Question

(TCO A) Social engineering can be damaging to a corporation without an overt attack ever happening. Explain why.

Answer 1

`Hey,

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There are many techniques and criminal attacks that use social engineering. Behind their methods of approach it is mainly possible the theft of confidential and corporate information, necessary for business continuity.

Phishing

Emails are great ways to catch victims and phishing has just that purpose. It is the classic attack that encourages the click, with calls referring to registrations and bank changes, or even the divulgation of offers not to be received from an unknown sender.

In corporations, the main variation of this threat is called spear phishing. This is because cybercriminals collect extremely specific and objective information through social engineering, in addition to targeting precisely certain organizations. In this way, the attacks are smaller, but much more powerful and invasive.

Pharming

This practice is very similar to phishing. The big difference is that the attack happens on a website – a legitimate one – that has targeted traffic to operate criminally. Thus, it is possible for users to unknowingly install malicious programs on their own machine. Like phishing, pharming induces victims to engage in activities that have tragic consequences for the organization.

Social media

In many companies, it has become commonplace to grant access to social mediafor employee use. Whether it is to accomplish tasks that meet the purpose of the organization or as an escape to ease the stress of everyday life, social networks are entirely conducive to the practice of social engineering.

By private chats or free publications on the platforms, employees run the risk of being approached by cybercriminals with the aim of manipulating the victims. Thus, it is common to extort confidential company information, putting it at risk.

Phone calls

Although not one of the most effective methods, it is an extremely traditional tactic and one of the many possibilities of social engineering. In just one connection, the criminal can be a partner, collaborator or manager. Thus, it induces the sharing of confidential data of the organization through a totally manipulated conversation.

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