That’s the share of social engineering hacks in total cybersecurity breaches.
Are you vulnerable? It’s time to find out, and take action!
Types of Phishing
An attacker sends an employee a fraudulent message via email, instant message or text message. An unaware employee can end up clicking a link that downloads malware onto their system, freezes the system as part of a ransomware attack, or reveals sensitive information about the organisation.
Watering Hole
The attacker identifies a website that is commonly visited, and therefore trusted by employees. They then proceed to infect the website with malware and wait for one of the employee systems to become infected. Once infected, the attacker can now access the employee’s system.
Whaling
This is a social engineering tactic used by cyber criminals to ensnare senior or other important individuals in an organisation by acting like another senior player, in the hopes of gaining access to their computer systems or stealing money or sensitive data.
Pretexting
An attacker creates a scenario or pretext to engage with the targeted employee and psychologically manipulates them to share valuable information. Or to perform actions that would be considered out of the ordinary in a normal situation.
Quid Pro Quo
Attackers pretend to offer victims a service or benefit if the latter performs specific tasks or gives out information or access. Attackers usually masquerade as IT support and convince employees to type in commands onto their device that gives the attacker access to company systems.
