What Social Engineering Is Flashcards

All 4 cards in this deck

What is social engineering?

The art of manipulating people so they give up confidential information, rather than attacking the technology.
e.g. blagging, phishing, shouldering

True or false? The people who use a system are often its weakest point in terms of security.

True. Attackers use social engineering to trick users into revealing passwords or access, bypassing technical security.

True or false? A firewall will stop an employee being tricked by a phishing email.

False. A firewall only filters network traffic; staff training and awareness are needed against social engineering.

Give two ways an organisation can protect itself against social engineering.

Any two of: train staff to spot suspicious emails, calls and messages; have a rule that staff never reveal passwords, e.g. over the phone; check unusual requests with the person through a known, trusted contact before acting.