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-BSI raise awareness of social engineering techniques for Cyber Security Month-
28 October 2020
A recent poll¹ carried out by BSI highlighted phishing as the most frequent organization hack for 59 per cent of respondents, this was followed by malware at 44 per cent, web hack at 21 per cent, credit card hack at 18 per cent and wireless compromise at 12 per cent. For Cyber Security Month, BSI’s cybersecurity and information resilience team are focused on supporting organizations and individuals across industry sectors to raise awareness and mitigate the risks of social engineering techniques.
Social engineering techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are being used to trick individuals into divulging confidential information or taking action that may not be in their best interest. Understanding and being aware of attackers' social engineering techniques is vital for everyone. Here BSI outlines the seven most common techniques currently being utilized:
Adam Hall, Senior Consultant - Cyber, Risk and Advisory at BSI explains: “Social engineering has escalated over the last few months and continues to rise day by day. With October being Cyber Security Month, we wanted to focus on raising awareness and educating on how to identify various threats to help improve the security postures of employees across all industry sectors as well as the wider community.”
“Our advice is always to think before you click, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Be aware of current phishing campaigns and the tone of an email and be particularly aware when it requests username and passwords or when it uses impersonal phrases. Always check if the senders’ address and the URL link match the company- roll the mouse over the link to see what the website is. If you have any doubt about the legitimacy of an email or any of the above technique scenarios we have highlighted, do not give out any information or open the email. Contact the individual directly by phone (using the advertised company phone number) to check for authenticity and report it to your IT department or relevant authority.”
The Consulting Services team at BSI provides an expansive range of solutions to help organizations address challenges in cybersecurity, information management and privacy, security awareness and compliance. For more information visit the BSI website.