Mitigation of Social Engineering

Mitigating social engineering attacks in general

A malicious actor may use psychological manipulation, deception, or other strategies as part of a social engineering attack to persuade people to reveal sensitive information or perform actions that could compromise an organization’s security. Because this approach relies more on human behavior than technological flaws to succeed, it’s challenging to stop. Machines can follow rules easily, but humans aren’t as rigid. It’s this flexibility and the psychological need of ownership that social engineering attacks attempt to exploit. As such, some attacks, such as phishing, are often just considered akin to scamming.

Implementing a combination of technical and nontechnical measures is vital to mitigate the risk of social engineering attacks. Some steps that organizations can take to do so include:

• Providing employees with training and education about common social engineering tactics, such as phishing, pretexting, and baiting, can help to increase their awareness ...