Privacy News Combating Social Engineering: Tips From Black Hat 2018

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https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/combating-social-engineering-tips-from-black-hat-2018/

Social engineering is the use of deception to manipulate individuals into disclosing sensitive information that may be used to compromise a network, infiltrate an organization, gain access to trade secrets, as part of a cyberstalking campaign, or in furtherance of an espionage operation.

Bleeping Computer regularly reports on social engineering attacks such as one that was discovered last month and involved a fake adult website. Earlier this month a social engineering attack involving Microsoft Edge was also exposed.

Another social engineering case that received a lot of attention between 2015 and 2017 revolved around Crackas With Attitude (CWA). One of the crew, Justin Liverman, received five years in prison, despite the fact that he hadn't actually hacked any accounts himself. He had also agreed to a plea deal. Sentenced by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, the judge admonished the group for the chaos unleashed: "Your intent was clear, and that was to wreak havoc.”

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) also has advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of social engineering:

• Be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, visits, or email messages from individuals asking about employees or other internal information. If an unknown individual claims to be from a legitimate organization, try to verify his or her identity directly with the company.
• Do not provide personal information or information about your organization, including its structure or networks, unless you are certain of a person's authority to have the information.
• Do not reveal personal or financial information in email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information. This includes following links sent in email.
• Pay attention to the URL of a website. Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (e.g., .com vs. .net).
• If you are unsure whether an email request is legitimate, try to verify it by contacting the company directly. Do not use contact information provided on a website connected to the request; instead, check previous statements for contact information. Information about known phishing attacks is also available online from groups such as the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
• Install and maintain anti-virus software, firewalls, and email filters to reduce some of this traffic. (See Understanding Firewalls, Understanding Anti-Virus Software, and Reducing Spam for more information.)
• Take advantage of any anti-phishing features offered by your email client and web browser.