Social engineering – hacking humans if you will – it’s one of those sexy topics that comes up from time to time, usually from a warning.. “Beware of the social engineers!”. But what is it?
Logan and I did two podcast episodes on social engineering. Part one goes into the different tactics used by social engineers. The more we talk about what they are, the more we can protect ourselves from using social engineering against us in a malicious way. And who knows, maybe we can get an upgrade using it ourselves?
Let’s start by breaking it down a bit.
Social engineering focuses on the targeting of people, versus computers, and it primarily relies on individuals or groups of people breaking security procedures, policies, and rules. Really, a social engineer’s job is to find and exploit human weaknesses and behaviors to accomplish their goals. This can be done in person, over the phone, text message, email, or really any method where you can engage with the target. It requires a good understanding of human behavior and human weaknesses – you want to persuade your target to provide information or access that will allow you to succeed in your goals, such a during a penetration or “Red Team” test.
Now let’s take a look at some tactics used by social engineers. Let’s also note that these are primarily focused on those in the sense of performing a penetration test.
- Trust: trust is at the foundation of most social engineering attacks. The easiest way to get someone to do what you want is to build trust. And remember, most individuals unconsciously want to trust others – we really do tend to think the best of others.
- Reciprocation: this is going to rely on the target feeling indebted to you, or that they need to return a favor.
- Authority: focuses on making the target believe you have the power or right to ask them to perform actions or provide information. Think about how official someone looks when they’re walking around with a clipboard (and some confidence!).
- Urgency: this is the sense that an action needs to be performed – now (or else).
- Fear: fear that something will go wrong, or that the target would be punished if they do not respond or help in some way.
- Likeness or similarity: people want to belong, they want to feel liked; finding a common denominator with your target is a simple means of building trust. Does your target love the Chicago Blackhawks? Wear a Blackhawks shirt (and make sure you know at least some of their history or some unique facts).
- Social proof: this relies on persuading your target that they should do something because other people have behaved similarly. Think of it like guilt-ing someone into doing something “because everyone else does it”.
- Scarcity: this is related to a fear-based approach, but focuses on there being fewer rewards or opportunities, requiring someone to act fast. Anyone remember the Great Toilet Paper Scare of 2020?
- Helpful nature: my personal favorite, this is people’s inherent nature to be good people and to help others.
Now that we’ve addressed some of the tactics of performing social engineering – let’s break it down into in-person vs. computer based social engineering. Each method is going to require a different skill set, but both are going to require a good understanding of the target.
In-person social engineering provides us with the ability to read our target’s body language and use that to our advantage (or disadvantage). Some of the more well-known methods of it include:
- Elicitation: by definition, elicitation is getting information without directly asking for it. Magic. Right? Well, not exactly. Typically, asking for information directly can cause suspicious. If someone asked you what your password was you’d probably tell them off, wouldn’t you? Well, what if they ask you about your pets, or ask when your birthday is, or where you’re from? Those are somewhat innocuous questions that could arise throughout a normal conversation, but they provide quite a bit of personal information. Elicitation is all about asking questions or talking about seemingly unrelated topics that are used to lead a person to reveal the information you are looking for. One of the best ways to do this is through open-ended questions or leading questions.
- Interrogation and Interviews: interrogation questions typically involve you (the social engineer), asking most, if not all, of the questions which is also likely to make the target less comfortable. Interview question, on the other hand, typically put a person at more ease. Think about the difference between a cop show and an interview on an Anthony Bourdain episode.
- Impersonation: essentially, disguising yourself as another person to gain access to facilities or resources. This could involve claiming to be a staff member or wearing a uniform and presenting a false or cloned badge or ID.
- Shoulder surfing: this is truly just watching over someone’s shoulder to get information like passwords or access codes. I see this at coffee shops when I set up behind another table and can watch everything that person is doing, watching people enter their cell phone passwords, or even in an office building when someone swipes their badge and enters a pin. Sometimes you don’t need to be a cyber nerd that cracks passwords when you can just watch someone enter it themselves.
Social engineering over a computer allows us a little more flexibility (in methods, timing, targets, etc.). Instead of spending hours looking for a potential software vulnerability to exploit, like in the case of a “hacker”, a social engineer is more likely to pose as a support technician and trick an employee into giving them their login credentials.
- Bating: this involves leaving something for someone to find, relying on an individuals curiosity. For example, leaving a USB thumb drive (or two or three), that is loaded with malware of course, in a commercial parking lot, waiting for someone to see it and plug into their computer to see what’s on it, thus injecting malware into the computer/network. Bonus points for labeling the USB thumb drive with “Confidential” or “Bonuses”.
