Alert Social engineering, in the context of, refers to of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. This differs from social engineering within the social sciences, which does not contain the divulging of confidential information. A type of for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or system access, it differs from a traditional 'con' in that it is often one of many steps in a more complex fraud scheme. It has also been defined as 'any act that influences a person to take an action that may or may not be in their best interests.' Contents. Information security culture Employee behavior can have a big impact on information security in organizations. Cultural concepts can help different segments of the organization work effectively or work against effectiveness towards information security within an organization.
'Exploring the Relationship between Organizational Culture and Information Security Culture' provides the following definition of information security culture: 'ISC is the totality of patterns of behavior in an organization that contribute to the protection of information of all kinds.' Andersson and Reimers (2014) found that employees often do not see themselves as part of the organization Information Security 'effort' and often take actions that ignore organizational information security best interests. Research shows Information security culture needs to be improved continuously.
In 'Information Security Culture from Analysis to Change', authors commented, 'It's a never ending process, a cycle of evaluation and change or maintenance.' To manage the information security culture, five steps should be taken: Pre-evaluation, strategic planning, operative planning, implementation, and post-evaluation.
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Pre-Evaluation: to identify the awareness of information security within employees and to analysis current security policy. Strategic Planning: to come up a better awareness-program, we need to set clear targets. Clustering people is helpful to achieve it. Operative Planning: we can set a good security culture based on internal communication, management-buy-in, and security awareness and training program. Implementation: four stages should be used to implement the information security culture. They are commitment of the management, communication with organizational members, courses for all organizational members, and commitment of the employees.
Techniques and terms All social engineering techniques are based on specific attributes of human known as. These biases, sometimes called 'bugs in the human hardware', are exploited in various combinations to create attack techniques, some of which are listed below. The attacks used in social engineering can be used to steal employees' confidential information. The most common type of social engineering happens over the phone. Other examples of social engineering attacks are criminals posing as exterminators, fire marshals and technicians to go unnoticed as they steal company secrets.
One example of social engineering is an individual who walks into a building and posts an official-looking announcement to the company bulletin that says the number for the help desk has changed. So, when employees call for help the individual asks them for their passwords and IDs thereby gaining the ability to access the company's private information. Another example of social engineering would be that the hacker contacts the target on a and starts a conversation with the target.
Gradually the hacker gains the trust of the target and then uses that trust to get access to sensitive information like password or bank account details. Social engineering relies heavily on the 6 principles of influence established. Cialdini's theory of influence is based on six key principles: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity. Six key principles.
– People tend to return a favor, thus the pervasiveness of in marketing. In his conferences, he often uses the example of providing thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to just after the 1985 earthquake, despite Ethiopia suffering from a crippling famine and civil war at the time. Ethiopia had been reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. The strategy is also based on this principle. and – If people commit, orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment because of establishing that idea or goal as being congruent with their.
Even if the original incentive or motivation is removed after they have already agreed, they will continue to honor the agreement. Cialdini notes Chinese of American to rewrite their self-image and gain automatic unenforced compliance. Another example is marketers make you close popups by saying “I’ll sign up later” or 'No thanks, I prefer not making money”. – People will do things that they see other people are doing. For example, in one experiment, one or more confederates would look up into the sky; bystanders would then look up into the sky to see what they were seeing.
At one point this experiment aborted, as so many people were looking up that they stopped traffic. See, and the. – People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts. Cialdini cites incidents such as the in the early 1960s and the. – People are easily persuaded by other people that they like.
Cialdini cites the marketing of in what might now be called. People were more likely to buy if they liked the person selling it to them. Some of the many biases favoring more attractive people are discussed. – Perceived scarcity will generate.
For example, saying offers are available for a 'limited time only' encourages sales. Four Social Engineering Vectors Vishing Vishing, otherwise known as ', is the criminal practice of using social engineering over the to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward. It is also employed by attackers for purposes to gather more detailed on a target organisation. Phishing. Main article: Phishing is a technique of fraudulently obtaining private information. Typically, the phisher sends an e-mail that appears to come from a legitimate business—a bank, or —requesting 'verification' of information and warning of some if it is not provided.
