Social Engineering

Social engineering is one of the most common and effective forms of cyber attack. Rather than exploiting weaknesses in software or hardware, social engineering targets people — manipulating them into revealing confidential information, clicking malicious links or performing actions that compromise security.

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Why Social Engineering Works

Humans are often described as the weakest link in cyber security. Even the most sophisticated technical defences can be bypassed if an attacker convinces an employee to hand over their password. Social engineering exploits natural human tendencies such as:

• Trust — we tend to believe people who appear to be in authority
• Helpfulness — we want to assist colleagues and customers
• Fear — we react quickly to urgent warnings ("Your account will be closed!")
• Curiosity — we are tempted to click on interesting links or open unexpected files

Exam Tip: When an exam question asks why social engineering is effective, focus on the human factors. Technical defences like firewalls and encryption cannot prevent a person from voluntarily giving away their password.

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Phishing