Table of Contents
According to the InfoSec Institute, the following five techniques are among the most commonly used social engineering attacks.
- Phishing.
- Watering hole.
- Whaling attack.
- Pretexting.
- Baiting and quid pro quo attacks.
What is social engineering in social science?
Social engineering is a top-down effort to influence particular attitudes and social behaviors on a large scale—most often undertaken by governments, but also carried out by media, academia or private groups—in order to produce desired characteristics in a target population.
Let’s explore the six common types of social engineering attacks:
- Phishing.
- Vishing and Smishing.
- Pretexting.
- Baiting.
- Tailgating and Piggybacking.
- Quid Pro Quo.
- Cyber Threats Beyond Social Engineering.
Which of the following are examples of social engineering?
Examples of social engineering range from phishing attacks where victims are tricked into providing confidential information, vishing attacks where an urgent and official sounding voice mail convinces victims to act quickly or suffer severe consequences, or physical tailgating attacks that rely on trust to gain …
Explanation: Calling a help desk and convincing them to reset a password for a user account is an example of social engineering.
What is piecemeal social engineering?
The piecemeal social engineer attempts to solve his problem from the private angle or piecemeal manner knowing the dire consequences of an unexpected result; he never attempts to solve his problem from the public angle or in a holistic manner.
4 Social Engineering Attack Examples (with Pictures!)
- Spear Phishing Emails, Calls or Texts. Phishing is a term used to describe cyber criminals who “fish” for information from unsuspecting users.
- Baiting.
- Quid Pro Quo.
- Tailgating or Piggybacking.