These days, concerns about data breaches are ever-present for businesses, regardless of size. From enterprises to SMBs, many businesses are reporting cyberattacks at an alarming rate. Not only are cyberattacks happening more often, but hackers are becoming savvier and completely circumventing security measures by using social engineering scams.
What Is Social Engineering?
Social engineering is a strategy used by many hackers to gain access to sensitive data businesses house. Often, the criminally-minded take advantage of a trusting or unsuspecting employee to gain access to a company’s proprietary information.
What Are Common Types of Social Engineering?
Social engineering isn’t new, but as you can see from data breaches targeting the Olympics and high profile government employees, social engineering is becoming the go-to cyberattack for hackers. Fortunately, you can thwart these attacks by knowing 4 social engineering scams to watch out for.
Phishing
Most hackers who choose social engineering rely on phishing to gain access to secure systems. These individuals often use email, web ads, and websites to evoke a sense of fear or urgency while an employee is online. As an unsuspecting victim willing to remedy the situation based on the solution presented by the website, unsuspecting employees provide hackers with logins and passwords. With employee logins, hackers can now access your internal systems.
Baiting
Much like phishing, the goal of baiting is to get employees’ passwords. Typically, hackers present an enticing ad to employees in exchange for their credentials. After downloading a file or signing into a website, malware is installed on your system which compromises your business altogether.
Piggybacking
Piggybacking, also called tailgating, is the when a hacker gains access to your facilities by piggybacking on your employees’ actions. They may wait at the front door to gain access to your facilities after an employee swipes their badge.
Quid Pro Quo
Quid pro quo is similar to baiting in which the hacker is offering to exchange something for information. They may offer an employee a cash incentive in exchange for access to your network. They may also disguise who they are by saying they are with a professional IT company that is checking your system. Unsuspecting employees often provide their login credentials, which ultimately compromises your internal systems.
If you suspect your systems have been compromised, we encourage you to contact us for support. We provide a suite of IT services that can identify and remove malware. Give us a call today.
