The monetary and reputational cost of a data breach can be devastating for any business in the professional services industry. Which is why it’s essential to understand common social engineering attacks and their likely costs. Here, Intellesec explains how to protect your firm from credential theft and prevent your sensitive data from being sold on the Dark Web.
What is social engineering?
Cyber criminals use social engineering to exploit human frailties and manipulate unsuspecting users into exposing data, spreading malware infections, or handing over access to restricted systems. The attacker tends to motivate the user into compromising themselves using a variety of methods, which include anything from a single email to months of social media chats. The best-known type of social engineering attack is phishing.
Phishing attackers pose as a trusted individual or institution to persuade users to expose data and valuables. These types of attacks can either be non-personalised spam phishing attacks or more personalised spear phishing attacks. Traditionally, email has been the main vehicle for phishing attacks, luring unsuspecting users to click on bogus web links or download malware attachments. But the scammers have branched out.
There are now countless other types of phishing attacks in circulation, including voice phishing (vishing) attacks, whereby automated message systems record all inputs. SMS phishing (smishing), which may include a web link or a prompt to call a fraudulent phone number. Then there’s search engine phishing, where fraudsters place links to fake websites at the top of search results – often using paid ads.
The cost of credential theft
When credential theft occurs at an enterprise level, the consequences can be hugely damaging. For firms in the professional services that handle large amounts of personal and financial data on a regular basis, it’s easy to see how damaging a social engineering attack could be. The worst-case scenario is that confidential client data is sold on the dark web to the highest bidder. Once it’s on the dark web, it’s there forever.
The Dark Web is an encrypted network of websites that can’t be found using regular search engines or browsers. This keeps the location, owners and activity of sites hidden. Little wonder then that 50% of all sites on the dark web are used for criminal activities. The last thing any firm wants is for their sensitive data to be available in this domain for hackers to buy, which can be years after the initial breach even took place.
Keeping your data off the dark web
As we touched upon earlier, cyber criminals prey on weakness. In the main, they’re reliant on human errors to gain access to what they want. But unpatched systems and ageing legacy firewalls also make their job that much easier. But fear not, there are various ways to protect your firm from falling foul of fraudsters. Security awareness training for your staff and outsourced Credential Theft Monitoring services can prove invaluable.
Intellesec’s Credential Theft Monitoring tools enable us to monitor the dark web in real time. That means we can alert you as soon as your credentials go on sale, giving you plenty of time to change your passwords before a breach takes place. For time-poor and overstretched IT departments, our Credential Theft Monitoring solutions provide an invaluable early warning system and an extra layer of security. Take back control today!
Contact Intellesec today
For more information about Credential Theft Monitoring, or to discuss your cyber security requirements in more detail, please contact Intellesec today on 0116 3266123 or email hello@intellesec.co.uk.
