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What is social engineering in cybersecurity?

Social engineering attacks are a type of cyber threat where malicious actors deceive people into revealing confidential information, granting system access or performing actions that compromise security. These attacks are especially dangerous because they bypass traditional security measures to target users directly, who are often considered the weakest link in any organization's security defenses.

How do social engineering attacks work?

Another dangerous aspect of social engineering is that attackers, or social engineers, typically don’t need any sophisticated malware or complex network exploits to perform them. They use human interaction to trick people into doing something that helps their cause, such as sharing login details, clicking a malicious link or giving access to restricted areas. These attacks often appear harmless on the surface, which is what makes them so effective.

To give you a clearer idea, here’s a breakdown of how a typical social engineering attack would unfold:

  • Reconnaissance: The attacker gathers information about the target, such as their job role, colleagues’ names, interests or recent social media activity. Public sources like LinkedIn, Facebook or company websites are commonly used.
  • Building trust: The attacker then uses the collected information to create a believable story. They may pretend to be a colleague, an IT support technician or someone from HR. The goal is to appear legitimate.
  • Exploiting emotions or urgency: To make the victim act impulsively, the attacker introduces a sense of urgency, fear, authority or curiosity. For example, they may send a warning about a suspended account, a fake emergency or a reward like a gift card or bonus.
  • The hook: The victim is pushed to take an action, like clicking a link, downloading a file or sharing sensitive details. By now, the attacker has likely earned just enough trust to make this seem normal.
  • Execution and success: Once the victim complies, the attacker gets what they came for: e.g., the victim’s login credentials, sensitive data or unauthorized access to systems.
How do social engineering attacks work?

Behavioral manipulation in cyberattacks

Psychological manipulation is a key part of social engineering. Attackers take advantage of human traits like trust, curiosity, fear of missing out or the desire to help. The important thing to note here is that these aren’t technical flaws, they’re human habits. That’s why even well-trained employees can fall for social engineering if they’re caught off guard at the right moment.

Why are social engineering attacks so effective?

Here are some reasons why 98% of all cyberattacks rely on some form of social engineering:

  • It’s easier to fool a person than break through strong technical defenses.
  • Even with the best security controls in place, one mistake by a user can let an attacker in. Attribute-based access control or tier-zero security can’t stop someone from willingly giving out a password.
  • When people feel rushed or scared, they’re more likely to act without thinking things through.
  • These attacks blend in with normal communication; a well-crafted phishing email or fake support call can look or sound just like the real thing.
  • Since social engineering relies more on psychological manipulation than technical skill, it’s a relatively inexpensive and accessible attack method that a wide range of malicious actors can use.

What are the common types of social engineering attacks?

Here are the most commonly used forms of social engineering attacks:

1. Phishing

Phishing is when an attacker sends fake emails or messages to trick users into revealing their passwords, credit card info or other sensitive details.

2. Vishing

Vishing, or voice phishing, is when attackers make phone calls pretending to be someone trustworthy (like a bank representative or IT support) to trick victims into sharing sensitive information.

3. Smishing

Smishing is phishing done through SMS. Attackers send text messages with links to get users to act quickly.

4. Baiting

In a baiting attack, attackers offer something tempting to lure the user into making a mistake. A baiting example can be an attacker distributing free USB drives designed to install malware.

5. Pretexting

In pretexting, the attacker creates a fake scenario (the "pretext") to gain the target’s trust and extract information.

6. Tailgating

Tailgating happens when an attacker follows an authorized person into a restricted area without permission.

7. Pretexting vs phishing

Pretexting and phishing seem similar, but it’s important to understand how they differ.

Phishing usually casts a wide net. Attackers send out fake messages with the hope that someone will fall for the trick. Pretexting, on the other hand, is more targeted; attackers build a highly believable and personalized backstory to gain the victim’s trust over time.

In a sentence: phishing is about tricking people fast, whereas pretexting is more about patience and social skill.

What are the risks and real-world impacts of social engineering?

A successful social engineering attack can lead to data breaches, financial loss, account takeovers or even full access to internal systems. In many cases, just one employee being tricked is enough to compromise an entire organization.

Examples of social engineering in real life

Here are some real-life cyberattacks that leveraged some form of social engineering:

Company/Incident

What happened

Type of attack

Twitter (2020)

Hackers used phone phishing to trick employees into giving access to internal tools. This led to account takeovers of high-profile users.

Vishing / Pretexting

Ubiquiti (2015)

The attackers impersonated senior Ubiquiti executives via spoofed emails. They were able to convince the company’s finance employees to wire $46.7 million to fraudulent overseas accounts.

Pretexting

Google & Facebook (2013-2015)

Both companies were tricked by a fake vendor into wiring over $100 million.

Phishing/ Business email compromise

How can organizations prevent social engineering attacks?

Next, let’s explore some ways to prevent social engineering attacks:

  • Teach staff how to spot phishing emails, suspicious requests and other common tricks. Use mock tests to keep them alert.
  • Encourage employees to double-check unusual requests, especially the ones involving sensitive info or financial transactions.
  • Follow the principle of least privilege to only give employees access to only the data and systems they need. This reduces the damage if someone falls for an attack. The best way to enforce this at the central level is through an enterprise-grade identity solution, like One Identity.
  • Always require more than just a password (like MFA or adaptive authentication) to access accounts or sensitive systems.
  • Use email filtering and security tools to lock suspicious links and attachments before they reach employees.

A guide on how to detect and respond to social engineering attacks

Finally, here are some tips that will help you detect and respond to social engineering attacks before they cause serious damage.

How to detect social engineering attempts

Here are some early signs of social engineering to watch out for:

  • Mismatch in email addresses or domains: A message that looks like it’s from your company but comes from a different domain.
  • Unusual urgency: Messages or calls pressuring you to act fast, like “your account will be locked” or “transfer funds immediately.”
  • Unexpected requests: Someone asking for sensitive data or access they normally wouldn’t need.
  • Generic or unusual language: Emails with odd phrasing, spelling mistakes or generic greetings like “Dear user.”
  • Requests that bypass normal process: For example, someone asking to skip approval steps or send confidential info outside usual channels.

How to report and respond to social engineering attacks

Once you spot a possible attack, quick action is key.

  • Don’t engage further: Stop replying, clicking or downloading anything from the suspicious message.
  • Report it immediately: Use your company’s reporting tool and/or notify your IT/security team.
  • Preserve evidence: Don’t delete the message right away; your security team may need it for investigation.
  • Reset credentials if needed: If you shared any login info, change your passwords right away and enable MFA.
  • Follow up: Check for signs of further impact, like unusual account activity, and make sure to keep your security team in the loop.

Conclusion

Social engineering has been an effective cyberattack technique for decades. Since it preys on human behavior rather than system flaws, no amount of security controls can fully stop it. That said, user education, clear security policies and the right tools can go a long way in reducing the risk and impact of these attacks.

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