Social Engineering

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Social Engineering

Pretexting: A Growing Threat That Avoids Phishing’s Obvious Tells

December 4, 2023

As more recipients get wise to the usual phishing tactics, attackers are adopting another strategy: pretexting. Protecting an organization against pretexting attacks requires a layered approach that includes preventing attack messages from reaching employees, and making employees aware of how pretexting works.

Hacker typing on keyboard showing cybercriminals and social engineering

Cyber Security News

Microsoft: “Octo Tempest” Represents New Breed of Cybercriminals Making Use of Social Engineering and Threats

October 30, 2023

Octo Tempest has gradually stepped up from data theft, to data extortion, and now to ransomware as of this summer (becoming an affiliate of the ALPHV/BlackCat group). The cybercriminals are entirely financially motivated and nearly always leads with either a phishing email/message or a social engineering call. It also looks to execute SIM swap attacks.

Man logging into laptop showing social engineering attacks on super administrators

Cyber Security News

Okta: Sophisticated Social Engineering Attacks Are Targeting Super Administrators

September 15, 2023

Okta has warned about social engineering attacks by sophisticated actors targeting super administrators by tricking service desk staff into resetting multi-factor authentication for privileged users.

Social media interactions on mobile phone showing business communication tools and social engineering

Cyber Security Insights

How to Secure Business Communication Tools in an Increasingly Digital Work Environment

July 28, 2023

Business communication tools are indispensable in today’s distributed working environments, both for internal communication between team members and for external communication with customers. But their use has attracted the attention of attackers who successfully exploit their security weaknesses and tailor their attacks to specific communication platforms.

Hacker working on computer showing Verizon DBIR on social engineering and ransomware

Cyber Security News

Verizon DBIR 2023: Social Engineering Attacks Exploding, Ransomware Doubles in Cost

June 14, 2023

The annual Verizon DBIR provides further confirmation that attackers are showing a renewed interest in social engineering, particularly in conjunction with business email compromise (BEC) attacks. And the average financial damage of a ransomware attack has doubled and is almost certain to cost organizations at least $1 million to remediate.

Businessman working on computer with warning sign showing social engineering

Cyber Security Insights

Hacking Humans: How Social Engineering Works

May 24, 2023

Whatever new technologies are adopted, social engineering will evolve in parallel and find work arounds. Even as these security defenses mature, it will always be easier to hack a human than hack a system.

Hacker holding USB flash drive showing endpoint management and social engineering

Cyber Security Insights

BadUSB: A Growing Cybersecurity Threat

December 19, 2022

BadUSB attacks have proliferated in the last year for a simple reason — they work as long as curiosity is part of human nature. The impact of BadUSB is tantamount to allowing an unknown hacker to sit at an employee’s unlocked computer and directly attack the network from the inside.

Close up of young man hand using smart phone at night showing social engineering on social media

Cyber Security Insights

Why Social Media Is a Weak Spot for Companies’ Cybersecurity

September 26, 2022

Cybercriminals are using social engineering to target company employees on social media, which remains a weak point even if a company takes every precaution necessary to protect in-house information.

Cyber Security News

Major Cybersecurity Incident at Uber: Network Breach Began With Social Engineering by Teenage Culprit, Sensitive Information Stored in Plaintext

September 19, 2022

Uber cybersecurity incident was the result of social engineering by teenage hacker. Network breach was a total compromise and that the attacker had full access to Uber's systems.

Marriott hotel showing data breach via social engineering

Cyber Security News

Another Data Breach at Marriott as Social Engineering Attack Yields 300-400 Customer Credit Card Numbers

July 11, 2022

The data breach took place at the BWI Airport Marriott near Baltimore. A social engineering attack was executed on a member of the hotel staff, who unwittingly granted access.

Social Engineering

Data Breach on the Largest Japanese Messaging App Line Leaks 440K Records

Moral Machines: The Importance of Ethics in Generative AI

Dollar Tree Third-Party Data Breach Exposes Sensitive Data of Nearly 2 Million Employees

Senior Staff at Sellafield Nuclear Site Accused of Covering up Breaches by Hacker Groups Dating Back to at Least 2015