social engineering

Social Engineering Attack – What Your Organization Should Know

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Social Engineering Attack What Your Organization Should Know

Social engineering is a human threat vector from cybersecurity point. It simply means the criminal action of exploiting human nature rather than technical path to gain unauthorized access to people’s minds, digital systems, data and other assets. We cannot talk about this threat enough; it is oftentimes the most relegated and the most exploited of all paths. This very brief article will cover the following sub-headings; meaning of social engineering facts about it human cognition often exploited by it broad types of social engineering common tools of it anatomy of social engineering countermeasures against it Facts about social engineering It is built on manipulation, regardless of the type. It is considered the path of least resistance to cyberattacks. A high number of successful security attacks have started with or involved a social engineering method. People should be critical part of firewall – human firewall, if you don’t mind.  awareness of it must be prioritized. Human cognition oftentimes exploited In the context of this piece, human cognition involves the mental process of understanding and reacting to unfolding events.  Average criminals, have always believed that these human traits would increase chances for success, as such they can’t do without them. See the highlight below. Authority – people most of the time respect and obey authority. Trust – it is natural for most people to trust, especially someone with authority. Responsiveness – a responsible person would want to be responsive to events. Fear – people fear not to get into trouble or found wanting of anything. Urgency – urgent reaction is natural, especially under duress. Threat – people want to avoid threatening event that steal their peace. Reward – it is often enticing and enriching to be rewarded. Curiosity – the inquisitiveness and excitement to face and close out challenge. Ignorance – is a liability to the holder, and an opportunity to the exploiter. Priority – people choose what to prioritize per time. Types of social engineering  Phishing: this is email based social engineering. It can be Spear phishing – targeting certain category of persons. Whaling – targeting rich and public personalities. Smishing: this type uses sms text to attack. Vishing: this one is voice/audio based. Watering hole: uses website or social media avenue to attack. Physical types of it Shoulder surfing: unauthorized covert observation. Piggy backing or tailgating: concert entry or exit to circumvent protocol. Dumpster diving: searching dump sites or bins for confidential data. Baiting: uses infested USB or other similar gifting to entice and attack. Other types known as synthetic content Synthetic content types of social engineering include; Disinformation: intentional spread of false and misleading information. Shallow fake: refers to alteration of original media content to misrepresent fact. Deep fake: uses artificial intelligence to generate and spread deceptive content. Common tools of social engineering Website Social profile Spoofing toolkits Clothing and apparel Appeal/charisma Phishing toolkits Audio recorder Infested USB Spy cameras Romance Anatomy of social engineering attack Establish objective – from outset social engineering attackers set out what they want to achieve. Determine target – they would establish who should be targeted, oftentimes perceived success rate is used to make this choice. Do reconnaissance – background investigation would be carried out to have better insight to routine behaviors of targets. Develop tools – necessary toolkits will be developed. Mobilize resources – other resources needed to accomplish the attack will be mobilized. Launch attack – at this stage, attack would be launched, sometimes in small scale. Evaluate success rate – the rate of success would be gauged. Revise/modify – if necessary, some modification would be applied to increase success rate. Relaunch attack and keep modifying as needed. Reap results – this maybe positive or negative. Countermeasures against social engineering Technical: policy, firewalls, authentication, and alert. Non-technical: training, awareness, and simulations. Social engineering is one of the most dreadful cyber threats of modern time. It can be a stand-alone; or a path to many other cybersecurity incidents. What is more? Cyber criminals find it very handy, reliable, and result-orient. They take advantage of human nature to deploy social engineering. Awareness and knowledge are key to avoid falling victim and compromising your personal identifiable data or that of your organization. ALSO READ: 4 Types Of Phishing Attacks And 10 Signs To Know A Phishing Email

Top Cybersecurity Threats of 2024

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Top cybersecurity threats of 2024

