Are You a Victim of Social Engineering Without Even Knowing It?

In the past, people had this image of computer hackers using sophisticated software to break into networks and steal files or ruin people’s hard drives. A typical “hack” would look like something out of The Matrix; a series of numbers and random letters flying across the screen with the “hacker” mashing away at the keyboard to make it look like they’re typing.

Cyber criminals nowadays do completely different things in order to break into your computer. Instead of brute-forcing their way into your social media accounts, they use what’s called social engineering. The scariest thing about social engineering is that most people are oblivious to what it is, how it works and if they’re even a victim of it. In this article, we’re going to educate you on social engineering so you can protect yourself in the future and keep those wannabe cyber criminals out of your life.

What is social engineering?

Social engineering is a way to get information through psychological manipulation. No, it doesn’t involve some crazy hypnosis or mind control, but it does use some psychological tricks that most people would be oblivious to. Think of it as a clever way to fool people into telling you their private information.

For example, you might get into a conversation with a random nice person on the internet. They’ll be talking about their interests and you’ll respond with your own. You’ll tell them that you’re an avid cat owner and the first cat you ever had was named Smokey. You’ll also mention that you met Smokey on your 8th birthday which was fifteen years ago on the 14th of February 2003. Then you’ll hear about how they love pets too, and then they’ll tell you they have to leave. Sounds like an innocent conversation–or does it?

This is an example of someone using social engineering to get your personal information. Not only can they work out your date of birth from the information you gave them (something which many people publicly display) you’ve also given them information of a common security question that sites request: “What is the name of your first pet?”. This is social engineering and this is the most common method of how cyber criminals break into your accounts to steal personal information. The most worrying thing is that this information can then be sold or used at a later date, so you won’t even know if you’re a victim until you’ve suddenly lost access to your social media accounts or you have a money leaking out from your bank account.

How can I prevent it?

Preventing social engineering is difficult. In businesses, it’s important to use things like full colour badges so that every one of your employees is marked and has official verification when entering secure areas or even just walking in and out of the office. It’s all too easy for someone to steal, copy or imitate a security pass and pretend to be someone they’re not and just waltz into your business.

That’s a rather extreme case of social engineering, however. If you just want to protect yourself at home, then you need to think about how you can avoid giving our personal information during conversations and be mindful of strangers that approach you on social media.