Social engineering has become a pivotal concern in the realm of cybersecurity, especially as cybercriminals continue to refine their tactics to manipulate individuals and exploit vulnerabilities within organizations. Social engineering, in the criminal context, refers to the psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. This strategy preys on the human element of security systems, which is often the weakest link.
An Overview of Criminal Social Engineering
What is social engineering?
Social engineering is a term frequently associated with cybersecurity, often conjuring images of manipulation and deceit. In criminal contexts, social engineering refers to a set of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. Utilizing psychological tricks, attackers persuade individuals into breaking normal security protocols or revealing confidential information. It’s a pivotal tool in the cybercriminal toolkit, aiming to exploit human vulnerabilities rather than technical gaps.
How does social engineering work?
Social engineering relies heavily on psychological manipulations. Criminals will often use deception and trickery to gain the trust of their targets. These tactics can include phishing, pretexting, baiting, and tailgating. Phishing, one of the most common forms, involves sending fraudulent messages that appear to come from a legitimate source, tricking individuals into revealing sensitive information such as passwords or credit card numbers. Pretexting involves creating a fabricated scenario to gain access to confidential information, while baiting lures victims with enticing offers to steal their personal data. Tailgating involves an unauthorized person following an authorized individual into a restricted area.
Why does social engineering work?
Social engineering exploits fundamental human traits such as trust, fear, and curiosity. Cyber criminals understand that technology alone cannot protect against manipulation when humans are involved. For instance, a person may be easily convinced to provide their login credentials if they receive a convincing email that appears to be from their bank requesting urgent verification. Some social engineering attacks leverage psychological triggers, like fear of losing access to an account or anxiety about a missed package delivery, to prompt immediate and often unwise actions.
Why is Social Engineering So Relevant Now?
How common are social engineering attacks?
Social engineering is one of the most common types of attack patterns, and one of the most damaging. According to data from Verizon, attackers who use social engineering have two major motivations: money and espionage. And although there are plenty of obvious social engineering attempts (Nigerian prince scams, for example) many criminals take time to build relationships with their victims in order to appear genuine.
What is the impact of a social engineering attack?
The impact of social engineering attacks can be devastating. For organizations, the result can be financial loss, erosion of trust, and significant damage to their reputation. A successful social engineering attack can lead to data breaches where sensitive customer information is compromised, potentially causing legal and regulatory repercussions, as well as a financial impact, or an interruption of business operations. For individuals, it can result in identity theft, financial loss, and emotional distress.
How can social engineering crimes be investigated?
Cybercrime investigations can be conducted at several levels, starting within your organization. There are several types of cybercrime investigators. Many investigators work for law enforcement agencies, but others work for the private sector:
- Law enforcement: Criminal justice agents, such as police officers, prosecutors, and judges, are responsible for the prevention, mitigation, detection, investigation, prosecution, and punishment of cybercrime. The specific agencies responsible, however, vary by country.
- National security agencies: National security agencies, like the military, may be involved in cybercrime investigations. This is mostly the case if a nation state has been involved in a cyber attack, however.
- The private sector: Because private companies tend to own and manage the digital critical infrastructure, private businesses often are involved in the detection, prevention, mitigation, and investigation of cybercrime. Private businesses are often targets as well, and conduct their own internal investigations.
How Flare Helps your Team Learn About Identifying Social Engineering
How does Flare help you learn about social engineering?
Flare’s new training series, Flare Academy Training, is a series of free cybersecurity webinars covering a variety of topics for both security experts and those without security training. One of our most recent webinars covered cybercriminal persona theory, for example. The Flare Academy also provides a Discord community where learners can meet, share information and resources, and discuss security issues with the experts who have appeared in our webinars.
What do you get with Flare’s free trainings?
- High-value training from cybersecurity experts
- Interactive learning with peers
- Actionable cybersecurity insights
- CPE credits toward security certifications
- A resource hub and learning community on Discord
Who can attend Flare’s webinars?
Many webinars are available to anyone, but some content may be a bit advanced for non-technical learners. To help you choose the best fit for your experience, we label each webinar as beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
I missed the cybercriminal personal theory webinar. What should I do?
You can watch any webinar whenever you like! Recordings of all the webinars are available for replay on our Discord community, as are additional resources, access to the experts who spoke in each webinar, and discussion and networking opportunities with other participants. This allows all our webinars to be watched by members of the Discord, or to be rewatched by participants who want to revisit certain content.
How do cybersecurity webinars help with training?
There is currently a skills gap in the cybersecurity industry. While many businesses offer training within their organization, it’s important for security practitioners to seek out their own training so that they can build their skills independently. Webinars help bridge the skills gap by providing outside training for professionals who want to build their skills and their awareness of new threats. Some webinars even offer credit toward certifications for security professionals. For nontechnical learners, cybersecurity webinars offer supplemental knowledge that may help them better understand security and cyber threats. Many webinars are also free or low-cost, giving professionals a cost-effective way to obtain valuable training.
Criminal Social Engineering and Training with Flare Academy
Flare Academy training provides security practitioners with highly relevant and highly engaging lessons on subjects like threat intelligence, operational security, investigation techniques, and more. Led by expert instructors, these free trainings combine on-demand video lessons with diverse learning tools. Students can also gain access to the Flare Academy Discord Community where they can ask questions, explore advanced topics, and continue their learning journey wherever it leads.
Find the right option at Flare Academy: sign up for the next training here.
