The weakest link in cybersecurity isn’t your software, policies, or even your security vendor. It’s the People.
Vulnerabilities, malware, and zero-day exploits are legitimate concerns for anyone or organisation. However, it’s worth noting that most attacks would most likely fail if a biological being made the right decisions.
From refusing to open that suspicious email from a ‘rich prince’, to declining that call from ‘Tech Support’, many attacks on both individuals and companies can be averted. And for an Internet of more than 40 years, you’d think we would’ve learned our lessons as a species by now. Unfortunately, history proves otherwise.
Our little mistakes are still the reasons for massive data breaches, identity theft, and tons of ransomware attacks worldwide. But why is that?
Allow me to introduce, Social Engineering.
What is Social Engineering?
Social engineering is the art of manipulating people into revealing confidential information or performing actions that compromise security. In simple terms, it’s hacking the human mind, rather than a machine. The psychological ronde plays on common human emotions such as fear, excitement, curiosity, anger, guilt and sadness. And it works more often than you’d think.
For example, the infamous ILOVEYOU worm attack in the year 2000 played on three key human emotions: curiosity, affection, and trust. By appealing to at least one of these, thousands of people became victims, and 10% of the entire internet (at the time at least) was infected.
But love letters aren’t the only way attackers have carried out successful social engineering attacks. In fact, there are many, often overlapping methods and techniques they use to achieve their goals. A couple of these include:
- Baiting
- Physical Breach
- Pretexting
- Quid pro quo
- Scareware
- Watering hole attack
So without further ado, let’s jump in 🕵️.
Examples of Social Engineering
Baiting
Baiting is a social engineering trick that tempts people with something appealing (usually a physical item or a digital lure) to get them to take an action that compromises security. Unlike phishing, which often arrives as a message, baiting offers a tangible reward like free software, a USB stick, or a too-good-to-be-true download. The attacker relies on human impulses like greed, curiosity or convenience to get someone to plug in, click, or install something that gives the attacker access.
Imagine a USB stick labelled “Staff Salaries Q4” left in the company kitchen. Someone finds it, plugs it into their work laptop to take a quick peek, and the “innocent” file automatically runs malware that steals credentials. Alternatively, a website offering a “free iPhone” asks the user to run an installer, an installer bundled malware that is. In both cases, the bait looks useful or intriguing enough that caution gets thrown to the wind.
Physical Breach
A physical breach often uses everyday social cues like politeness, helpfulness, and the habit of letting people through doors, to its advantage. Attackers exploit these norms very easily. Tailgating (walking closely behind someone to get through a secure entrance) and piggybacking (being let in after a friendly request) are classic examples. It’s low-tech but extremely effective because humans are usually the easiest barrier to get around.
Picture someone turning up to an office in a plain polo and safety jacket, holding a clipboard, claiming they’re from facilities and need to check a circuit. Staff in a hurry might not challenge them and let them through a staff door. Once inside, the intruder can scope out unsecured desks or identify where important systems live. The point isn’t a dramatic smash-and-grab, but rather slipping into the right place because people assumed the person belonged there.
Physical breaches are so prominent that there’s an entire career path in cybersecurity called Physical Penetration Testing. The job role description is pretty straightforward: Simulate a spy trying to break into a highly secure facility. Ethan Hunt has nothing on these testers 🕵️
Pretexting
Pretexting is where an attacker invents a believable back-story, a “pretext” if you will, to trick someone into revealing information or granting access. Similar to a physical breach, it’s more about role-playing. The fraudster adopts an identity (colleague, vendor, IT support) and uses that cover to ask questions or make requests that seem legitimate. The strength of pretexting lies in the story. If the tale sounds plausible, people are more likely to help.
Unlike blunt tricks, pretexting can be patient. It works by building rapport, asking friendly questions, and slowly extracting details that seem harmless in isolation but add up in the proper context. It psychological and calculated.
For example, imagine someone rings your office line claiming to be from the helpdesk and says they need to confirm a user’s details to fix an urgent issue. Because the caller sounds calm, knows a few workplace terms, and creates a sense of urgency, an overworked staff member might share account info or reset steps without checking.
Quid Pro Quo
Quid Pro Quo is the Latin term meaning “something for something”. In the context of social engineering, it’s when an attacker offers a service, favour or reward in return for information or access.
