Today’s IT security experts have to encounter a challenging scenario dominated by cyber hackers who are totally evolved and are constantly upgrading themselves with new techniques. Every other day they invent innovative ways to indulge in cyber crimes. Among other tactics, social engineering, another method of cyber attack, is gaining traction. Although a practical end to cyber security practices is nowhere in sight, gaining awareness can substantially reduce the possibilities of severe attacks.
Social Engineering: Its Significance
As explained, social engineering exploits us. The term applies to various malicious actions enabled through human interactions. Attackers employ psychological manipulation to lead users to commit security errors unknowingly. Some social engineering incidents involve the extraction of sensitive information from the victims.
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Social engineering attacks require a different approach as they can be more dangerous due to the involvement of human errors. Moreover, it is relatively difficult to assess the probabilities and intensity of the attack. In addition, errors committed in some social engineering attacks are less predictable. Consequently, such mistakes are more challenging to identify than software or malware-based vulnerability.
Social Engineering As Part of Edutech
“Social engineering is when cybercriminals look to psychologically manipulate victims using emotions like urgency, fear, and the natural human instinct to want to help and solve problems. So they’re hacking the humans instead of a computer system,” informs Karen Sorady, VP of MS-ISAC (The Multi-state Information Sharing and Analysis Center).
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Cyber security is crucial for education administrators and not merely IT leaders. Survey highlight how education administrators emphasize the need to be more attentive toward cybersecurity tactics. A critical survey (EdTech Trends and Funding: A CoSN Member Survey 2022) informs that around eighty-three percent of districts had active plans to expand cybersecurity initiatives.
As educational institutions are more aware of the need to combat cyber security, more investments are flowing in. Education administrators are investing more in technology and leveraging technological trends to counter various cyber attacks. However, over the years, the need to go beyond conventional methods is more crucial than ever. Despite any technical upgrade, humans can be the weakest link. Social engineering attacks exploit this permanent vulnerability in human behavior.
Filters and endpoint protection are technologies to depend upon to tackle social engineering attacks to a great extent.
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A recent Cyber Security Hub Survey confirms. Social engineering is an urgent issue, as it was revealed by 75 % of respondents as a significant concern.
Traditional methods may only sometimes be sufficient to nullify social engineering attacks’ impacts effectively; the first step should be enhancing awareness among edutech professionals. In the edutech sector, Phishing has been the most prominent social engineering attack method.
Cybercriminals are well-planned. Immense effort goes into planning and executing any form of cyber attack. For example, phishing social engineering attacks can happen either through text messages or emails.
“Phishing emails used to be filled with many misspellings and poor grammar. Today, Phishing can appear very real, and in some cases, cybercriminals will study the victim so that they can establish a believable pretext,” continues Sorry.
The information passed through phishing scams can appear to be immensely credible. The text may include institution-specific information or may appear to be from the management.
Any suspicious or provoking emails, phone calls, or texts should be handled with caution rather than acting impulsively. The IT staff should be notified immediately of any possible fraudulent communication.
Besides, all staff part of the edutech industry should be trained to restrain from storing private information online. This information is sufficient to carry out research on probable victims and decide on believable attack forms.