The e-mail usually contains a link to a fraudulent web page that seems legitimate—with company logos and content—and has a form requesting everything from a home address to an 's or a. For example, in 2003, there was a phishing scam in which users received e-mails supposedly from claiming that the user's account was about to be suspended unless a link provided was clicked to update a (information that the genuine eBay already had). Because it is relatively simple to make a Web site resemble a legitimate organization's site by mimicking the HTML code and logos the scam counted on people being tricked into thinking they were being contacted by eBay and subsequently, were going to eBay's site to update their account information.
By large groups of people, the 'phisher' counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who already had listed credit card numbers with eBay legitimately, who might respond. Smishing The act of using text messaging to lure victims into a specific course of action. Like it can be clicking on a malicious link or divulging information. Impersonation Pretending or pretexting to be another person with the goal of gaining access physically to a system or building.
Other Concepts Pretexting. 'Blagger' redirects here. For the video game, see. Pretexting (adj. Pretextual), is the act of creating and using an invented scenario (the ) to engage a targeted victim in a manner that increases the chance the victim will divulge information or perform actions that would be unlikely in ordinary circumstances.
An elaborate, it most often involves some prior research or setup and the use of this information for impersonation ( e.g., date of birth, last bill amount) to of the target. This technique can be used to fool a business into disclosing customer information as well as by to obtain telephone records, utility records, banking records and other information directly from company service representatives. The information can then be used to establish even greater legitimacy under tougher questioning with a manager, e.g., to make account changes, get specific balances, etc. Pretexting can also be used to impersonate co-workers, police, bank, tax authorities, clergy, insurance investigators—or any other individual who could have perceived authority or right-to-know in the mind of the targeted victim.
The pretexter must simply prepare answers to questions that might be asked by the victim. In some cases, all that is needed is a voice that sounds authoritative, an earnest tone, and an ability to think on one's feet to create a pretextual scenario.
Main article: Phone phishing (or ') uses a rogue (IVR) system to recreate a legitimate-sounding copy of a bank or other institution's IVR system. The victim is prompted (typically via a phishing e-mail) to call in to the 'bank' via a (ideally toll free) number provided in order to 'verify' information. A typical 'vishing' system will reject log-ins continually, ensuring the victim enters PINs or passwords multiple times, often disclosing several different passwords. More advanced systems transfer the victim to the attacker/defrauder, who poses as a customer service agent or expert for further questioning of the victim. Spear phishing.
Main article: Although similar to 'phishing', spear phishing is a technique that fraudulently obtains private information by sending highly customized emails to few end users. It is the main difference between phishing attacks because phishing campaigns focus on sending out high volumes of generalized emails with the expectation that only a few people will respond. On the other hand, spear phishing emails require the attacker to perform additional research on their targets in order to 'trick' end users into performing requested activities.
The success rate of spear-phishing attacks is considerably higher than phishing attacks with people opening roughly 3% of phishing emails when compared to roughly 70% of potential attempts. Furthermore, when users actually open the emails phishing emails have a relatively modest 5% success rate to have the link or attachment clicked when compared to a spear-phishing attack's 50% success rate. Spear Phishing success is heavily dependent on the amount and quality of (Open Source Intelligence) that the attacker can obtain. Account activity is one example of a source of OSINT. Water holing. Main article: Water holing is a targeted social engineering strategy that capitalizes on the trust users have in websites they regularly visit.
The victim feels safe to do things they would not do in a different situation. A wary person might, for example, purposefully avoid clicking a link in an unsolicited email, but the same person would not hesitate to follow a link on a website they often visit. So, the attacker prepares a trap for the unwary prey at a favored watering hole. This strategy has been successfully used to gain access to some (supposedly) very secure systems. The attacker may set out by identifying a group or individuals to target. The preparation involves gathering information about websites the targets often visit from the secure system.
The information gathering confirms that the targets visit the websites and that the system allows such visits. The attacker then tests these websites for vulnerabilities to inject code that may infect a visitor's system with.
