{"id":7783,"date":"2021-11-10T16:30:03","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T16:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cybersmart.com\/?p=7783"},"modified":"2022-01-20T17:58:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T17:58:04","slug":"what-is-a-social-engineering-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cybersmart.com\/blog\/what-is-a-social-engineering-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a social engineering attack?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know what a classic cyberattack looks like. It usually involves hackers with high levels of technical expertise and some form of a malicious tool like <\/span>ransomware<\/span><\/a> or malware.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, cybercriminals don\u2019t always use the latest malware and cyberattacks don\u2019t have to be highly technologically advanced. There\u2019s a whole other class of threats that harness the most powerful weapon of all \u2013 our brains. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>These cyberattacks are known as social engineering attacks. But how do they work? And how can your business protect itself?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is social engineering?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

The term social engineering covers a broad range of malicious activities. What ties them together is that they all use human interactions to achieve their sinister ends. Broadly speaking, all social engineering attacks use psychological manipulation to trick us into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more on how cybercriminals do this, we highly recommend our blog on <\/span>how the internet encourages cybercrime.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does a social engineering attack look like?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Now we know what a social engineering attack is, let\u2019s look at how they work in practice. Although there are potentially endless types of social engineering attacks, there are four general categories most fit under.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Phishing\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

You\u2019ve almost certainly heard of phishing attacks<\/a>. They\u2019re by far the most common form of social engineering, but that doesn\u2019t make them less dangerous.<\/p>\n

Most phishing attacks seek to do three things:<\/span><\/p>\n