L’social engineering it is a technique used by hackers and cybercriminals to manipulate people and obtain sensitive information or unauthorized access to systems. This practice exploits human vulnerability and the trust people place in other people, organizations or systems.
Social engineering: what it is in a nutshell
Social engineering is a psychological manipulation technique used by hackers and cybercriminals to obtain information or unauthorized access to computer systems or confidential information.
Basically, social engineering is the use of persuasion, deception or manipulation to obtain information or persuade people to perform certain actions. For example, a hacker could call a company employee and introduce himself as an IT representative, asking the employee to provide his or her login credentials. In this case, the hacker is using verbal persuasion to obtain sensitive information.
Social engineering can also be used outside of the IT context. For example, a scammer may pose as a representative of a utility company and ask you to provide personal information or pay a false bill; or you know the famous stalls where they want your bank account to save children in some remote country through some dubious association? This is already social engineering.
Another example: they ring the doorbell to sell you something, what they sell you is a scam, I tricked you? This is also social engineering.
Social engineering is based on psychological manipulation to obtain information or unauthorized access. To protect yourself from social engineering techniques, it is important to be aware of possible threats and adopt good security practices, such as avoiding giving personal information to strangers or adopting a healthy attitude of distrust of unexpected or suspicious requests.
When it is related to hackers or cybercriminals of various kinds
Social engineering can take many forms, including persuasion, psychological manipulation, and the use of persuasion tactics. Hackers use these methods to obtain personal information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive data. The main goal of social engineering is to get people to take actions that put their information security at risk.
Let’s take an example: hackers could use a technique called “phishing” to obtain sensitive information. Phishing occurs when hackers send spoofed emails that appear to come from a trusted source, such as a bank or government organization.
The email invites the user to click on a link that leads to a fake website, where sensitive user data is requested. In this way, hackers can obtain your login credentials or other personal information; in this way, not surprisingly, it is very easy to come across ransomware.
Social engineering can also be used to gain physical access to computer systems: For example, a hacker could impersonate an IT technician or cleaner to enter a building and gain access to computer systems. Once inside, the hacker could install malicious software or acquire sensitive information.
Social engineering tactics can be highly effective because they are based on human trust and emotionsthe; hackers try to get people to do things that may seem harmless, but actually put your information security at risk. Additionally, social engineering techniques can be used to bypass cybersecurity measures that organizations have in place.
To protect yourself and your organization from social engineering tactics, it’s important to follow a few cybersecurity guidelines. First, it’s important not to share personal information with strangers or people you don’t know well. Secondly, it is important to pay attention to any emails or messages that seem suspicious or require improper action. Third, it’s important to use strong passwords and update them regularly.
Social engineering is a hacking technique that is based on manipulating people. Hackers use persuasion tactics to gain sensitive information or access to computer systems. To protect yourself and your organization from social engineering tactics, it is important to adopt good cybersecurity practices, such as:
- Be aware of social engineering techniques: It is important to know about social engineering techniques, so that you can recognize and prevent them. For example, being aware of phishing emails and how they work can help you avoid falling into these traps.
- Verify people’s identities: When you receive a request for information or access from an unknown person, it’s important to verify their identity. For example, if an IT technician requests access to your system, it’s important to check if they’ve been authorized by your organization.
- Use strong passwords: Weak passwords can be easily guessed or cracked by hackers. It is important to use strong passwords, which are made up of a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and to change them regularly.
- Do not share personal information: It is important not to share personal information with strangers or with people who do not know each other well. For example, we don’t recommend giving personal information to an organization that you don’t know well or that seems suspicious.
- Implement cybersecurity measures: Organizations should implement cybersecurity measures, such as firewalls, antivirus software, and data encryption, to protect their systems and information.
Organizations can provide training on cybersecurity to its employees, to raise awareness of social engineering techniques and cybersecurity in general. In this way, employees can become an important line of defense against cyber attacks.
Basically, social engineering is an ever-present cybersecurity threat, but with good cybersecurity practices and increased awareness, you can reduce your risk of falling into hacker traps. It is important that you take information security seriously and take appropriate steps to protect your information and systems.
Emotional impact: watch out for posts and memes on social media
Well, incredible as it may seem many posts, memes and various cartoons that circulate on social networks can cause the user to accidentally answer questions that are “uncomfortable” for him.
There are many memes and social media posts inviting users to answer personal questions; however, many of these posts can pose a threat to computer security, as the personal information provided by users can be used by hackers for malicious purposes.
This is because many of the questions that are asked in memes they are similar to the security questions used by banks and other online services to verify the identity of users; just to give an example, many banks require users to provide information such as the name of their pet or the name of their hometown as part of the authentication process.
Hackers can use this information to try to access secure online accounts, such as bank or e-mail accounts; if a hacker knows your pet’s name or hometown, they may try to guess your password or use this information to try to get you to provide additional personal information.
Therefore, it’s important to avoid giving out personal information on social media, even in response to memes or posts that seem harmless; While it seems fun to share personal information with friends and family, this information could end up being seen by malicious people.
It is important to be aware that personal information can be used by hackers to gain access to our online accounts and personal information. To protect our computer security, it is important to use strong passwords and change passwords regularly, not to share personal information with unknown people, and to use computer security measures such as antivirus software and firewalls.
As usual: “the problems lie between the chair and the keyboard“.
Collective imagination and reality
In the collective imagination we imagine people with who knows what “powers” when they use a PC or a telephone, when the reality is much more mundane.
Cinema has certainly put its own into it, between rumors and clichés, often fueled by the media, very often people don’t have the faintest idea that the problem is often not even computer-based (see the cheating stalls example above).
Such a manipulation technique, in fact by itself it doesn’t have much to do with PCs or telephones, but it is something that resides in human psychology long before computer science.
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