- Phishing: probably one of the most prevalent methods of obtaining information from an unwitting victim. All it requires is ending an email to a target, sometimes with a link to clink or an attachment to download, or simply questions to answer.
- Email hacking or contact spamming: how much more likely are you to read an email that is coming from someone you know? A lot, I’d assume. This is something we see coming from criminals who have gained access into an email account and then proceed to send out mass emails to the entire contacts list, hoping to then compromise additional accounts.
- Watering-Hole: compromising a website by modifying its code to include malware. This can be done on the code of the site itself, or code from ads or plug-ins. Now, when a target accesses that site, the site will be laced with malware unbeknownst to the target.
- Cloned website: Just as it sounds, creating a replica, aka clone, of a website. It will appear to be a real website, but it will instead capture any data that is entered and either pass it along to the real website (while keeping a cope of it for the attacker), or by redirecting the user elsewhere. This is a great way for obtaining login credentials, and as easy as copying and saving the code and then using a tool such as Social Engineering Toolkit.
Social engineering is always malicious. Penetration Testers and Red Teamers use it all the time in their attempts to compromise a site or network. I’ve seen it used at bars, at the airport, or anywhere someone is just trying to get something for a discounted price. Negotiation is social engineering to an extent. Want to get someone’s number at a bar, use some of the tactics I mentioned above. But remember, it’s going to take practice to get it “right”, you want it to feel natural. And yes, the “bad guys” use it all the time, and we should be able to recognize when someone is trying to social engineer us.
Originally posted on www.allymarie.net
1284 comments
HOW I GOT MY HERBAL REMEDY FOR MY HERPES DISEASE
Hello, I think it is the right time for you all to know about this traditional herbal spell caster who helped me find a remedy to cure my Herpes disease. I have been a victim of herpes disease for the past 2 years. I have done everything I could to get rid of it, but it has all failed me. All thanks to Dr Isa, who came to my rescue and sent me herbal tea that I drank for 7 days, which cured me totally from suffering from my herpes disease. For those of you who need help to cure your disease should contact this traditional herbal man for help. I assure you that he will help you. WHATSAPP: +2347046030096 Contact email: drisaspellcaster@gmail.com Website: https://drisaspellcaster.wixsite.com/dr-isa
HOW I GOT MY HERBAL REMEDY FOR MY HERPES DISEASE
Hello, I think it is the right time for you all to know about this traditional herbal spell caster who helped me find a remedy to cure my Herpes disease. I have been a victim of herpes disease for the past 2 years. I have done everything I could to get rid of it, but it has all failed me. All thanks to Dr Isa, who came to my rescue and sent me herbal tea that I drank for 7 days, which cured me totally from suffering from my herpes disease. For those of you who need help to cure your disease should contact this traditional herbal man for help. I assure you that he will help you. WHATSAPP: +2347046030096 Contact email: drisaspellcaster@gmail.com Website: https://drisaspellcaster.wixsite.com/dr-isa
Am very glad to share this testimony with everyone for the marvelous work Dr Aba has done for my life, 6months ago i was diagnosed with herpes virus and ever since then i have been very unhappy, i was so down broken everyday, until one day when i came across a shocking testimony about how Dr Aba cured someone of his herpes virus, without wasting much time i contacted him immediately on his email address: dr.abaherbalhome@gmail.com and after i explain myself to him about how terrible i have been, and he assure me that he will help me to cure my herpes virus,after he has prepared the herbal medicine he sent it to me and when i have received it and started using it i was totally cure within 2weeks, i am forever grateful to Dr Aba for helping me out with his herpes prescription that cured my virus. contact his email address: dr.abaherbalhome@gmail.com or you can call or whatsApp his Mobile number:+2348107155060
Am very glad to share this testimony with everyone for the marvelous work Dr Aba has done for my life, 6months ago i was diagnosed with herpes virus and ever since then i have been very unhappy, i was so down broken everyday, until one day when i came across a shocking testimony about how Dr Aba cured someone of his herpes virus, without wasting much time i contacted him immediately on his email address: dr.abaherbalhome@gmail.com and after i explain myself to him about how terrible i have been, and he assure me that he will help me to cure my herpes virus,after he has prepared the herbal medicine he sent it to me and when i have received it and started using it i was totally cure within 2weeks, i am forever grateful to Dr Aba for helping me out with his herpes prescription that cured my virus. contact his email address: dr.abaherbalhome@gmail.com or you can call or whatsApp his Mobile number:+2348107155060
AN AMAZING REMEDY FOR HSV 1 & 2. It’s so unbelievable how wonderful herbs can be. when I first saw a post that said that a man have a perfect cure for HSV 1&2, i was like could this be real or some kind of scam but due to my eagerness to be cured I took the risk of contacting him, he gave me reasons to believe he is a real herbalist so I followed all his instructions on how to take the drugs for 14 days and now all my test results shows HSV 1&2 (-) negative , Dr Aba have the most safe cure for herpes and other stubborn virus which are HSV 1&2,STI,STD just name it he has the cure for them all. Contact him via his personal email address which is dr.abaherbalhome@gmail.com . Trust me you will like this method, it’s safe, cheap and easy. Do well to let others know about this.
