One of the most common cyberattacks is known as social engineering. Social engineering is a term used to describe a wide variety of techniques that are used by malicious hackers to exploit human beings and execute successful cyberattacks. Hackers study and take advantage of basic human behaviors such as inquisitiveness, excitement, distraction, and indecision to trick employees when executing a cyberattack.
One of the most common examples of social engineering attacks is known as phishing. In this cyberattack, hackers send an email trying to trick the recipient into clicking a malicious link, downloading malicious attachments, or even relinquishing sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, or bank account details.
The result of a successful phishing attack can be devastating. In some cases, the targeted network is so infected that sensitive data is completely lost. In other cases, sensitive data is stolen and further exploited or resold on the dark web. There are several registered cases of unauthorized wire transfers resulting in tremendous and unrecoverable financial losses.
When your employees or managers are not trained against social engineering attacks, they are sitting ducks. They are the weak point in your organization when they are not properly trained. You may be wondering how an organization takes a group of employees and turns them into effective cybercrime fighting machines. We will discuss how this is achieved below.
Executive and management teams must commit to the creation and enforcement of cybersecurity policies, procedures, and processes. Employees must understand how to implement safe and effective cybersecurity practices and their importance in maintaining them. Personnel who transform into protective and enlightened cybercrime fighters should be rewarded for their diligence.
