As this Veracode infographic explains, social engineering is the art of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. Could you fall victim?
Hacking thieves can be very manipulative. Take the case of a CEO, for example. Through his Facebook page, hackers were able to discover that he has a family member battling cancer. They used this Achilles heel to con him into making a donation to a charity that didn’t exist. When he opened the PDF file they sent, it was malware that took over his computer.
This doesn’t mean you have to be rich and powerful to be taken advantage of, or even an individual. Nearly half of all enterprises have been victims of social engineering attacks. Eighty-six percent of IT professionals know the risks associated with social engineering, and there’s a 75 percent success rate with social engineering phone calls to businesses.
Check out the infographic below for more revelations on hacking the mind.
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