Cybersecurity threat is any criminal activity that has potential to take place through the use of computer devices and the internet. There are many types of cybersecurity threats today, they come from different sources technically known as vectors. Such sources may include state actors, terrorist groups, organized criminal groups, hackers, malicious insiders like; employee, supplier, vendor, competitor, etc. Contemporary world is increasingly being shaped and controlled by automation powered by artificial intelligence, internet-of-things, cloud infrastructure and others; dependence on digital handlers are no longer optional. This development comes with its inevitable security risks. Cyberspace has become the current battle field where criminal elements have continued to innovate various methods of attacks on existing vita resources. Knowledge of these attacks and the vectors is key to planning and implementing preventive and responsive security measures. In no particular order; see below highlight of some top cyber security threats of 2024. Social engineering: this sort of crime occurs when a cybercriminal deceives internet users to provide sensitive personal information; the information given is oftentimes used to commit various kinds of crimes against the person or the organization they represent. Social engineering plays on human intelligence and emotion; it uses of tricks and games to generate personal and confidential information from ignorant people and use same to commit further cybercrimes. Third party exposure: talks about level of potential cyber threats an organization is exposure to due to its relationship with vendors and suppliers within its information technology supply chain. Configuration mistake: otherwise known as misconfiguration, refers to errors in information technology system configuration settings; examples may include fraudulent dataset, hidden data, unstructured data, wrong formatting, failure to patch or wrong patch, non-configuration of firewalls, non-segmentation of network, not using multi-factor authentication, ignorant workforce. These mistakes can occur in any stage of development, deployment and operation of an information technology infrastructure. Artificial intelligence threat: this malicious act could occur when cybercriminals use AI techniques to exploit system vulnerabilities and launch attack. Mobil device threat:  is a threat that take place through use of mobile device. Suffice to say that most known cybersecurity threats can occur via mobile devices. This power tool is also a powerful threat. Insider threat: Insider threat is any security risk that come from people within an organization. This maybe anyone who by virtue of their roles have access to sensitive information and other corporate resources capable of being used against the business. There are two types of insider threat. One is intentional threat, the other is accidental threat. The former is oftentimes premeditated and by impulse, the latter is by ignorance or accidental. State sponsored threat:  this sort of event occurs when some rogue nation states sponsor or directly carry out cyber-attacks against fellow states, prominent organizations or individuals. DNS tunneling: this sort of attack allows hackers to bypass network security by using Domain Name System as conveyor for malicious data traffic. Tunneling is a powerful tool for hackers, and a serious threat for resource owners and managers. Ransomware: this event occurs when malware takes control, locks and encrypt a resource (this could be data, files, or system), render it inaccessible, then makes a demand as condition for its release. Trojan horse: is a virus that disguise as genuine or legitimate program to gain access to a system. Attackers oftentimes use social engineering as delivery channel for this sort of threat. Drive by attack: also known as drive-by download use “exploit kits” to launch automatic download of malware onto a system without a user’s consent. It is usually associated with compromised webpages or plug n play devices. Poor cyber hygiene: cyber hygiene means maintaining healthy cyber practices for security of systems, devices, networks and data. Main goal is to secure sensitive data against attacks. When this is lacking – poor cyber hygiene is the case. Example may include poor network security, lack of configuration management, lack of cybersecurity training for employee. Cloud vulnerability: this refers to weakness in cloud infrastructure which attackers can take advantage of and gain unauthorized access to data resources. Poor data management: this refers to fluid practices that negate the security of data resources. Cyber bulling: this sort of event happens when digital communication channel is used to send intimidating, assaulting and damaging messages to a target. Cyber stalking: this sort of event occurs when digital communication channel is used to track and harass a target (usually a person). DDoS attack: Distributed Denial of Service is a malicious act of disrupting and denying normal traffic flow to a web resource through the use of overwhelming requests that renders the resource incapable. Brute force: is a hacking method that applies trial and error to crack login credentials, encryption keys and pass words to gain unauthorized access to a network or account. It is reported that brute force success rate is rising; making it a simple and reliable tool for cyber criminals. Man-in-the-middle:  also known as MITM or path attack occurs when a cybercriminal secretly intercepts and alters a flowing conversation between two parties without their knowledge or consent. Poor post incident management: this results when after-incident is not properly managed to prevent recurrence. Cybersecurity threats are a serious challenge to businesses. Managing it requires good understanding of different methods in which they may occur. What was discussed in this article is not exhaustive, as such there should be ongoing efforts to uncover and have good insight to more. ALSO READ Cybersecurity Threat Of Social Engineering

Cybersecurity Threat Of Social Engineering

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Cybersecurity threat of social engineering

Cyber security threat is any criminal activity that has potential to take place through the use of computer devices and the internet. There are many types of cybersecurity threats today – they include social engineering, malware attack through viruses and warms, man-in-middle attack, denial of service attack, inject attack and supply chain attacks. This article will focus on and briefly introduce cybersecurity of social engineering. Cyber security threats may come different sources technically known as vectors. Such sources may include state actors, terrorist groups, organized criminal groups, hackers, malicious insiders like; employee, supplier, vendor, competitor, etc. Social engineering happens when a criminal deceives internet users to provide sensitive personal information; the information given is oftentimes used to commit various kinds of crimes against the person or the organization they represent. Social engineering attack makes use of tricks and games to get information from ignorant people and use such information to commit cybercrime. It is a malicious activity. Social engineering is gaining popularity. The trend is also disturbing due to increasing presence of innocent and ignorant computer users who knew next to nothing about it. Social engineering exploit human curiosity, feeling, ignorance, greed, naivety and mistakes to strike. Common types of social engineering attacks include; baiting, phishing, vishing, pretexting, and smishing. See below, brief description of these various methods of social engineering. Baiting: the attacker would lure the user through free gifts and/or others largesse. Phishing: the attacker would send fraudulent email pretending to have come from a trusted source. Vishing:   the attacker would use voice phone call and pretend to come a trusted source. Pretexting: the attacker pretends to represent a trusted authority so as to elicit information from the user. Smishing: the attacker would use fraudulent text message to trick the user. Every act of criminality takes advantage of weak controls or ignorance in some cases. This is technically known as opportunity. With this in mind, the dark web guys (the criminals) prowl on cyber space; spying, hunting, exploiting and experimenting with many of the weak links and the ignorance of users; oftentimes they are successful. To avoid being a victim of social engineering see below; a few recommended guidelines you should practice so as to keep you protected from this menace. Activate 2-factor authentication in all online accounts, including social media. Avoid accessing shared links from strangers, always reconfirm shared links from a known sender. Avoid use of public wifi; if you must use it, do not expose personal information while there. Avoid sharing personal information publicly on social media, it exposes you to criminals. You may wish to patronize software which protects against the threats of social engineering. Do not share personal information or “sent code/pin” to those who would call on phone and claim to be agents from your bank or financial service providers. Visit your bank/others for transactions and confirmations. Do not disclose or click a shared link/code/pin from strangers who would claim to be “Admin” from a WhatsApp group you belong to. Call the Admins to verify and reconfirm before taking decision to accept. Maintain situational awareness (that is, alertness) at all times. Cyber security threat of social engineering is real. It is very common in cyber space where contemporary presence is gaining increasing dominance. Many internet users are not aware of this threat, hence this enlightenment. ALSO READ: CYBERCRIME OF IDENTITY THEFT