5 Ways To Spot A Social Engineering Attack
“I’m not going to make payroll – we’re going to close our doors as a result of the fraud.”
Unfortunately, that statement is becoming more common among small businesses, according to Mitchell Thompson, head of an FBI financial cybercrimes task force in New York.
The FBI reports that since October 2013 more than 12,000 businesses worldwide have been targeted by social engineering–type cyberscams, netting criminals well over $2 billion. And those are just the reported cases. Often, due to customer relationships, PR, or other concerns, incidents go unreported.
These unfortunate events were triggered by a particularly nasty form of cyberattack known as “social engineering.”
Social engineering is a method cyber con artists use to lure well-meaning individuals into breaking normal security procedures. They appeal to vanity, authority or greed to exploit their victims. Even a simple willingness to help can be used to extract sensitive data. An attacker might pose as a coworker with an urgent problem that requires otherwise off-limits network resources, for example.
They can be devastatingly effective, and outrageously difficult to defend against.
The key to shielding your network from this threat is a keen, ongoing awareness throughout your organization. To nip one of these scams in the bud, every member of your team must remain alert to these five telltale tactics:
Baiting – In baiting, the attacker dangles something enticing to move his victim to action. It could be a movie or music download. It could also be something like a USB flash drive with company logo, labeled “Executive Salary Summary 2016 Q1,” left where a victim can easily find it. Once these files are downloaded, or the USB drive is plugged in, the person’s or company’s computer is infected, providing a point of access for the criminal.
Phishing – Phishing employs a fake e-mail, chat or website that appears legit. It may convey a message from a bank or other well-known entity asking to “verify” login information. Another ploy is a hacker conveying a well-disguised message claiming you are the “winner” of some prize, along with a request for banking information. Others even appear to be a plea from some charity following a natural disaster. And, unfortunately for the naive, these schemes can be insidiously effective.
Pretexting – Pretexting is the human version of phishing, where someone impersonates a trusted individual or authority figure to gain access to login details. It could be a fake IT support person supposedly needing to do maintenance… or an investigator performing a company audit. Other trusted roles might include police officer, tax authority, or even custodial personnel, faking an identity to break into your network.
Quid Pro Quo – A con artist may offer to swap some nifty little goody for information… It could be a t-shirt, or access to an online game or service in exchange for login credentials. It could even be a researcher asking for your password as part of an experiment with a $100 reward for completion. If it seems fishy, or just a little too good to be true, proceed with extreme caution, or just exit out.
Tailgating – When somebody follows you into a restricted area, physical or online, you may be dealing with a tailgater. For instance, a legit-looking person may ask you to hold open the door behind you because they forgot their company RFID card. Or someone asks to borrow your laptop or computer to perform a simple task, when in reality they are installing malware.
The problem with social engineering attacks is you can’t easily protect your network against them with a simple software or hardware fix. Your whole organization needs to be trained, alert, and vigilant against this kind of incursion.
Don’t let your organization be caught like a sitting duck! You’ve worked way too hard to get where you are today to risk it all due to some little cyberhack you didn’t know about. Call us at (800) 421-7151, or e-mail khaight@wamsinc.com before your company becomes yet another social engineering statistic.