{"id":36180,"date":"2019-08-20T19:13:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T11:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=36180"},"modified":"2020-04-17T20:46:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T12:46:36","slug":"how-to-detect-when-you-are-being-social-engineered-for-a-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2019\/08\/20\/how-to-detect-when-you-are-being-social-engineered-for-a-hack\/","title":{"rendered":"How to detect when you are being social engineered for a hack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the onset of the internet, social engineering attacks are not only becoming common; they are getting more and more sophisticated. Hackers are devising progressive methods to fool employees and individuals into handing over sensitive company data. With so many threats, enterprises must use due diligence in an effort to stay one step ahead of these hackers. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s discuss the basics of software engineering and the different ways social engineer use to extract valuable\ninformation and how to detect them<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Social Engineering?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Social engineering is the dark art of manipulating people.\nIn order to get access to a building, a piece of information they aren\u2019t\nsupposed to have or to blackmail people, social hackers use specific decisive\nmethods to fool employees into revealing valuable information that can be used\nto gain unauthorized access to their system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tips for Recognizing a Socially Engineered Hack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of these attacks exploit the basic human emotions such\na trust, kindness, greed, and curiosity. Despite developing and upgrading\nsecurity software programs we, humans, have proved to be the weakest link in\nthe information security chain. You can get help from different social engineering training<\/a> courses that teach\nend-users how to identify and avoid leaking vital information to these hackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked a panel of security experts to uncover the most common ways these hackers use to gain information. So, to get a general idea of how to detect if you\u2019re being set up for a hack, let\u2019s take a look at the most common methods used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

1.  \nUNSOLICITED TECH SUPPORT CALLS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you get a call from someone claiming to be tech support,\nyou are most likely being set up for hack. You should build up your defenses\nand try ignoring the call entirely or avoid giving away any vital data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they claim to be someone from within the office, you\nshould call them up to your desk to make sure that you are not spoofed. Hackers\nmostly use tech support as a disguise to obtain information such as passwords,\nask you to download something or direct you to a website that might infect your\ncomputer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.  \nKEEP A CLOSE EYE ON YOUR EMAILS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Phishing is one of the most common online scams where\nhackers send you an email that appears thoroughly professional and ask you to\nprovide sensitive information. Email scams are also a popular method to\ntransmit malware through infected attachments or to fill out a form to extract\ninformation such as social media logins<\/a>, bank account information,\netc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hackers target specific organizations which they know are\nmost likely to fall for these scams. There are several ways to spot a phishing\nemail, such as;<\/p>\n\n\n\n