Social Engineering involves the act of manipulating people to reveal sensitive information, bypass security measures or perform actions that benefit the attacker. Techniques can range from phishing emails, pretexting, baiting or tailgating. Security Education and Awareness programs should focus on …Social Engineering involves the act of manipulating people to reveal sensitive information, bypass security measures or perform actions that benefit the attacker. Techniques can range from phishing emails, pretexting, baiting or tailgating. Security Education and Awareness programs should focus on educating employees about common social engineering tactics and their consequences. Teaching employees to recognize and respond to social engineering attempts is vital in protecting the organization against these types of attacks.
Guide for Social Engineering: Importance, Functioning, and Exam Tips
Social Engineering: It refers to the manipulation technique that convinces people to give up their confidential data. It's majorly a psychological trick to induce humans into making security mistakes or revealing sensitive information. It's employed by hackers to gain illicit access to systems.
Importance: Social Engineering is vital to understand because it targets the weakest link in an organization's security infrastructure, which is 'humans'. Therefore, being aware and prepared can prevent most breaches that could take place.
How it works: It generally involves four steps: researching the target, developing a relationship and trust, exploiting the established trust to gain information or access, and finally, using the obtained data. The trick is manipulative, leveraging human psychology effectively.
Exam Tips - Answering Questions on Social Engineering: It is crucial to understand that social engineering questions focus on procedures, ways to mitigate risks, and employee training. 1. Understand the workings of different types of social engineering attacks like Phishing, Baiting, Pretexting, and Tailgating. 2. Look out for questions that involve scenarios. Examiners may give a situation and ask how an intruder was able to gain access - in many cases, the answer will involve some form of social engineering. 3. Remember, human error plays a significant role, so focus on the role of employees and the importance of training.
A company's receptionist receives a phone call asking for the direct extension of the CEO. The caller claims to have an urgent and important business matter to discuss. What should the receptionist do?
Question 2
An employee receives an email that appears to be from their manager stating they need the employee's HR records to complete an audit. The employee thinks it might be a phishing attempt. What should the employee do?
Question 3
An employee receives an instant message from a coworker requesting their login credentials for a shared database. The coworker says they've forgotten their own credentials and are in a rush. What should the employee do?
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