Cyber Awareness Month
Social Engineering
10/21/2020
Social Engineering : Why
you Should be Paranoid!
By Dawn Tatum
Director of CCSE Partnerships and Engagements, IT Faculty
Dawn Tatum is the Director of CCSE
Partnerships and Engagements and Sr.
Lecturer of Information Technology for the
College of Computing and Software
Engineering (CCSE) at Kennesaw State
University. She started teaching as a
second career after spending over twenty
years in the information technology industry.
Her experience includes managing her own
Dawn Tatum consulting company, working for Fortune 50
companies in NYC and metro Atlanta. She
has a diversified technical skill set but
focuses in the areas of security, with a main
interest in Social Engineering. Her passion
is creating avenues to connect students and
industry leaders to stir innovation and create
the next generation of technology
visionaries.
• Top Techniques Still in Use
• Why They Work
• What You Can Do
If it sounds too good to be true, that’s a clue!
Social Engineering Defined
Social engineering is a manipulation technique that exploits human
error to gain private information, access, or valuables. In cybercrime,
these “human hacking” scams tend to lure unsuspecting users into
exposing data, spreading malware infections, or giving access to
restricted systems1
Most Common – as of 2020 2
• Phishing
• Watering Hole
• Whaling Attack
• Pretexting
• Baiting and Quid Pro Quo
• Tailgating/Piggybacking
The Perfect Storm
Covid-19, a cybercriminal’s perfect storm:
1) Fear
2) Need for information
3) Remote workers accessing corporate sites
Most recent examples
• Zoom fixes ‘vanity URL’ security issue that left users exposed to
phishing exploits7
• “Between the start of 2020 and the end of March alone, malicious
phishing activity jumped a staggering 350%, according to data from
Google. In April, the search giant reported that its Threat Analysis
Group blocked 18 million Covid-19-themed phishing and malware
emails per day”.8
• “Recently, however, cybercriminals have transitioned to
impersonating popular tech platforms to mask their schemes, such as
by sending fraudulent Zoom meeting invitations to deploy malware
and spoofing Skype login pages to steal user credentials”8.
• “One of the most common ransomware attacks since Covid-19 spread
rapidly beyond China's borders has been the use of a malicious
Android app, which appears to offer users a real-time outbreak
Why is it still a threat?
(because we are still human)
Our Greatest Strengths, Our Greatest Weaknesses
• Careless
• Comfort Zone
• Helpful
• Fear
Where do we go from here?
Anti-phishing software
Education and training
Teleworking policies
Data Backups
Data Monitoring
Incident Response /Data Recovery Plans
Questions
Much of the information in this presentation, especially the examples and stories are from the first
hand experience of the presenter, Dawn Tatum, or used with permission from colleagues who have
requested that their names be withheld. Other references are included below:
1. Downloads. Users Also. (2020) What is Social Engineering? | Definition | Kaspersky. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from
https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-social-engineering
2. These Enhanced Cyber. (2020) Strategies for combating increased cyber threats tied to coronavirus | The Daily Swig. Retrieved October 12,
2020, from https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/strategies-for-combating-increased-cyber-threats-tied-to-coronavirus
3. Providing A Few. (2020) The Most Common Social Engineering Attacks [Updated 2020]. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from
https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/common-social-engineering-attacks/
4. Michael Tyler. (2020) Brain-hacking: Why Social Engineering is so effective. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from
https://info.phishlabs.com/blog/brain-hacking-social-engineering-effective
5. Downloads. Users Also. (2020) What is Social Engineering? | Definition | Kaspersky. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from
https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-social-engineering
6. Jovi Umawing. (2020) Social engineering attacks: What makes you susceptible? - Malwarebytes Labs | Malwarebytes Labs. Retrieved
October 19, 2020, from
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/social-engineering-cybercrime/2018/08/social-engineering-attacks-what-makes-you-susceptible/
7. Attackers. (2020) Zoom fixes ‘vanity URL’ security issue that left users exposed to phishing exploits - Google Search. Retrieved October 20,
2020, from ht
tps://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Zoom+fixes+%E2%80%98vanity+URL
%E2%80%99+security+issue+that+left+users+exposed+to+phishing+exploits
8. These Enhanced Cyber. (2020) Strategies for Combating Increased Cyber Threats Tied to Coronavirus | Blank Rome LLP. Retrieved October
20, 2020, from https://www.blankrome.com/publications/strategies-combating-increased-cyber-threats-tied-coronavirus