It is a very hard situation when playing the lottery and never won, or keep winning low fund not up to 100 bucks, i have been a victim of such a tough life, the biggest fund i have ever won was 100 bucks, and i have been playing lottery for almost 11 years now, things suddenly change the moment i came across a secret online, a testimony of a spell caster called Dr.Isa who help people win in any type of lottery numbers, i was not easily convinced, but i decided to give a try, now i am a proud to be a lottery winner with the help of Dr.Isa spell, i won 2,000,000 Million dollars and i am making this known to everyone out there who have been trying all day to win the lottery, believe me this is the only way to win the lottery, this is the real secret we all have been searching for.
His WhatsApp: +2347046030096
Email >> drisaspellcaster@gmail.com
Website: https://drisaspellcaster.wixsite.com/dr-isa
URGENT AND EFFECTIVE LOVE SPELL CASTER TO HELP YOU GET BACK YOUR EX LOVER VERY FAST WHATSAPP +2349047144277
My Name is Nate from Ireland, I want to say thank you to Doctor Masako for the good thing he has done for me, Though am not sure if this is the best forum to show my joy and happiness for what he has done for me but i can’t hide happiness and my Joy so i have to share it with people, my marriage got crashed about two years ago and i tried all i could within my power but to no avail. I saw a post and testimonial about the good things Doctor Masako has been doing so I decided to give it a try. though he is always a busy man but when he responded back to my email, he gave me 24hours for my marriage to be restored really just like he said my marriage was restored since then I am happy and i am living happily i am so grateful, Doctor Masako you can always email him here: doctormasako@gmail.com or WHATSAPP +2349047144277 Website: doctormasako2.wixsite.com/drmasakospelltemple
Get rid of all kinds of Herpes and virus infections, Diabetes, Hepatitis A B C, Menopause and HIV with Natural Roots and Herbs, i was once infected with HERPES and after using Dr UMA Herbal Medicine for couple of weeks i couldn’t trace it anymore, i even went for checkup and my test came out Negative. Get your cure today from this wonderful herbalist, Dr. UMA.
You can also reach doctor UMA on WhatsApp
+2347035619585 or Email dr.umaherbalcenter@gmail.com.
Hello everyone i want to use this medium to appreciate the greatest spell caster Priest Ade for restoring my broken marriage, My husband and i have been having problems for months now we use to be very sweet but all of a sudden everything changed he was now distant from me until one day he told me he wanted a divorce which left me devastated i cried my eyes out so i told my friend about all that has been going on, She introduced me to Priest Ade he told me not to worry he told me all i needed to do and he assured me that in 24 hours all that is wrong with our relationship will be fine the next day to my greatest surprise it was my husband back home apologizing I’m so happy we are closer and stronger than we have ever been, I promised to share your amazing work when i get results so this is me keeping my word, Thank you so much Priest Ade,I will leave his contact information for anyone who needs help: ancientspiritspellcast@gmail.com
Read more on his website:
https://ancientspellcast.wordpress.com
WhatsApp: +2347070518515
I URGENTLY NEED A LOVE SPELL CASTER TO HELP ME GET MY EX BACK CONTACT (DR DAVID) Awesomenesspelltemple@gmail.com OR +2347051149457 I want to share my wonderful testimony how I got back my husband back, who I sworn ever to be with until when he left me to another woman for no reason and I try to make things work for both of us yet things were getting worse and I love him so much and there is nothing I could do to get my husband baAck until I saw a testimony share by a woman called Rachel from Florida on the internet talking about a powerful spell caster who brought her husband back within 24 hours and I decide to give it a try and to my greatest surprise he also did it for me just as he did for Rachel and I have a lot of people complaining of fake spell caster but this one I met was a real spell caster who help me to solve my problem I have no solution to, I introduce many of my best friends that have a similar problems, and their problem were solve with the great help of DR David, who help them to get back their lovers within 24 hours. I am so happy that my husband is back to me again, and the most surprising thing is that our love is very strong, every day is happiness and joy. and There is nothing like being with the man you love. I am so happy my love is back to me with the help of DR David . If you have similar problem I will advise you to contact him ,he is there to help you and put a smile on your face as he did to me and others you can also WhatsApp him +2347051149457 or Email him at :
awesomenesspelltemple@gmail.com or view his website for more review: https://63e1caad0959a.site123.me/