Social engineering continues to be one of the most effective ways attackers target organizations. Rather than exploiting technical flaws, these attacks manipulate human psychology, using tactics such as urgency, authority, or curiosity to push individuals into risky actions. Victims may be deceived into clicking malicious links, sharing sensitive information, or approving fraudulent requests that bypass traditional defenses.

Recent incidents underscore this trend. Workday was hit by a social engineering campaign linked to groups such as Scattered Spider, exploiting human error through third party platforms. The attack exposed business contact details, enabling further phishing and vishing scams. Major brands including Adidas, Air France KLM, Allianz, Google, and Qantas have also faced similar waves, highlighting the growing dominance of manipulation in modern breaches.

This guide explores eight of the most common social engineering attack types security leaders face today and offers practical ways to recognize the warning signs before they cause harm.

Phishing remains the most common social engineering tactic, using emails, text messages, calls, or social media to steal credentials or deliver malware. These communications often appear trustworthy, using urgency or authority to convince victims to click a link or share sensitive information.

Attackers frequently disguise their messages with official logos, well-formatted templates, and urgent compliance language. A convincing notice may lead to a spoofed login page where credentials are harvested in minutes. What makes phishing effective is familiarity, for instance, there are messages that appear to come from government agencies, financial institutions, or workplace tools employees already trust.

Phishing has expanded into many forms: vishing by voice, smishing via text, angler phishing on social platforms, and poisoned search results designed to lure users. Despite different channels, all rely on psychological pressure rather than technical exploits.

Warning signs include suspicious domains, urgent language, mismatched URLs, or generic greetings with errors. Detecting these cues early, paired with layered defenses and regular training, significantly reduces risk and helps employees stay focused on legitimate work.

Spear phishing targets specific individuals or small groups with carefully crafted messages designed to slip past generic email filters. When the target is an executive, the same tactic is known as Whaling.

Attackers often scrape social media, company announcements, and organizational charts to imitate tone, priorities, and timing. Messages reference real projects or travel schedules, making them feel routine. Increasingly, adversaries use AI to automate this personalization, generating on-brand language and spinning up look-alike domains within minutes. The result is a request that appears to come from a trusted executive, board member, or vendor, powerful enough to bypass normal scrutiny.

Warning signs include personalized greetings with subtle errors, sudden high-value payment demands, suspiciously altered domains, or labels that discourage involving colleagues. The best defense is deliberate verification: confirm sensitive requests through a trusted secondary channel such as a direct call or separate platform. Slowing down disrupts the attacker’s script and prevents costly mistakes.

Business email compromise (BEC) exploits trust in established relationships to redirect payments or steal funds. Attackers study company hierarchies, vendor relationships, and invoicing cycles, then send a single message that appears to be routine business correspondence. Often, the email originates from a compromised account or a domain that differs by just one character, making it difficult for traditional filters to detect.

A common example occurs at the end of a contract period. Accounts payable receives an email from a long-standing supplier requesting that future payments be sent to a “new” account. The message references real purchase orders and is signed by a familiar contact. Without additional verification, large sums are easily misdirected to criminal accounts.

Red flags include last minute changes to payment instructions, mismatched reply-to addresses, subtle shifts in writing style, and requests that skip standard approval workflows. Strong defenses rely on process: confirm all account changes through trusted channels, require dual approvals for payments, and separate duties for invoice creation and authorization. Technical safeguards like DMARC policies and identity-aware email monitoring add another layer, reducing spoofing and highlighting anomalies.

Pretexting uses fabricated scenarios to manipulate employees into breaking protocol. Attackers may pose as IT staff, executives, or legal counsel, weaving convincing details into their requests. A call about a “failed patch,” a reference to a recent outage, or an urgent demand tied to a supposed deadline can be enough to persuade someone to share credentials, authorize a transfer, or bypass procedures.

These attempts often reveal themselves through subtle cues: unusual requests for passwords or MFA codes, callback numbers that do not match corporate directories, or language designed to create urgency and pressure immediate action.

