cybercriminals use various psychological manipulation tactics, such as pretending to be an employee from the victim’s company, to gain access to personal accounts.

Social engineering relies on human error, making it difficult to detect. Unlike malware-based intrusions that exploit software and operating system vulnerabilities, social engineering takes advantage of mistakes made by legitimate users. This gives cybercriminals a higher chance of bypassing security measures since human errors are inevitable.

Different Types of Social Engineering

Social engineering can be compared to a chess game, where criminals manipulate people’s emotions instead of using game pieces. There are several types of social engineering attacks:

Baiting: This involves enticing users with something they desire and then taking it away once their guard is down.
Scareware: In this type of attack, cybercriminals create a false sense of urgency by pretending that something has gone wrong, even when everything is fine.
Pretexting: Here, the attacker pretends to be someone else online to deceive the victim.
Phishing and Spear Phishing: These attacks rely on building trust, creating urgency, and manipulating emotions to trick users into making errors that allow the cybercriminal to steal their identity.

Social Engineering Techniques

Social engineering attacks follow a systematic cycle to exploit users’ vulnerabilities and gain access to sensitive information. Unlike brute force methods, these attacks allow cybercriminals to monitor users’ activities without being detected by antivirus programs.

The attack cycle involves the following phases:

Gathering background information about the target.
Establishing trust through interactions, either directly or indirectly.
Exploiting the user’s trust and manipulating them into taking the desired action.
Disengaging from the user.

Social Engineering Attacks in the Crypto World

In the world of cryptocurrency, cybercriminals primarily target the social media accounts of influential figures in the industry. By gaining access to these accounts, they exploit the trust associated with these personalities to deceive people. Additionally, they also target users to gain access to their private wallets.

Preventing Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering attacks pose a significant threat to cybersecurity. To prevent such attacks, it is crucial to implement the following best practices:

Set up spam filters for all email accounts to prevent attackers from sending malicious messages or accessing sensitive information easily.
Avoid using the same password across different accounts, as this increases the risk of compromise, especially in the cryptocurrency world.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication whenever possible to add an extra layer of security to your online accounts.
Educate individuals about these threats by incorporating security education into the curriculum.

Glossary