Social Engineering Attacks: Understanding and Preventing Psychological Manipulation

Social engineering attacks exploit human psychology to deceive individuals into disclosing confidential information or performing actions that compromise security.

These actions include:

• Sharing sensitive data

• Interacting with malware

• Paying a fraudulent invoice

Instead of relying on technical hacking skills, social engineers manipulate emotions like trust, fear, and urgency to trick victims. Common tactics include posing as authority figures or trusted colleagues, either by impersonation or by compromising legitimate accounts.

Because social engineering targets the human element, it's difficult to defend against. Even organizations with robust security architectures can fall victim. In fact, business email compromise (BEC), a popular form of social engineering, costed organizations almost $3 billion in 2023 alone.

Social engineering attacks typically follow a structured process where attackers exploit human vulnerabilities to achieve their malicious goals.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of how a social engineering attack might unfold:

1. Research and Target Identification: The attacker identifies an organization or individual to target. They gather information from public sources like company websites, social media, and professional networking sites like LinkedIn to learn about the organization's structure and key personnel.

2. Attack Method Selection: Based on the collected information, the attacker decides on the most effective social engineering technique, such as phishing, pretexting, or baiting, to exploit the target's vulnerabilities.

3. Establishment of Trust and Trap Setting: The attacker crafts a believable scenario or pretext to gain the target's trust. This may involve creating a spoofed email address that closely resembles a legitimate one or impersonating a trusted vendor or executive.

4. Execution of the Attack: Using the fabricated identity, the attacker contacts the target. For example, they might send an urgent email requesting sensitive information, asking for a password reset, or prompting the recipient to pay a fraudulent invoice.

5. Exploitation: The target, believing the communication is legitimate due to the crafted pretext and sense of urgency, complies with the request, unwittingly disclosing confidential information or transferring funds.

6. Cover-Up and Continued Exploitation: After a successful attack, the attacker may cover their tracks to avoid immediate detection and potentially exploit the compromised information for further attacks or sell it on the dark web.

This sequence illustrates how social engineers rely on manipulation and deception rather than technical hacking methods.

Employees in HR, helpdesk, and accounting departments are common targets for impersonation, and criminals frequently impersonate vendors in a company’s supply chain.

Regardless of the specific tactics used, the goal of social engineering attacks remains the same: to manipulate and trick unsuspecting victims into compromising security.

Social engineering attacks are a popular tactic for cybercriminals, and they’re growing in frequency and severity. Here's why:

• It Has a Low Barrier of Entry: Hacking a network to steal login credentials takes technical expertise and effort. Tricking a person into clicking a dangerous link, downloading an attachment, or paying an invoice is an easier route. Even an unsophisticated attacker can successfully steal confidential information and money through social engineering manipulation.

• It Pays: According to the FBI, a successful BEC attack cost organizations an average of $137,132 in 2023. This substantial payout makes social engineering an attractive choice for attackers.

• It Evades Traditional Security: Legacy security products focus on identifying and stopping known red flags like malicious attachments and suspicious URLs. Threat actors can successfully commit a social engineering attack without alerting traditional defenses.

• It Works: Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 68% of data breaches involved the human element. Attackers notice successful intrusions and incorporate methods that work.

Here’s a common example of a social engineering Facebook phishing attack that Abnormal caught.

While the spoofed email appears to come from “Facebook Mail,” it’s an altered display name that’s actually from a random Gmail account. And the link looks like a legitimate Facebook URL, but in reality, it redirects to a different URL of an imitation site for credential phishing. Finally, the email manufactures urgency by threatening to shut down an account within 48 hours.

Abnormal caught a similar attempt where attackers used social engineering to pose as a university’s IT team to phish credentials:

The attacker sent spoofed emails with password expiration warnings to students at the university. Like other social engineering attacks, this message is urgent, notifying recipients that their passwords expire today. The email includes a link to a malicious login page with the university’s logo, further confusing students. Once they enter their login credentials, the attacker can compromise their account.

Lastly, a famous example: a Lithuanian man used social engineering tactics to steal $120 million from Google and Facebook. He used fake email accounts and domains to impersonate Quanta, a Taiwanese manufacturer, to send fraudulent invoices to employees. Since Facebook and Google worked with Quanta, the employees believed the invoices were authentic.

Social engineering is a tactic used in a wide range of cyber attacks and scams. Below are some of the most common types of social engineering attacks:

• Phishing: Perhaps the most common social engineering attack, phishing threats aim to trick recipients into revealing confidential information, sending money, or installing malware. While email is the most common type of phishing, attackers also use texts (smishing) and phone calls (vishing).

• Spear Phishing: Regular phishing attacks often send mass emails to a large group of recipients. Spear phishing, on the other hand, targets specific victims with personalized emails impersonating someone trustworthy. It’s a more advanced and effective form of social engineering since it requires in-depth research to execute.