The best defense is process and not persuasion. Always confirm requests through verified contact methods, enforce least privilege access to limit the damage of stolen credentials, and train support teams to validate identities with multiple checks. Strong verification ensures attackers cannot control the narrative, keeping sensitive information secure.

Baiting attacks exploit curiosity and the promise of quick rewards to compromise systems. They may involve physical media, like infected USB drives left for employees to discover, or digital lures such as fake downloads and malicious ads. Once triggered, these tactics can install malware, harvest credentials, or grant attackers direct access to internal networks.

Modern baiting often appears as fraudulent browser updates, “free” software downloads, or unsolicited offers of technical support. Warning signs include too good to be true freebies, pop ups demanding plug ins, shortened links tied to expiring rewards, and requests to run files or share passwords.

Reducing risk requires limiting USB use, restricting external media, and hardening browsers against unauthorized downloads. Training employees to question suspicious offers builds resilience. A moment of skepticism can prevent a single careless click from turning into a costly compromise.

Scareware uses alarming pop ups and fake system alerts to pressure users into downloading malware or purchasing fraudulent “security” tools. Classic examples include full screen warnings claiming a device is infected, paired with urgent prompts to install fixes. Modern campaigns extend the tactic through malicious ads and poisoned search results, disguising fraudulent updates as legitimate downloads.

These attacks succeed because fear overrides rational decision making. Bright colors, countdown timers, and urgent sounds create the illusion of crisis, prompting users to bypass security checks. Once installed, scareware can steal credentials, enroll devices into botnets, or open backdoors for follow up attacks.

Warning signs include exaggerated infection claims, countdown clocks or forced prompts, poor grammar, and vague vendor references. Defenses include browser isolation, ad blocking, disabling unauthorized plug ins, strong endpoint protection, and consistent patching. Calm verification of alerts, supported by layered controls, removes scareware’s leverage.

Unauthorized entry attacks take advantage of everyday courtesy. An intruder follows closely behind an employee, slipping through a secure door and bypassing digital controls without challenge.

Most attempts can be recognized by a few common signs:

• Missing or unfamiliar badges, or credentials deliberately held face down

• Polite requests for entry from someone you do not recognize

• Props that create sympathy or urgency, such as heavy boxes, food trays, or maintenance tools

• Distractions timed to override security, like a ringing phone or staged maintenance check

Employee awareness is essential, but strong process controls provide greater protection. Require badge access for every secure area, not just the main entrance. Use turnstiles or mantraps to ensure only one authenticated person enters at a time. Regular unannounced audits comparing badge swipes to door-held events further reduce the risk of unauthorized entry.

Deepfakes are emerging as one of the most challenging forms of social engineering, using AI generated audio and video to convincingly impersonate trusted executives, colleagues, or vendors. These attacks exploit human trust, creating scenarios where even cautious employees may be deceived into approving fraudulent actions.

Spotting potential deepfakes requires close attention to subtle cues. Unusual timing of a call or unexpected communication channels can be early signs. Other indicators include slight audio distortions, unnatural speech patterns, requests that emphasize secrecy, or instructions that bypass established protocols. When these elements appear together, they can signal an attempt at artificial impersonation.

Defending against deepfakes requires strengthening verification processes. Multi channel confirmation, such as validating requests through both email and direct phone contact, adds a layer of assurance. Embedding consistent behavioral baselines into communication monitoring also helps surface anomalies that suggest manipulation, giving security teams the chance to intervene before trust is exploited.

Attackers increasingly rely on manipulating trust and exploiting human behavior, making social engineering one of the hardest challenges to defend against. Addressing it requires more than technology alone, it demands a layered approach that pairs intelligent detection with stronger human awareness.

You can start by assessing how current defenses align with the eight attack types outlined in this guide and identify where coverage may fall short. Reinforce employee training with regular updates that highlight emerging attacker tactics and provide clear guidance for safe decision-making. Strengthen monitoring capabilities to ensure subtle behavioral anomalies are surfaced quickly and acted upon before they escalate.

For organizations looking to go further, book a personalized demo with Abnormal to see how behavioral AI can enhance visibility and detection. Taking these actions together helps build resilience against the evolving tactics of social engineering.