Unlike other methods that rely on lies, this method trades something that looks useful (help, a fix, or a freebie) for cooperation. It plays on human reciprocity. We’re wired to return favours, so an offer can lower people’s guards and make them more willing to comply.
For instance, someone might pretend to be conducting a software trial and offer complimentary access to a premium feature if staff register with their company email. Excited by the free perk, employees sign up, inadvertently exposing internal addresses or validating accounts that can later be misused.
Scareware
Scareware is software that frightens you into taking an action, usually by showing alarming warnings about viruses, system failures, or compromised files. The panic is the tool. Once people think they’ve got a serious problem, they’re more likely to click, call a number, or pay for a “fix” without checking first. It’s basically emotional blackmail in digital form.
A typical example is a web page that suddenly pops up while you’re browsing, plastered with red banners and messages like “Your PC is infected!”. The popup pushes you toward an immediate action like calling, downloading, or paying. In reality the warning is fake, and the goal was to trick you into installing dodgy software, handing over card details, or connecting with a scammer who pretends to “help”.
Watering Hole Attack
A watering hole attack is where attackers compromise a website or online resource that a particular group regularly visits, then wait for the intended victims to drop by. Instead of blasting out mass-phishing, the attacker picks a digital “watering hole” (something the target audience trusts) and uses that to reach people indirectly.
For example, imagine consultants in a niche industry who always check the same news site or forum. An attacker could attempt to tamper with the site so visitors are quietly exposed to a malicious payload or a fake login prompt. The victims think they’re just reading a trusted page, but because the site has been compromised, they end up giving the attackers the goods.
How to protect yourself
The beauty of social engineering is also its weakest point: Emotions. As Billy Graham once said:
“Our emotions can lie to us, and we need to counter our emotions with truth.”
In a cybersecurity context, truth is logic and verification. When we slow down and verify things, we take back control from impulsive reactions. That’s where awareness and proper security practices make all the difference.
Let’s look into these defences a bit more.
Security Awareness Training
Security awareness training is one of the most practical ways to fight back against social engineering. It’s not just about memorising do’s and don’ts, but about building the right instincts, and knowing when something feels off. Social engineers rely on people being too trusting, too distracted, or too polite to question things. Training helps to sharpen that awareness, teaching staff how to spot suspicious messages, unusual requests, or emotionally charged tactics meant to provoke a quick response.
A big part of awareness training is about protecting not just corporate data, but personal details too. That means avoiding oversharing, especially online. With the right skillset, those details can be stitched together to form a convincing scam. Employees learn to pause before posting, sharing, or even chatting about company matters in casual settings.
Awareness training also reminds everyone that not every friendly face online has good intentions. Whether it’s a “colleague” from another department or someone met through a professional network, caution is key. Relationships formed purely online should always be treated carefully, and verified where possible. The idea isn’t to make people paranoid, but to keep them alert.
Access Control Policies
Access control policies work on a simple idea: people should only access what they need for their job. It’s a bit like keeping spare keys locked away. You wouldn’t hand out every key in the building to everyone. By setting boundaries, organisations make it harder for attackers to move around even if they do manage to slip in.
Good access control also involves regular reviews. Over time, roles change, teams shift, and permissions can pile up. Without checks, someone might still have access to systems from a previous role, which is a perfect opportunity for a social engineer to exploit. Reviewing who has access, and why, keeps things tidy and secure.
Overlapping with awareness, employees must be mindful about sharing access, even out of convenience. No matter how friendly or urgent a request sounds, sharing passwords or accounts is never a small favour. Access control works best when everyone understands that security isn’t about trust, but verification and accountability.
Technical Controls
While social engineering targets people, technical controls help catch the fallout. Features like MFA, spam filters, and EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) act as barriers between attackers and sensitive systems. They don’t stop attacks, but they can limit them from becoming a full-blown breach. Think of it like like safety nets in a circus.
Spam filters out bad emails before anyone even sees them. MFA keeps logins secure by forcing a second means of authentication. Firewalls block unwanted traffic, and anti-malware tools catch dangerous software and programs. EDR ties it all together by monitoring behaviour across the network, spotting things humans might miss. Together, they make life much harder for an attacker trying to exploit human error.
Still, these tools are only as strong as their users. If people ignore warnings, reuse weak passwords, or heaven’s forbid, disable everything, the entire system crumbles.
And with that ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the end of this article. Hope you enjoyed it, and if you want to learn more about cybersecurity and how we help keep you and your organisation secure, visit us at Sycom Solutions.
