Social Engineering Countermeasures

Social Engineering is a technique that involves the psychological manipulation of individuals or groups to trick them into revealing confidential information, performing specific actions, or making decisions that benefit threat actors.

• Social Engineering relies on human psychology, persuasion, and deception rather than on any technical vulnerabilities.

• Social Engineering is often used to gain unauthorised access to systems, steal sensitive data, or facilitate other malicious activities.

Social engineering attacks come in many forms, including tailgating, several variations of phishing, and many more. At the heart of social engineering is the exploitation of human trust, empathy, and common courtesy to achieve objectives. Here are many examples, but it is worth noting that social engineering attacks can contain combinations of factors brought together into an attack strategy. There are also many overlaps, but the principles remain the same: psychological manipulation and deception.

One of the more severe threats is the deployment of ransomware, which often involves a social engineering component – being a victim of a social engineering-based attack can lead to the encryption of files that require ransom payment to decrypt the files. Criminals may also gather confidential information and threaten to expose the information, for example, customer data. Ransomware, extortion and blackmail can lead to significant financial loss and reputational damage.

There are thousands of different social engineering tactics and more variations on individual themes, so it would be impossible to try and cover everything in one article.

• Phishing:
  • Broad and indiscriminate, targeting a wide range of individuals and businesses.
  • Typically, it involves sending deceptive emails that appear legitimate but contain malicious links or attachments.
  • The overal objective is to trick the recipients into revealing sensitive information. E.g., credit card details, login credentials, or other personal information.
  • A typical example is a fake email from banks asking users to click a link and enter their account details.

• Spear Phishing:
  • Similar to regular phishing, but highly targeted and personalised to specific individuals or businesses.
  • Threat actors research their targets and craft personalised emails that appear credible and relevant to the recipients.
  • The objective is to trick a specific person into revealing sensitive information or taking a particular action, like transferring funds or downloading malware.

• Whaling:
  • A Whaling attack targets high-level executives and top management.
  • Like Spear Phishing but with a focus on senior executives
  • Threat actors create highly personalised and convincing emails.
  • The objective is to compromise the accounts of top executives, potentially gaining access to sensitive corporate data and systems.
  • A fraudulent email targeting a CEO, asking for confidential company information, is an example of whaling.

• Vishing (Voice Phishing):
  • Targeting businesses and individuals by telephone.
  • Attackers use phone calls to impersonate trusted entities, such as banks or technical support teams, to extract sensitive information.
  • The objective is to convince victims to provide personal or financial information over the phone.
  • Examples include a scam call from someone claiming to work at your bank asking for account details.

• Smishing (SMS Phishing):
  • Smishing targets individuals via text messages.
  • The attackers send fraudulent SMS messages containing links or phone numbers to trick recipients into revealing personal or financial information.
  • The objective is to obtain sensitive information.
  • Smishing is like phishing but using text messages instead of email.
  • A recent observed example is a text message claiming to be from a delivery service asking someone to make a payment to complete a package delivery.

• Tailgating – gaining physical access to a restricted area by following someone with legitimate access to circumvent access control measures. This technique takes advantage of human nature and common courtesy – it is considered polite to hold doors open for people and extremely rude to close a door in someone’s face, especially when we can see they are behind us. Countermeasures include:
  • Implement robust access control measures, such biometric scanners, key card entry systems, or employ security personnel, to prevent unauthorised entry.
  • Enforce strict visitor policies, including visitor registration and escort requirements, for anyone not authorised to access a facility.
  • Install surveillance cameras at entry points to monitor access and identify potential tailgating incidents.
  • Implement mantrap systems that allow only one person to enter at a time and require proper authorisation before granting access to the second door.
  • Ensure that identification badges or access cards are visible and prominently displayed by authorised personnel.
  • Educate employees about the importance of not holding doors open for unknown individuals.

