Hackers often research their victims in advance of their first conversation. Common in spear phishing , or business email compromise , pretexting is typically phase one of a broader scheme to extract information from a victim.
If the victim replies that they are available, another email will follow, possibly with instructions to wire money or purchase gift cards , or maybe just more small talk. When this happens, the hacker will move on to the next victim on the list.
Impersonating high-profile executives is one of the most common tactics used in spear phishing. It puts pressure on the victim to act quickly and, in many cases, this pressure often causes a lapse in judgment. Rather than being suspicious, the victim simply springs into action. In the below social engineering tactic—also known as CEO fraud —the hacker puts pressure on the victim by claiming to be in a meeting—incapable of completing the task himself. Download the infographic to learn how to spot a spear phishing email.
If the hacker does their homework on both the impersonation victim and the email recipient, they can get a feeling of the relationship that exists between the two. In many cases, the hacker can learn highly specific details they can use as their pretext. In the below example, the hacker has learned of a recent meeting that took place between the impersonation victim and the email recipient. They use this information to create an air of familiarity, which could put the victim at ease for the payroll diversion request that follows.
In this example, the hacker informs the victim that they are planning a special surprise for either colleagues or clients, and they need their help in pulling it off. In a spear phishing attack, the social engineer will have done their research and set their sites on a particular user.
By scouring through the target's public social media profiles and using Google to find information about them, the attacker can create a compelling, targeted attack. Imagine that an individual regularly posts on social media that she is a member of a particular gym. In that case, the attacker could create a spear phishing email that appears to come from her local gym. The victim is more likely to fall for the scam since she recognized her gym as the supposed sender.
Whaling is another targeted phishing scam. However, in whaling, rather than targeting an average user, social engineers focus on targeting higher-value targets like CEOs and CFOs. Whaling gets its name due to the targeting of the so-called "big fish" within a company. While phishing is used to describe fraudulent email practices, similar manipulative techniques are practiced using other communication methods such as phone calls and text messages.
Vishing short for voice phishing occurs when a fraudster attempts to trick a victim into disclosing sensitive information or giving them access to the victim's computer over the telephone. One popular vishing scheme involves the attacker calling victims and pretending to be from the IRS.
The caller often threatens or tries to scare the victim into giving them personal information or compensation. Vishing scams like the one often target older-individuals, but anyone can fall for a vishing scam if they are not adequately trained. See some real life examples of phishing scams by reading our blog Social Engineering Attack Examples. Pretexting is a type of social engineering technique where the attacker creates a scenario where the victim feels compelled to comply under false pretenses.
Typically, the attacker will impersonate someone in a powerful position to persuade the victim to follow their orders. During this type of social engineering attack, a bad actor may impersonate police officers, higher-ups within the company, auditors, investigators or any other persona they believe will help them get the information they seek.
Baiting puts something enticing or curious in front of the victim to lure them into the social engineering trap. A baiting scheme could offer a free music download or gift card in an attempt to trick the user into providing credentials. A social engineer may hand out free USB drives to users at a conference. The user may believe they are just getting a free storage device, but the attacker could have loaded it with remote access malware which infects the computer when plugged in.
Tailgating is a simplistic social engineering attack used to gain physical access to access to an unauthorized location. Tailgating is achieved by closely following an authorized user into the area without being noticed by the authorized user. An attacker may tailgate another individual by quickly sticking their foot or another object into the door right before the door is completely shut and locked.
April 24, Aaron Jentzen. The report ties this to the prevalence of cyber-espionage within this vertical. Financial — Social attacks, particularly phishing, figure prominently in breaches in this industry. Healthcare — According to the DBIR, the healthcare vertical is the only one in which insider threats pose a greater risk than external threats when it comes to breaches.
This can be tied to the frequency of employee errors and misuse of data. Manufacturing — External espionage is a major threat in this industry, and most attacks begin with phishing. Professional Services — Almost of half of breaches in this industry involve either phishing or pretexting.
Public Administration — Phishing is the top cyber-espionage action in this vertical. Engaging End Users Through Security Awareness Training As in years past, the DBIR makes several recommendations for educating end users and enlisting their help in breach prevention strategies: Provide role-specific education and training for users likely to be targeted based on their privileges or access to data, especially those with access to employee data such as W-2s or the ability to transfer funds.
Conduct regular security training and routine security audits to help prevent successful phishing attacks and miscellaneous errors.
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