What Is Social Engineering? Definition & Attack

Social Engineering Means Getting Your Confidential Information Out By Winning Your Trust By Deceit Or Fraud.

Social Engineering Meaning?

Social engineering means getting your confidential information out by winning your trust by deceit or fraud or it can be said that when people visiting the internet are misled and an attempt is made to do such activities which may put them in danger, it is called a social engineering attack.

Social engineering is a technique that uses psychology and social elements to influence people’s thoughts and actions. Its purpose is to deceive people by using their social or personal views. Once a hacker knows what the user needs and what their brain desires, they can effectively deceive the user and manipulate their attention.

Hackers often try to take advantage of a user’s lack of information. Sometimes such calls come to people from social engineering attackers who tell you that your debit card has expired and if you want to renew it then tell your debit card number, after that tell the CVV of your debit card. After that you will get an OTP and if you share it with those hackers then the hackers will withdraw the entire amount from your bank. So in this way they read people’s minds and people get trapped in this.

Social Engineering Life Cycle

Types of Social Engineering Attacks

1. Phishing:-

In this era of Internet, you must have heard the term ‘Phishing’ at some point. Nowadays phishing attacks have become quite common. Due to one mistake of the users, hackers target them and trap them. First of all, let us know what phishing is?

Phishing is the most common method of Social Engineering Attack used by hackers. In phishing, the attacker presents himself as a trusted source and sends a malicious email that appears valid at first glance. The objective of the hacker behind sending such valid looking emails is to obtain the user’s name, password, credit card and other banking details.

An example of a simple phishing attack could be an email about your bank account expiring. The email may contain a link that looks legitimate at first glance, but if you look carefully, you may notice something wrong with it, such as a difference in spelling or language.

2. Scareware:-

Scareware is a type of Social Engineering Attack that tricks people into believing that their device has been infected and scares them into visiting fake websites or downloading malicious software, such as malware. This scareware often appears in the form of pop-up advertisements that appear on the user’s system and threaten them that there has been a problem with their device.

Despite this, its real purpose is to intimidate users into paying money to fix the problem. But, instead of solving the problem, scareware is actually programmed to steal the user’s personal data. Additionally, it can also be transmitted through spam emails, through messages that induce people to purchase worthless goods or services. The hackers then successfully use the stolen details to further their criminal enterprise, which is mostly based on identity theft.

Also Read This Article: What Is Data Science?

3. Baiting:-

As the name suggests, Batting attacks use false promises to arouse the victim’s greed or curiosity. They trap users and steal their personal information or infect their systems (Computer or Laptop) with malware.

The most malignant form of baiting uses physical media to spread malware. For example, attackers leave bait—usually malware-infected flash drives—in specific areas where potential victims are sure to see them (e.g., bathroom, elevator, parking lot of the targeted company). The bait has an authentic look, such as a label that presents it as a company’s payroll list.

Victims take the bait out of curiosity and inject it into a work or home computer, resulting in automated malware installation on the system.

4. Pretexting:-

Pretexting is a type of Social Engineering Attack in which, the attacker obtains his victim’s information through a series of cleverly crafted lies. This scam is often initiated by a criminal who pretends to need sensitive information from the victim to perform some important task.

The attacker typically begins by establishing trust with his victim by impersonating police, co-workers, tax officials, and bank or other individuals with a right to know. The proposer asks questions that are clearly necessary to confirm the identity of the victim, through which they collect important personal data.

All kinds of relevant information and records are collected using this scam, such as Aadhaar or any government identification number, personal addresses, phone records, bank records, phone numbers, and even security information related to the physical plant.