Post by myslayerninja on May 3, 2014 8:41:03 GMT
Your computer files are being held for ransom. Pay up, or lose them. Your bank account is being emptied, so click here to stop it. Your friend has died, click on this funeral home site for more information. Social engineering thugs have reached new lows.
Social engineers, those criminals who take advantage of human behavior to gain access to data or infiltrate businesses, were once content to trick people with free offers or funny videos before unleashing their scams. Today, social engineering gangs have taken a darker turn toward strong-arm tactics, threats, emotional cruelty and dire ultimatums.
While the total number of emails used per spear-phishing campaign has decreased and the number of those targeted has also decreased, the number of spear-phishing campaigns themselves jumped 91 percent in 2013, according to Symantec Corp.’s 2014 Internet Security Threat Report, released in mid-April.
Campaigns run about three times longer than those in 2012, and indicate that user awareness and protection technologies have driven spear phishers to tighten their targeting and sharpen their social engineering. Symantec also reports that “real world” social engineers are combining virtual and real world attack to increase the odds of success.
Chief Human Hacker at Social-Engineer Inc., Chris Hadnagy, sees an increase in use of this tactic on business employees.
“Groups are sending phishing emails with malicious attachments,” which a cautious employee usually ignores.
“But then they’re following up with a phone call that says, ‘Hi, this is Bob in accounting. I just sent you an email with a spreadsheet. I just need you to open that up real quick and check it out.’ Those factors put together make you trust them and take that action.” Social engineering tactics like these serve as the entryway to the latest internet scams.
www.csoonline.com/article/2145944/social-engineering/four-of-the-newest-and-lowest-social-engineering-scams.html?source=CSONLE_nlt_update_2014-04-22&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=4928856#tk.rss_dataprotection
