The Art of Hacking and How Does It Work?

Hacking has long since been a part of the internet world, and amidst this, social engineering is one of the most common forms. Often referred to as human hacking in a tech-savvy way, it is more of an art of manipulating people so that they end up revealing their personal information.

A social media attack can occur through various mediums, let it be offline or online, while the type of information criminals seek varies. However, these attacks are mostly carried out to trick people into revealing bank information or passwords to computer controls.

Once such information is revealed, criminals use it to launch target attacks of malware infection or exploiting bank accounts. As manipulating someone into revealing information is a far easier task, social engineering attacks are relatively widespread.

Exploiting the natural human nature to trust is by far considered secure as opposed to conventional hacking methods. Additionally, the gross availability of social engineering toolkits online is another reason for making it one of the most popular attack vectors of all time.

The Success Behind Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering attacks, unfortunately, have a high success rate. While looking over at the statistics from 2016-2013 alone, a total of 5 million dollars were stolen due to social engineering attacks.

There are various reasons for having their success rate unexceptionally high. First off, it is the only attack method that does not depend on inputting codes. Moreover, these attacks are not bound to target corporations or particular countries. With social engineering, everyone is a victim.

Therefore, it is crucial to have complete awareness regarding it and also be extremely privy in sharing personal information. These attacks are highly customizable and revolve around targeting the weakness of the victim, amongst which some of the critical target vulnerabilities can count to be trust and curiosity.

Factors Surrounding Human Hacking

There are several factors at play during a "human hacking" attack. These attacks are cleverly constructed and designed to get into the victim's head. Some platforms through which a social engineering attack is usually executed are as follows:

1.   Using Social Media Platform for Social Engineering

Social engineering attacks through social media platforms are the easiest to carry out as they have a broad spectrum for creativity. Most of these attacks occur through clickbaity captions grabbing the attention of the mass audience.

This often goes around through popup ads and email attachments and may consist of interest piquing scenarios. The attacker then coerces the victim to download a malicious application or clicking on infected links.

The scenarios may trigger a person's desire, such as " how life would be in 10 years? This application gives predictions." it may also generate curiosity in various means such as " click to see the best places to visit in the upcoming year." As a result, their own desire put them at a loss.

2.   Phishing Attacks

This is one of the most commonly used attack vectors to carry out a social engineering attack. It is diverse and can be used to target a broad audience and individual personals too. It revolves around sending legitimate-looking emails carrying malicious links or attachments.

These emails often seem legitimate, therefore manipulating victims to fall for them. Through those links, hackers can steal your credentials, such as credit card information, bank account information, passwords, etc.

Gaining the trust of the victim is the main task within these attacks, which is unfortunately quite easy. Therefore it is crucial to stay vigilant and skeptical of clicking on random links or downloading random files.

In both scenarios, the integral and common human vulnerabilities are caught at play, which results in successful attacks.

3.   Spoofing Messages

Quite similar to a phishing attack, this social engineering technique involves attacker masking their scams with well known legitimate-looking source, Here again, attackers exploit human trust factor by using a trusted brand which would attract victims.

These attacks are mostly carried out through emails that attack "spoof" to lure victims in downloading malware or revealing their credentials.

4.   IDN Homograph Attacks

The IDN Homograph attacks are designed through the same structure as that of phishing attacks. However, these attacks have a far higher chance of success rate as opposed to a regular phishing attack.

The internationalized domain name homograph attack, commonly referred to as the IDN Homograph attack is based on conning people in a way that they end up communicating with a wrong remote server.

The remote server exploits characters that bear resemblance with one another, the reason why it is named IDN Homographs.

A Way Around Social Engineering Attacks?

Albeit social engineering attacks come off to be quite tricky and plain unavoidable, but there are various security tools available to remain protected over the internet. However, as hacking is often based on personal interaction, security tools are not the only way out.

As the art of human hacking is based on exploiting personal interests and needs, vigilance along with excellent security tools is the best way to beat social engineering. Here are some methods that users can adopt to stay protected from human hacking:

1.    Turn On Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication adds a layer of security over login credentials and passwords. It works by entering passwords and then again confirming access through a code sent on the owner's mobile phone or through biometric authentication.

This way, a computer or an account is secured through two layers of security, which makes it somewhat imperturbable. It also, therefore renders social engineering methods useless as attackers won't be able to get past the second security factor.

With two factors, owners get prompts whenever some illegally try to sneak into their device or account, allowing them to react immediately by denying access and changing passwords.

2.    Stay Vigilant Online

Nowadays, most of our personal information is available online for anyone to peeve upon. As social media and the internet are common grounds for social media attacks, it is, therefore, crucial to remain vigilant of online activity.

It is essential to remain privy over whatever information we out online. Additionally, while clicking on links, downloading files, or opening emails, it is better to check if they are from a legitimate source or not.

3.    Have a Good Antivirus Program

Malware and viral attacks are exceedingly common and are drastically on the rise. It is not an uncommon sight to see individuals or organizations falling victim to malware attacks.

Investing in an ethical and secure antivirus or antimalware tool can help ensure the security and protection from such attacks. These security tools ensure protection throughout internet use, let it malicious links, downloads, or insecure websites.

4.    Use a VPN

You can also use a VPN as it will hide your identity and prevent hackers from entering your communications. Using a VPN is not only useful in public places but also at home. If you're a homie and are looking for complete anonymity then try the best VPN routers for increased protection.

Final Words

With cyberattacks on the rise, remaining secure is a hectic task. However, it is not nearly impossible, and the use of vigilance and proper security tools can allow netizens to remain secure.

Social engineering is a method that exploits the integral vulnerabilities of a human mind. However, perseverance and a strong presence of mind can work as an excellent defense mechanism against such attacks.