WHAT IS SOCIAL ENGINEERING?

It's the art, the science of manipulating people to get something from them without they realize it. It’s the influences or abuses of the trust of a person to obtain information generally about a computer system (password, sensitive data). It’s therefore the famous human breach.

This breach can be used by ALL without specific knowledge and is the key to success of 90% of piracy. These techniques are of course not detected by the antivirus and it’s the human being who can protect himself, easily, when he becomes aware of it and remains vigilant.

Everyone is already a manipulator, everyone has already lied several times in life, in the current month, even the same day. Handling requires no specific degree or age, and this makes the attack very widespread and vicious. The pirate (or manipulator) will notably play on the psychology, the feeling of the targets, and progress slowly towards the final goal: to hack his victim.

The manipulator will often use your emotions to achieve his ends.

HOW TO COUNTER ATTEMPTS OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING?

This is an interesting subject that directly concerns social psychology applied to computers. We will therefore seek above all to prevent any attempt of manipulation. We will then try to detect an attempted manipulation, that's 90% of the work done.

• PREVENTION:

We start by not leaving too many traces on the Internet and remove a maximum if necessary. The manipulator seeks to identify your interests, your hobbies, your habits, your friends. He generally tries to create an identity card of you and the more information you give him, the easier it becomes to him.

Tip: you can, knowing this, give false information to trap a manipulator. Do not hesitate to create several different e-mail addresses for diverse needs.

• KNOW WHO YOU ARE REALLY DEALING WITH:

The manipulator will never use his identity unless he knows you well and that it doesn’t pose him a problem. He will usually be the opposite sex to you, and in a more general way he will often be thought of as a woman.
If he handles very well, you will usually see only fire because he will create a completely realistic profile.

So, you must take the time to ask for information that he does not have in his possession.
The best way is to request a photo of him with his name / pseudo written on a piece of paper. A trusted person will always be able to assure you with this way and it only takes 2 minutes.

If he gives you photos (for example of attractive women) you can use the TinyEye online service to search for the existence of this photo on the net. You will immediately see where the picture comes from.

• FAIL THE ATTACK:

-Keep these principles in mind and the attack will fail all the time:
-Never give your sensitive information on the Internet to someone you do not know physically (and not even to someone you know).
-Change your passwords regularly.
-Be always vigilant and do not believe the very special offers.
-Stay informed about computer attacks and scams.

Hoping you will never have to deal with hacker using social engineering!

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