Social Engineering

Social engineering is the use of human manipulation and psychology to gain access to a facility, system or divulge information that can be used in coordination  with other cyber security strategies to breach a computer system or infrastructure. Social engineering  is utilized in a variety of approaches including:

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• Physical access to computer systems

• Phone or technical support

• Chat Support

• Online, social media, social apps

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Social engineering leverages public information, company events, social media posts, employee and vendor social media profiles, media and news releases, holidays and basic impersonation techniques. Once the social engineer or unauthorized person breaches the initial security, they are able to access critical systems, place physical devices on existing computer systems (such a USB thumb drive with malicious software) or learn important data for future attacks.