The Art of Manipulation: Understanding Social Engineering Tactics

Despite implementing a robust zero-trust policy and fortifying infrastructure security, organizations remain vulnerable to social engineering attacks as threat actors strategically target employees’ personal devices and unsecured accounts as gateways to infiltrate their infrastructure.

A recent and particularly alarming incident involved a sophisticated global campaign orchestrated by a Russian hacking group affiliated with the Kremlin, identified as Star Blizzard. Exploiting seemingly innocuous website links, Start Blizzard launched targeted attacks on individuals in academia, defense, government organizations, and beyond, spanning the US, the UK, NATO members, and those in proximity to China. As the lines blur between legitimate and malicious activities, the urgency to unravel the intricacies of social engineering attacks has never been more critical. In this blog, we’ll explore social engineering attacks and more.

Understanding Social Engineering

Social engineering is an umbrella term encompassing a range of malicious activities that leverage human interactions to achieve a specific goal, usually to compromise security or gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Unlike traditional cyber-attacks that focus on exploiting software vulnerabilities, social engineering targets the weakest link in the security chain – people.

Social engineering attacks manipulate people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. These attacks rely on psychological manipulation rather than technical exploits. Here are some common social engineering tactics:

Phishing Attacks

Phishing is one of the most prevalent social engineering techniques. Attackers often impersonate trustworthy entities, such as banks or government agencies, in emails or messages, tricking individuals into revealing sensitive information like passwords or credit card details. The messages may contain urgent requests or alarming scenarios, pressuring recipients to act without due diligence.

Pretexting

Pretexting is a technique in which an attacker creates a fabricated scenario or pretext to extract information from individuals. For example, if an attacker is attempting to gain access to a company’s internal network, they might call the company’s IT support line impersonating an employee and pretend to be experiencing technical difficulties to get the employee’s credentials. By creating a false narrative, especially one with urgency, attackers exploit the natural inclination to trust authority figures.

Baiting Attacks

Baiting attacks lure individuals into a trap by offering something desirable, such as free software, music, or video downloads. Once the target takes the bait, malware is deployed, compromising the victim’s system. This technique capitalizes on human curiosity and the desire for free or exclusive content.

Impersonation

Oftentimes, attackers pose as someone else to manipulate individuals or gain access to restricted areas, which can happen in person or online. Attackers masquerade as colleagues, service personnel, or even company executives to deceive individuals and extract valuable information.

Protecting Against Social Engineering Attacks

According to Forbes, 84% of C-level executives have reported being targeted by cybercriminals. These executives are highly valuable targets because they have access to sensitive company information and hold decision-making authority. Cybercriminals recognize the potential gains in exploiting individuals in influential positions. Social engineering attacks are a serious threat to data security, financial stability, and personal privacy. As previously mentioned, these phishing attacks can take many forms and rely on exploiting human vulnerabilities.

To prevent data breaches, financial losses, and disruptions to business continuity, it is crucial to recognize and mitigate the risks associated with social engineering. A comprehensive strategy to counter social engineering attacks and fortify individual and organizational resilience in the digital age should include continuous education, adaptive security protocols, and a keen awareness of emerging tactics. Here are some of the steps to mitigate social engineering attacks.

1. Education and Awareness: Education is a crucial defense against social engineering attacks. Individuals should be educated about the various forms of social engineering, common techniques employed by attackers, and the importance of skepticism. Regular training programs can help reinforce security awareness.
2. Verify Requests: Individuals should adopt a habit of verifying requests for sensitive information or actions, especially those received through email, phone calls, or messages. Verifying the legitimacy of requests with the sender through a trusted channel can prevent falling victim to impersonation.
3. Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA adds a layer of security by requiring users to provide multiple forms of identification before accessing sensitive information or systems. MFA can help prevent unauthorized access even if the user’s credentials are compromised.
4. Implement Security Policies: Organizations should establish and enforce robust security policies that address social engineering risks. This includes guidelines on information sharing, recognizing suspicious activities, and reporting potential security incidents.
5. Regularly Update Security Software: Keeping security software, including antivirus and anti-malware tools, up to date is crucial in preventing and mitigating the impact of social engineering attacks. Up-to-date software can better detect and neutralize new and evolving threats, lowering risk.

BreachLock’s Social Engineering Penetration Testing

BreachLock has a unique approach to social engineering that combines open-source threat intelligence with a custom phishing exposure assessment. Using open-source intelligence, BreachLock crafts a spear phishing campaign that targets designated personnel within an organization to test their cyber defenses. BreachLock pentesters identify and understand the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of your organization’s personnel by leveraging social engineering tactics to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information, performing certain actions, or compromising security controls.
Once the weaknesses have been identified, BreachLock evaluates your organization’s level of security awareness and training effectiveness, revealing areas for improvement in which individuals or departments failed to identify potential threats to help your security team determine if security policies and procedures are effectively enforced. BreachLock provides a comprehensive assessment of your organization’s response capabilities, including the reporting of suspected social engineering attempts. Our assessment aims to help your organization improve security readiness and incident response. As part of the assessment, BreachLock’s experts will provide actionable recommendations for enhancing security awareness, training programs, and policies to mitigate social engineering risks in a report that covers social engineering tactics, weak security control or low employee awareness, and an analysis of recommended organizational improvements. Schedule a discovery call today to fortify your organization’s resilience against social engineering attacks.

About BreachLock

BreachLock Cyber Security Validation and Exposure Management seamlessly combines versatile and flexible solutions for continuous testing of security defenses to prevent attacks. Human-delivered, AI-powered, and automated solutions for PTaaS, Attack Surface Management, and Automated Pentesting and Red Teaming accelerate vulnerability prioritization and remediation accuracy across the attack surface.