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May 7, 2024 •Mary Jane Suarez Partain, Program Director for Women in CyberSecurity
Social engineering attacks, in which adversaries trick people into doing something they shouldn’t, are one of the most common methods that cyber attackers use to target people. The concept has been used by con artists and scammers for thousands of years. What is new is that the Internet makes it very easy for a cyber-criminal anywhere in the world to pretend to be anyone they want and target anyone they want. Below are the three most common types of social engineering methods that cyber attackers will use to try to engage and fool you.
Phishing is the most traditional social engineering attack; it is when cyber attackers send you an email attempting to trick you into taking an action you shouldn’t do. It was originally called phishing because it was like fishing in a lake: You threw out a line and hook but had no idea what you would catch. The strategy behind this tactic was that the more phishing emails cyber-criminals sent, the more people fell victim. The phishing attacks of today have become both far more sophisticated and targeted (sometimes called spear phishing), with cyber attackers often customizing their phishing emails before sending them.
Smishing is essentially SMS-based phishing, in which a text message is sent instead of an email. Cyber attackers send text messages to your phone on apps such as iMessage, Google Messages or WhatsApp. There are several reasons why smishing has become popular. The first is that it’s much harder to filter out messaging attacks than it is to filter out email attacks. Second, the messages that cyber attackers send are often very short, meaning there is very little context which makes it much harder to determine if the message is legitimate or not. Third, messaging is often more informal and action-based, so people are used to quickly responding to or acting on messages. Finally, people are getting better and better at spotting phishing email attacks, so cyber attackers are simply shifting to a new method, messaging.
Vishing, or voice-based phishing, is a tactic that uses a phone call or voice message rather than email or text message. Vishing attacks take far more time for the attacker to execute, as they talk directly to and interact with the victim. However, these types of attacks are also far more effective, as it is much easier to create strong emotions over the phone, such as a sense of urgency. Once a cyber attacker gets you on the phone, they will not let you get off the phone until they get what they want.
Fortunately, it does not matter which of the three methods cyber attackers use, there are common clues you can spot:
By looking for these common clues you can go a long way toward protecting yourself.
Mary Jane Suarez Partain is the Program Director for Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS). The focus of her role is to provide resources, initiatives and programming designed to recruit, retain and advance women in the field of cybersecurity. She is passionate about creating an inclusive environment where all feel valued, welcome and seen.
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The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Citizens State Bank and its affiliates, and Citizens State Bank is not responsible for and does not verify the accuracy of any information contained in this article or items hyperlinked within. This is for informational purposes and is no way intended to provide legal advice.