• Baiting – offering something appealing or enticing as a trap to compromise security and steal sensitive information or login credentials. Examples include:
  • Infected USB drives or storage devices are left in public areas, hoping someone will plug them into their computer out of curiosity.
  • Attackers offer free software, movies, music, or other digital content containing malware.
  • Links to fake websites or content that appear attractive or sensational but deliver malware or gather information – covered in previous phishing examples
  • Email attachments that, when opened, execute malicious code or install malware – also covered in previous phishing examples.

• Pretexting – creating a fictional, convincing, plausible scenario to achieve the desired outcome. The depth of research required will depend on the overall complexity, and the approach could be any of the previous types of phishing or face-to-face scenarios. Pretexting aims to build credibility and a connection with the target. Examples include:
  • Someone pretends to be from IT support and requests access to a computer system, passwords, remote access, or a customer service representative updating account information and payment details.
  • The creation of an emergency or crisis to manipulate the target into providing information or assistance
  • Calls about fictitious jobs to extract information about previous employers or contact details of referees
  • Consider a block of flats, and someone needs access to one. They could use the doorbell for other apartments and say they have a parcel to deliver and that their doorbell isn’t working; also, they don’t want to leave it outside as it’s raining or on a busy road, nowhere secure. The story would sound convincing enough for a stranger to gain access to the building.
  • A more common pretexting scenario is with street beggars needing money to buy drugs or alcohol.

• Dumpster Diving – searching through rubbish bins to find discarded items of value. The most significant concern is the recovery of discarded documents and materials containing sensitive or confidential information. Criminals may search for documents containing personal information to steal identities or commit fraud, or competing businesses may want to find proprietary information or trade secrets. Countermeasures include:
  • Businesses and individuals should use cross-cut shredders to destroy sensitive documents before disposal.
  • Where available, use secure containers to dispose of sensitive materials.
  • Establish and follow document retention and disposal policies to reduce the quantity of sensitive information that someone could find in rubbish bins.
  • Securely delete data from electronic devices before disposal.

• Tech Support Scams – attackers claim to be from technical support teams and convince victims that their computer is infected, leading them to give remote access or pay for unnecessary services.

• Fake Job Adverts – scammers advertise fictitious job vacancies that appear legitimate with attractive salaries, benefits, and working conditions to collect data on many applicants.

• Rogue Software or Scareware – tricking users into downloading and installing malicious software by presenting it as legitimate software. An example is a deceptive pop-up message reporting the detection of viruses, system errors, or other security threats. It is a scare tactic that results in users downloading software to fix the problem, which may introduce more problems.

• Romance Scams – fraudsters build emotional connections to exploit trust for financial gain.

• Prize Scams – fraudsters tell their victims they’ve won a prize, but to claim it, they must provide personal information or pay administrative fees or taxes.

• Invoice Fraud – attackers impersonate suppliers to trick businesses into making payments to fraudulent accounts.

• Shoulder Surfing – physically looking over someone’s shoulder to steal information like credit card numbers, passwords, and PINs.

Here are a broad range of countermeasures that you can apply to a variety of different types of attack and help to develop a security mindset:

• Always verify the identity of people requesting sensitive information or requesting that you take action.

• Consider if requests are reasonable given the circumstances or if the request deviates from standard practices or basic common sense.

• Share the minimum amount of personal or sensitive information necessary only when legally required.

• Train employees to recognise and report suspicious requests.

• Use Multi-Factor Authentication to add additional security to access sensitive systems.

• Establish clear policies and procedures to verify requests for sensitive information and ensure employees follow them.

• Curiosity killed the cat – be sceptical of offers that seem too good to be true, especially from unknown or unverified sources.

• Use up-to-date anti-malware software to detect and block malicious content.

• Regularly back up important data to mitigate the impact of successful attacks.

• Turn off the auto-run feature for external devices and drives to prevent the automatic execution of malicious code.

• Avoid distractions and be mindful of when people intentionally try to take your attention away from common sense.

• Don’t be in a hurry to take action. The creation of a sense of urgency is a common tactic. Take time to think things through properly.

• Do not reuse login credentials. Use different passwords across multiple accounts.

• Develop a security mindset and a healthy level of scepticism.

• Be vigilant with our daily interactions with people and technology.

• Understand and implement countermeasures to mitigate risks.