Social Engineering: The Art of Manipulation and How to Defend Against It

Social engineering is more of a process that involves one’s ability to psychologically coax a person into releasing sensitive data. Learn how it works and how you can steer clear of these scams.

At the present moment, people mainly attribute cybersecurity threats to viruses and state hackers; however, much more socially dangerous threats are not in the tradition of banning the references. Social engineering is the act of deceiving people for personal gains, for instance, by clicking on an unfamiliar link, revealing data, or even granting physical access to a restricted area. It strikes human weakness and not technology; therefore, it is undoubtedly one of the most effective tools that hackers and scammers can use.

Nevertheless, it raises the query of how social engineering is performed. Which methods are used? But in particular, how can you avoid becoming one? The purpose of this article is to describe social engineering, provide examples, and explain the steps that should be taken to prevent the attack.

Understanding Social Engineering

The generally defined social engineering is the use of deception in an effort to bypass organizational computers’ security with a intent to gain information or data. Unlike other types of hacks that focus on the vulnerability in the tech system, for instance, networks or even program loopholes, SEA targets the flaws inherent in an emotion and probably trust in a man or woman.

To date, the industry has continued to harm people through the following ways whereby they pretend to be genuine. They may impersonate IT technicians, colleagues, people coming from the bank, or even relatives. The idea of this scheme is to gain information regarding the individuals, such as the login and password or other details about the bank accounts or the code to control their systems.

Common Techniques of Social Engineering

Social engineering tactics come in many forms, each exploiting a different aspect of human psychology. Here are some of the most common methods:

1. Phishing

Phishing is identified as one of the most successful types of social engineering. A type of security threat that is a criminal activity that entails using false email, messages, links, or websites that share similarities with genuine ones. They are messages that generate some form of an emergency and the only feasible way to bypass it is through clicking on the link or to download such as virus, pass on some information.

For instance, an attacker may send an email under the guise of the bank, and notify the recipient of wrong activity on the recipient’s account and is given a link to log into. It directs them to the clone website that is in its sole purpose to just demand their details.

2. Pretexting

This kind of fraud involves the development of a situation that when put forward to the target, the target will willingly and without protest compliance to give information. Despite the act committed by the attacker, he or she comes up with an impressive and logical explanation to justify his or her demand.

For instance, an identity thief may call an employee and inform him or her that the call is from the company’s IT department and require the employee to provide his or her login information since there is a problem with the account. In this case since the request appears to be genuine the victim may be compelled to follow it without putting it into much consideration.

3. Baiting

Spoofing capitalizes on the curiosity, whereby once is given something they wanted such as gift card with writing ‘get $100 now for free,’ free software, a movie or even inserted USB in public places among others. The nature of attacker’s operation is the following: when the victim logs in the received e-mail or downloads the file, the virus gets onto the computer of the victim.

Another interesting example was used by hackers recently where they left contaminated USB flash drives in different car parking lot of several corporations. Many of the workers accepted them, plugged them to their computer interfaces and were actually a detriment to their whole organization’s networks.

4. Tailgating (Piggybacking)

This is a scenario where an unsuspecting individuals gains access to a restricted area by following behind an authorized individual. This is especially the case in organizations where access to inside the compound is monitored such as through gates.

One can perhaps, picture an attacker dressed as a delivery person who comes with enormously large boxes and would be waiting for somebody to open the door to him or her. This way they are able to penetrate and grab data and install virus or any other malicious codes as they wish.

5. Spear Phishing

Spear phishing for instance is not very alike to that of the general kind of phishing. They learn their targets more frequently by such sources as social networks, company’s website, or databases. Because of this, the messages are so specific that they add the level of realism to the con.

For instance, an attacker pretends to be a company executive and sends an email to an employee to plead for the aggregation of financial information. The ‘texture’ of the message also plays a role in influencing the victim to act based on what has been said as the message outlines in this case is closely resembled a real life account.

6. Scareware

The purpose of most scareware is to convince a victim that his/her computer is infected with a virus or there is an imminent threat to the computer system. The pimp populations appear in the form of seemingly legit notifications to alert people of the virus infection and, in the process, direct them to install software or buy security services that are actually malicious.

It instills fear in the mind of the victim, thus making him or her act in a certain way without necessarily having to validate the antidote.

How to Protect Yourself from Social Engineering

Understanding the dangers of social engineering is the first step in defending against it. Here are some practical ways to stay safe:

1. Be Skeptical of Unsolicited Communications

2. Double-check URLs and Email Addresses

3. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

4. Educate Employees and Family Members

Final Thoughts

Social engineering is a real threat to any organization that is more threatening than the technical approach to hacking because it attacks human as a loop hole. In modern cyberattacks, fraud entails deceiving the targeted individual in order to gather his/her information through faking an identity, or even through social engineering tricks.

Also Read: Top Cybersecurity Skills for 2025: Essential Expertise for a Secure Future