Social engineering is one of the ways that hackers can steal highly sensitive information such as passwords, usernames, and everything else about the targets that hackers are after. Social engineering is not the same as guessing a password using a customize programming script that the hackers programmed, but it’s rather about how the hackers trick the targets to give out the information themselves. Not only hackers but just about everyone had done this sometimes in their lives. How? When you lie to get your way, then you are social engineering.
If you’re getting a phone call from a stranger that claims he/she is from an important business that you are associating with, and he/she needs you to give out certain information, you need to beware that this person may not be who he/she is claiming to be. You can’t really see a person face over the phone right? Even if you’ve a face to face contact, a hacker may be able to steal something important from you by pretending that he/she is helpful to your situation. Even if you don’t have a situation, a hacker can create a situation for you, and then he/she pretends to be there by chance to help you out. Gaining trust is what hackers are after when they’re social engineering someone.
Using email, hackers can social engineering uninformed people to click onto a link within the email message to unleash computer viruses and rootkits onto the computers. Recently, a hacker goes by the nickname Hacker Croll had social engineered someone in Twitter organization and gained access to Twitter’s system. This hacker was able to access high profile Twitter’s members like Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher.
It’s hard to guard against social engineering. How do you know when a person is not telling the truth? This is why it’s important for you to not trust someone you don’t know so easily.
Vinh Nguyen