The injected code trap and malware may be tailored to the specific target group and the specific systems they use. In time, one or more members of the target group will get infected and the attacker can gain access to the secure system. Baiting Baiting is like the real-world that uses physical media and relies on the curiosity or greed of the victim. In this, attackers leave -infected, or in locations people will find them (bathrooms, elevators, sidewalks, parking lots, etc.), give them legitimate and curiosity-piquing labels, and waits for victims. For example, an attacker may create a disk featuring a corporate logo, available from the target's website, and label it 'Executive Salary Summary Q2 2012'. The attacker then leaves the disk on the floor of an elevator or somewhere in the lobby of the target company. An unknowing employee may find it and insert the disk into a computer to satisfy their curiosity, or a good Samaritan may find it and return it to the company.
In any case, just inserting the disk into a computer installs malware, giving attackers access to the victim's PC and, perhaps, the target company's internal. Unless computer controls block infections, insertion compromises PCs 'auto-running' media. Hostile devices can also be used. For instance, a 'lucky winner' is sent a free compromising any computer it is plugged to.
A 'road apple' (the colloquial term for horse, suggesting the device's undesirable nature) is any with malicious software left in opportunistic or conspicuous places. It may be a CD, DVD, or, among other media. Curious people take it and plug it into a computer, infecting the host and any attached networks. Hackers may give them enticing labels, such as 'Employee Salaries' or 'Confidential'. One study done in 2016 had researchers drop 297 USB drives around the campus of the University of Illinois.
The drives contained files on them that linked to webpages owned by the researchers. The researchers were able to see how many of the drives had files on them opened, but not how many were inserted into a computer without having a file opened. Of the 297 drives that were dropped, 290 (98%) of them were picked up and 135 (45%) of them 'called home'. Quid pro quo Quid pro quo means something for something:.
An attacker calls random numbers at a company, claiming to be calling back from technical support. Eventually this person will hit someone with a legitimate problem, grateful that someone is calling back to help them.
The attacker will 'help' solve the problem and, in the process, have the user type commands that give the attacker access or launch. In a 2003 survey, 90% of office workers gave researchers what they claimed was their in answer to a survey question in exchange for a cheap. Similar surveys in later years obtained similar results using chocolates and other cheap lures, although they made no attempt to validate the passwords. Tailgating. Main article: An attacker, seeking entry to a restricted area secured by unattended, electronic, e.g. By card, simply walks in behind a person who has legitimate access. Following common courtesy, the legitimate person will usually hold the door open for the attacker or the attackers themselves may ask the employee to hold it open for them.
The legitimate person may fail to ask for identification for any of several reasons, or may accept an assertion that the attacker has forgotten or lost the appropriate identity token. The attacker may also fake the action of presenting an identity token. Other types Common or fraudsters also could be considered 'social engineers' in the wider sense, in that they deliberately deceive and manipulate people, exploiting human weaknesses to obtain personal benefit. They may, for example, use social engineering techniques as part of an IT fraud. A very recent type of social engineering technique includes spoofing or hacking IDs of people having popular e-mail IDs such as, etc.
Among the many motivations for deception are:. credit-card account numbers and their passwords.
Cracking private e-mails and chat histories, and manipulating them by using common editing techniques before using them to extort money and creating distrust among individuals. Cracking websites of companies or organizations and destroying their reputation. Computer.
Convincing users to run malicious code within the web browser via attack to allow access to their web account Countermeasures Organizations reduce their security risks by: Training to Employees Training employees in security protocols relevant to their position. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley. Chapter 2, page 17. Security Through Education. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
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Laribee, Lena. June 2006 Master's Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School. Leyden, John. 18 April 2003. Retrieved 2004-09-09. No Tech Hacking – A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving, and Shoulder Surfing Published by Syngress Publishing Inc. Hacking the Human: Social Engineering Techniques and Security Countermeasures Published by Gower Publishing Ltd.
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The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security Published by Wiley. Or. Hadnagy, Christopher, (2011) Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking Published by Wiley. External links. – Securityfocus.com.
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