• Pretexting: These are the made-up scenarios that attackers use to trick victims into revealing information. While phishing uses urgency, pretexting relies on building trust. A criminal may use pretexting to impersonate IT staff and request login credentials, for example.

• Executive Impersonation: Also known as CEO fraud, this tactic combines spear phishing and pretexting. Attackers impersonate a CEO and ask employees to pay an invoice, send confidential information, or click a suspicious link. Recipients are more likely to overlook suspicious signs when they believe a message is from an important executive.

• Baiting: Baiting attacks entice victims with the promise of a reward or free item. This could involve offering free music downloads or USB drives infected with malware left in public places, hoping someone will use them.

• Tailgating/Piggybacking: This involves an attacker gaining physical access to a secure building or area by following someone with authorized access. They might pretend to be a delivery person or simply rely on the courtesy of an employee holding the door open.

• Quid Pro Quo: In these attacks, scammers offer services or benefits in exchange for information. For example, an attacker might pretend to be from tech support and offer to help with a computer issue in exchange for login credentials.

• Scareware: This tactic involves bombarding victims with false alarms and fictitious threats. Users are deceived into thinking their system is infected with malware, prompting them to install software that is actually malicious.

• Romance Scams: Scammers use online dating sites and apps to build romantic relationships with unsuspecting victims. Eventually, they’ll come up with a pretext to convince the victim to send them money.

Social engineering attacks exploit human psychology and emotions, such as trust, fear, greed, and the desire to be helpful. Understanding these types of attacks can help individuals and organizations recognize and prevent them.

Regardless of the attack specifics, social engineering scams usually share these tactics and principles:

• Authority: Social engineering attacks leverage authority to trick targets. People are more likely to follow instructions when they’re coming from a supposed authority figure, especially if they think they’ll get in trouble. That’s exactly what’s happening when criminals pretend to be the IRS or a CEO and pressure a victim to share sensitive data or money.

• Intimidation: Similar to authority, attackers threaten targets with potential punishment if they don’t comply with requests. It’s a similar tactic to authority, but it relies more on fear: “If you don’t do this, you’ll be arrested, fired, or fined.”

• Urgency: Most social engineering attacks rely on a sense of urgency to make victims act quickly without noticing suspicious signs. Messages prompt targets to pay an invoice or reset their password within 24 hours, for example.

• Familiarity and Trust: Victims are more likely to share sensitive information or download malware if it comes from someone they know and trust. That’s why attackers impersonate a victim’s friend, colleague, or manager when conducting social engineering scams.

Criminals frequently combine these tactics. In a CEO fraud example, attackers impersonate a trusted authority figure like an executive, using intimidation and urgency to trick victims into complying.

Preventing social engineering attacks requires a combination of strong security programs and educating employees on social engineering prevention strategies. Here are some effective methods:

Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Requiring more than one proof of authentication to access an account is a cornerstone of zero-trust security. Multi-factor authentication helps ensure that a single leaked password doesn’t lead to an account takeover, reducing the risks of social engineering attacks like credential phishing.

Enhance Email Security Measures

Email is the primary threat vector for social engineering attacks. To protect against phishing attacks, organizations need modern email security solutions with the following features:

• Context-Based Email Analysis: Many social engineering emails are text-only, meaning they bypass secure email gateways. A solution that monitors anomalous behavior and email context can spot suspicious requests and potential account takeovers.

• Advanced Email Filtering: Prevent malicious emails from landing in user inboxes with effective email filters that can catch spam and graymail.

• Monitoring Internal Emails: After an account takeover, attackers use the compromised account to target other internal accounts. Ensure your email security solution monitors internal (East-West) email traffic to detect lateral movement by social engineers.

Conduct Penetration Testing

Identify existing security gaps and weaknesses with regular penetration testing. By simulating social engineering attacks, such as phishing simulations or pretexting scenarios, you can gain insight into potential vulnerabilities. Make sure the pen-test is tailored to your organization’s industry and unique risks.

Provide Security Awareness Training

Educate employees about social engineering tactics and how to recognize them. Security awareness training empowers users to spot potential social engineering attacks. Training should focus on:

• Recognizing common social engineering techniques, such as phishing, pretexting, and baiting.

• Understanding the importance of verifying requests for sensitive information or financial transactions.

• Encouraging a culture of security where employees feel comfortable reporting suspicious activities.

Establish Strong Security Policies

Develop clear policies regarding the handling of sensitive information, verification of requests, and procedures for reporting suspected attacks. A well-defined policy helps mitigate the risks associated with social engineering scams.

Want to see how Abnormal Security identifies and prevents pervasive social engineering cyberattacks? Schedule a demo today!