What is Social Engineering?

In a general context, any intervention that influences people's behavior using psychological techniques can be considered social engineering.

However, the very idea of this concept is not always associated with criminal activity or deception. In fact, social engineering is actively researched and applied in various fields such as social sciences, psychology and marketing.

In the context of cybersecurity, social engineering refers to ulterior motives and refers to dangerous activities aimed at manipulating human behavior in order to obtain personal or confidential information that can subsequently be used to harm an individual or his organization.

Social engineering is often viewed as a cyber threat, but the concept has been around for a long time and can refer not only to online attacks, but also to real-life scams, often involving impersonation of a reputable agency or IT professional. However, with the advent of the Internet, it has become easier for hackers to carry out manipulation on a much larger scale, and unfortunately, these malicious activities have also found their way into the cryptocurrency space.

All forms of social engineering rely on vulnerabilities in human psychology. Fraudsters and criminals use people's emotions to manipulate and deceive them.

Human emotions such as fear, greed, curiosity, and even the desire to help others can be used against people themselves in a variety of ways. Among the many such malicious social engineering techniques, “phishing” is by far one of the most widespread and well-known examples.

Phishing hooks (emails, messages, links, attachments, etc.) often spoof shipments from real companies. Such hooks may contain warnings about the need to update your account or about unusual activity in your account. To “verify identity” or “restore access,” the user may be asked to follow a link and enter personal information on a fake website. Out of fear or anxiety, many people may immediately react to such notifications, click on links, and unintentionally provide their sensitive data to attackers.

Fraudsters can explore social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Telegram, etc. to obtain information about potential victims. They can create fake profiles, pretending to be colleagues, friends or even family members of the victim, and start befriending them. They can then use this trusted relationship to convince the victim to provide their personal information or account passwords. For example, scammers can create a fake LinkedIn profile, pretending to be an employee of a cryptocurrency company, and ask the victim for her username and wallet password, citing a security check or the need to update data.

Social engineering is also used to distribute fake antiviruses, malware that tricks users into installing malicious software or visiting infected websites with false threats.

Baiting is another social engineering technique that causes problems for many inattentive users. This is the use of tricks to attract victims based on their greed or curiosity. For example, scammers may set up a website that offers free content such as music, videos or books, but requires you to provide personal information or download malware to access it.

This scheme can also be implemented outside of Internet surfing by using, for example, USB sticks and external hard drives. Fraudsters may deliberately leave infected devices in public places, so an interested person who takes them to check the contents risks infecting their personal computer.

These cases are just a few examples of how scammers use social engineering to gain access to the information they need. It is important to be vigilant and careful to avoid becoming a victim of such attacks.

Greed can have serious consequences, especially in financial markets, where traders and investors become especially vulnerable to various fraudulent schemes such as phishing attacks, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and others.

In the blockchain industry, where cryptocurrencies attract significant interest, many newcomers are attracted to the space in a short period of time, especially during bull market periods.

Many people, without fully understanding how cryptocurrency works, hear about its potential to generate profits and end up investing without proper research. For newbies, social engineering becomes especially important, as they often give in to their greed or fear.

On the one hand, newcomers, seeking to quickly make a profit and easy money, may be lured by false promises of sweepstakes and cryptocurrency giveaways. On the other hand, fear of losing personal data may force users to pay a ransom. Sometimes users fall victim to false signals or messages created by hackers, even without actually being infected with ransomware (also known as ransomware).

They can take many forms, including phishing emails and fake banners, which may contain syntax or spelling errors. This allows them to be exposed to those who pay attention to such details. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is - an attempt at deception. Given the different methods, it is important to be vigilant and pay attention to details to avoid falling into the trap of scammers.

To avoid the threat of social engineering, it is important to follow certain security measures:

These measures will help strengthen your defenses against social engineering and other types of cyber attacks.