Social engineering has become increasingly prevalent in this digitised world.
Defined as the art of manipulating people into giving away confidential information, many SMEs in the UK can come across social engineering threats and potentially face various types of losses.
In certain IT systems, people are considered as the weakest link due to their susceptibility to cyber attacks such as phishing. With business owners continuing to ignore these serious threats, they may leave their organisation vulnerable to a number of cyber attacks.
At Redpalm, we understand the importance of robust security in every business’ IT infrastructure and know about the best IT practices to strengthen cyber security.
With this in mind, we’ve put together a short guide on what you need to know about social engineering threats and the best way to tackle them.
Let’s take a look.
What Are Social Engineering Threats?
Social engineering is a strategy adopted by cyber criminals to trick people into breaking the company’s standard security practices. These modern day con artists rely heavily on the susceptibility of victims to manipulate them into revealing confidential information.
Whether it is a lack of awareness of the employee or absence of security guidelines on the company’s behalf, a social engineering threat is easily one of the biggest cyber attacks a business can face.
When compared to traditional cyber attacks, social engineering is different as it has a non-technical approach that does not necessarily include attacking networks or servers. In many cases, criminals behind social engineering attacks can create for themselves an authorised access to the company’s networks and then take advantage of the confidential information.
After this, these criminals can pretend to be trusted insiders with easy access to any important credentials and extract whatever information they require.
Types Of Social Engineering Threats
Since social engineering attacks are directly on the employees, making sure they are trained and aware of the different attacks is a necessary measure all businesses need to consider.
Here are the common types of social engineering threats you need to look out for –
- Phishing- Many times, a cyber criminal makes fraudulent conversations with a victim, pretending to be a legitimate insider to trick the employee into thinking that they are trustworthy. After this, the employee is made to reveal sensitive information or download software that gives way to the cyber criminal to access information. This practice is known as phishing.
- Baiting – Baiting is done through malware infected devices such as a USB or flash drive. These devices are randomly placed in a space near the employee to tempt them to run the device on their computer and laptop. The malware then affects the device allowing the attacker access to the system.
- Tailgating – Tailgating is a technique in which the criminal physically follows the employee to a secure location to threaten and obtain valuable information and data. Criminals have many creative ways to do this, making it necessary for employees to stay alert of any suspicious behaviour.
Ways To Combat Social Engineering Threats
The first step in tackling social engineering threats is to identify information or areas that cyber criminals may be interested in. After this, you need to prioritise who gets access to such information and ensure that they’re informed about standard security measures and practices to prevent anything from happening on their end.
Additionally, adopting the following practices can help you improve overall security of your organisation –
1. Opt For Cloud Computing And Regular Updates
Out-of-date systems and networks can make your organisation vulnerable to a number of threats. In such cases, cloud systems can prove to be beneficial in centralising and backing up your data and information rather than having it locally stored across multiple remote devices.
With this, you also need to ensure that you keep installing the latest updates and patches to get maximum protection against bugs and security issues.
2. Have Robust Cyber Security Measures In Place
Strong cyber security solutions in place will always work to your advantage. From password management, firewalls and multi-factor authentication procedures to network monitoring and proactive IT help desk, there’s a lot you can implement for your organisation.
Additionally, by having a dedicated managed service provider like Redpalm, that can stay on top of all IT related concerns, you can shift your focus to the core operations of your business.
3. Proactively Monitor And Manage Data And Systems
For formulating appropriate data and system management policies, an IT audit is essential to get better insights of your company’s IT infrastructure. From identifying the vulnerable areas to properly organising and managing data, proactive monitoring is beneficial and helpful for every type of business.
With this, you can identify risks beforehand and effectively manage them before they are taken advantage of.
Most of these approaches can be managed effectively by working with an IT solutions provider like Redpalm. By having professional help, you can rest assured of the overall safety and protection of your organisation.
Contact Redpalm For IT Support Solutions To Combat Social Engineering Threats
If you want to ensure your organisation is protected against all types of social engineering threats and attacks, having robust IT security solutions in place is a must and with Redpalm, you get exactly that.
With our comprehensive IT services and solutions, you’re ensured all round protection of your business.
To find out more, get in touch with us today!
