When the hacker pretends to be a colleague: Preparing for cyber attacks through social engineering

Social engineering is the name given to the method by which employees are manipulated into disclosing confidential data. Almost one in two German companies (45%) have experienced such incidents within a year. 30 percent report isolated attempts, 15 percent even report frequent attempts. These are the results of a survey of 1003 companies with ten or more employees commissioned by the digital association Bitkom.

"On the one hand, cyber criminals use social engineering to gain access to IT systems. On the other hand, it may initially only be a matter of collecting important information, such as the names of direct superiors or the software used. Such information can also help to prepare another social engineering attack or carry out a cyberattack," says Felix Kuhlenkamp, IT security expert at the digital association Bitkom.

Bitkom gives four tips on how companies can better protect themselves against social engineering:

(1) Companies should conduct regular training courses to sensitize employees to the dangers of social engineering. They can learn how to recognize and report suspicious messages or requests.

(2) Define processes clearly and design them securely: Companies should define guidelines as to which information may be passed on by which means - by telephone or email, for example - and which may never be passed on, such as passwords. In addition, double security mechanisms such as the checking and confirmation of transfers or sensitive decisions by at least two or more people in different areas of the company should be implemented. This greatly minimizes the risks of manipulation by individuals or unauthorized access.

(3) Multi-factor authentication, which requires a code on the smartphone or a keycard in addition to the password, for example, makes it more difficult to use information obtained through social engineering. Attackers can therefore not penetrate IT systems as easily.

(4) In principle, companies should use security software such as spam filters or anti-phishing software to filter out at least simple attacks. In addition, special software-based systems can be used to detect unusual activities in your own network that indicate social engineering attacks. Artificial intelligence and anomaly detection often detect suspicious behavior and trigger an alarm in good time.

bitkom.org