Protected Views and Security Warnings equal danger

Real World Examples of Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering is basically defined as manipulating people into giving up confidential information. Social engineering can occur in person, by phone, or electronically (phishing email, fake website, etc.) and is the easiest way to breach a company, network, computer, etc. Your network and/or devices can be extremely secure, but clicking on one malicious link or attachment within a phishing email, visiting a malicious website, downloading a malicious app/program/file, or allowing a malicious person physical or virtual access to your device and/or office can slice right through your security. Attackers have found clever ways to use human nature against us to trick us into clicking something, revealing private information or allowing physical or virtual access to things we wouldn't normally do. We will go over some common warning signs to look for, provide ways to prove the legitimacy of an email, verify someone's identity, as well as provide examples of actual, real world social engineering attacks to help you better protect yourself, your family, friends, and clients/customers.

Please be extremely careful when opening attachments from emails. Be especially cautious if you open a Word document and you see warnings like "PROTECTED VIEW" or "SECURITY WARNING" and are asked to "Enable Editing" or "Enable Content". I would encourage you to close the document immediately.

Even if you receive emails from friends, family, co-workers etc., I would avoid clicking through these warnings (seen in the examples below). I've seen many instances where someone had their email accounts compromised and then they were used to send malicious links and attachments to people they know. If you receive a Word document with these warnings, I would reach out to the sender to confirm they meant to send the attachment and that the attachment has Macros. If they aren't sure about the Macros, I would avoid opening the attachment. Below are a few screen shots to illustrate the warnings.

Logical Cybersecurity

Logical Cybersecurity

Real World Examples of Scams and Phishing Emails

Logical Cybersecurity

Real World Examples of Social Engineering Attacks

Protected Views and Security Warnings equal danger