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.