Social Engineering: The Path of Least Resistance

As companies get smarter about cybersecurity, hackers are looking to exploit what’s generally the weakest point: people.

Business owners are certainly wizening up about network threats. They understand that their data is under attack. They understand their data is vital to their well-being, and that losing it forever (or even temporarily) could seriously and negatively impact their processes and reputation.

More and more business owners are doing the right thing and hardening their network perimeter with the latest cyber defenses. One thing these leaders may neglect is addressing the weak link, which is their staff.

The easy way in

Why keep butting up against a brick wall?

That’s the mindset of many cybercriminals these days. As the cyber defenses arrayed against them become more formidable, they’re constantly looking for the path of least resistance. And they’re using social engineering to get in the easy way.

Social engineering, within the context of cybersecurity, is the use of deceptive tactics to manipulate people into revealing sensitive information and passwords, or performing some sort of action that facilitates the infiltration of the network.

Social engineering has proven to be the way into otherwise nigh impregnable networks.

The hallmarks of social engineering

So, what can you expect from social engineering?

Social engineering is more a planned and targeted attack, and less a mass, generic email sent out to as many inboxes as possible.

Social engineering messages typically utilize the parlance of the target’s industry, and may even appear to come from a colleague or vendor.

The message may contain logos and other elements that look genuine but are there just to help keep up the ruse. The goal, of course, is to make the victim think this is just another piece of business communication.

Social engineering messages typically contains links, downloads, and/or attachments, with an urging for the target to interact with one of these things, thereby setting the stage for the attackers to get closer to their goals.

Security is vital

Cybercrime has become rampant.

“Security needs to be a priority,” said Brian Walker. “Both the hardware/software aspect as well as the educational component of corporate network security need to be addressed and implemented.”

The paradigm of network security must now include this constant awareness of the latest threats and tactics.

“Threats are constantly evolving,” said Aaron Allen. “It can be challenging for business owners who have to keep up with their core industry to also stay up-to-date with all the security trends. Thus, a managed security provider can be a great ally.”

“Thrive offers both security products and services, as well as security education for business owners and staff,” said Walker. “We can also asses your network to test its resilience to attack, and we can conduct phishing testing to analyze how your staff is acclimating to security education.

“We’d love to help keep your staff safe from and informed about the latest security threats.

“For a free consultation, contact Thrive.“