Social engineering attacks are on the upswing. In particular, these attacks are becoming more common against small and medium-sized businesses. Social engineering attacks are increasing in frequency as well as complexity. It is becoming surprisingly easy to persuade employees to turn over sensitive data. If your business does not perform its due diligence, someone in your group will eventually fall prey to such a social engineering attack. Below, IT services experts in Orange County expose the different approaches to fooling employees and how your group can avoid a devastating social engineering attack:
The Basics of Social Engineering Attacks
Social engineering attacks are usually centered on a form of manipulation. Target employees or even regular consumers are pinpointed and fooled into turning over information that is sensitive and/or valuable. Social engineering is usually performed through email. A supposedly urgent message is transmitted to make the target feel anxious, fearful, or another emotion. This emotional state makes it that much easier to convince the target to turn over valuable data, click a link that leads to a virus or open a file that has tracking software. The fact that social engineering attacks are reliant upon human beings’ mistakes makes this approach to digital attacks that much more difficult to thwart. There is no software program or other digital solution to prevent human error.
People are Often the Weakest Link in the Context of Digital Security
You can add all the anti-virus programs under the sun, scan your system for viruses every single day and still end up with a hacker tracking your company’s activity. The weak link often proves to be human beings who fall prey to social engineering attacks. Fortunately, an IT services provider in Orange County can help you prevent such improper access to your system. IT experts can educate your staff about the dangers of social engineering attacks, upgrade your digital security, and ramp up the efficiency of your IT operations as a whole.
Once your team knows exactly how they can be manipulated through social engineering attacks, the odds of such an attack proving successful will prove that much lower. This knowledge and training are exactly what your group needs to retain control over systems and prevent criminal access to your data. It will also help to educate partners and vendors about social engineering attacks to boot. Furthermore, many companies find establishing a hierarchy for information access that is based on experience/title proves to be the safest approach to data storage and retrieval.
8 Ways to Avoid Social Engineering Attacks
1.Multi-Factor Authentication
Don’t rely on just one factor; even the simplest precaution will ensure the security of your account. Security is assured by the password, of course, but we now recognize that they are insufficient on their own. It is much simpler for someone else to guess your password and access your accounts when you choose a strong password.
Social engineering can be used to gain access to the passwords. It is necessary to perform multi-factor authentication, which may involve using an OTP number, security questions, or biometric access.
2.Continuously Monitor Critical System
Ensure that the technology you employ to store sensitive data is watched over 24 hours a day. Trojans are just one example of exploitation techniques that occasionally rely on a system that is weak. Web application scanning can be used to check your system for vulnerabilities on both internal and external platforms.
Furthermore, you ought to do a social engineering engagement at least once a year to see whether your staff would be vulnerable to social engineering risks. To prevent copyright infringement online, bogus domains that have been discovered might be immediately removed.
3.Verifying the Identity of Email Sender
The most common technique used in scams is to pose as a reliable entity in order to steal victims’ personal information. Attackers often send emails that look like they are from a sender you trust, such as a credit card firm, bank, social networking site, or online retailer, especially in phishing attacks. The emails frequently present a convincing narrative to persuade you to click on the fake link.
Contact the alleged sender of the email message and ask him to confirm whether he actually sent the message in order to avoid this type of social engineering threats. Keep in mind that trustworthy banks won’t email you asking for your authorized credentials or private information.
4.Determine the Criminally Attractive Assets You Have
Hackers frequently target resources that are useful to them.
Consider the assets outside of your product, service, or intellectual property as you assess from the attacker’s point of view and decide what needs to be protected.
5.Testing for Penetration
The most successful strategy for preventing social engineering attacks is to run a pen-test to find and try to exploit weaknesses in your business. Your employees and the types of social engineering attacks you may be vulnerable to can be determined if your pen-tester is successful in putting your important system in danger.
6.Make Sure Your Security Patches are up to Date
To gain unauthorized access to your data, cybercriminals typically hunt for holes in your application, software, or systems. Always keep your security patches up to date and make sure that your web browsers and systems are running the most recent versions as a preventative step.
This is due to the fact that whenever security flaws are discovered, businesses respond by releasing security updates. By keeping up with the most recent release, you may assure a cyber-resilient environment while also lowering the likelihood of cyberattacks.
7.Enable Spam Filter
Close the door to those who pose a security hazard through social engineering by enabling spam filters. Your inboxes are safeguarded from social engineering assaults by spam filters, which provide essential services.
Spam filters are typically provided by email service providers and retain emails that are deemed questionable. With spam features, you can easily categorize emails and avoid the dreadful responsibilities of recognizing suspicious emails.
8.Think About Your Digital Footprint
Social media oversharing of personal information can provide these crooks with more information to work with. For instance, if you keep your CV online, you might want to think about hiding your home address, phone number, and date of birth. For attackers who are preparing a social engineering threat, all that knowledge is helpful.
We advise you to keep your social media privacy settings set to “friends only” and to think carefully before posting anything online.
The Process of Data Protection and Guarding Against Social Engineering
Take the time necessary to pinpoint your organization’s most important data. Zero in on data that would prove to be most harmful if exposed to miscreants through social engineering. Set detailed guidelines for how this data should be handled. It might even help to engage employees in mock social engineering exercises to keep them aware of the looming threat.
At Intelecis, Inc., our IT services experts in Orange County can help you enhance your business, free up your team to focus on what they do best and make a meaningful impact on your bottom line. We can help with everything IT-related, including digital security. Contact us now to coordinate an initial consultation.