Is manipulating users an easy attack method for hackers? Usually.

Social Engineering is a form of manipulation that hackers use to trick people into performing an action or divulging information.  There are various manipulation techniques that can be used against your organization.  The attacker may pose as a person of authority to increase the likelihood of obedience from the victim.  They may try and scare someone by telling them there are negative actions if they don’t comply.  These attacks may come by phone, email, text message, or social media.  Social Engineering requires very little technical knowledge and is the most common method of successful attacks.  In fact, 98 percent of attacks involve some form of social engineering.

Do your users have the knowledge to defend against these attacks?  Maybe. Many organizations are very reliant on technology to protect their organization. Platforms like Exchange online provide defense against common spoofing attacks. But no platform’s security is 100 percent effective, and they do very little to prevent Smishing (text message phishing). 74 percent of organizations were targets of Smishing last year. Because of these challenges, your users are ultimately your last line of defense. If you haven’t tested your user’s response to Social Engineering, you have no way of knowing how they would respond under a real threat. If you have not taken the time to regularly educate employees on how to recognize an attack, you can be sure some folks will become victims.

Can C2 help your users become the best form of defense against Social Engineering?  Absolutely.

Security Awareness Training is the best method to raise your organization’s security posture as it relates to human assets. C2 can help deploy tools to regularly test and educate your users. These tools are easy to use, automated, and very effective.

Reach out today to schedule a conversation with one of our security experts.

Statistics Source: 21 Social Engineering Statistics – 2022 (firewalltimes.com)