Computer Security - Preventing Social Engineering Attacks

Social Engineering in its basic form is hacker talk for manipulating computer users out of their username and password. Social engineering really goes beyond just usernames and passwords. A well planned social engineering attack can destroy companies. All of the most devastating information thefts have used some sort of social engineering attack. Social engineering is so effective because computer admins and security experts spend all their time patching systems and not training employees about information security. Information security goes beyond patching computers, it is a combination of physical security, computer/network policy and employee training.

This article will describe many of the common security flaws that information thieves take advantage off and how you can prevent them.

1. Web sites Information - Company web sites are the best place to start when gathering information. Often a company will post all their employees names, email addresses, positions and phone numbers for everyone to see. You want to limit the number of employees and phone numbers listed on a web site. Also, live active links to employee email addresses should be avoided. A common mistake is a company's email user name will be the same as their network logon, example: email address of jsmith@nocompany.com has a user name of jsmith for the network with the same password for email and the network.

2. Phone Scams - Scamming someone on a phone is very simple. Company employees need to be trained to be courteous but cautious when giving callers information over the phone. One hacking scam is a hacker will call a company posing as computer salesmen. The salesmen will ask the secretary what type of computers they have, do they have a wireless network and what type of operating systems they run. Hackers can use this information to plan their attack on the network. Train your employees to refer any IT related questions to Tech Support.

3. Outside Contractors - Outside contractors should have a security liaison to monitor their activities. Security liaisons should be briefed on what work the contractor is hired to perform, area of operation, identity of contractor and if the contractor will be removing items from the work site.

4. Dumpster Diving - The easiest way to get information about anyone is to go through their trash. Shredders should be used in all cases or shredding services should be hired. Also, the Dumpster should be in a secure location and under surveillance.

5. Secretaries - They are your first line of defense, train them to not let anyone into your building unless they are for certain whom they are. Security cameras should be place in the main entrance way and also on the outside of the building. A thief who is probing your network will test to see if he is challenged upon entering the building, cameras can help identify patterns and suspicious people.

6. NO PASSWORDS - Make it company policy that the tech department will never call you or email you asking for your username or password. If somebody does call and ask for a password or username red flags will go up every where.

7. LOG OFF - Social Engineering attacks get the hacker into the building and they will usually find many workstations where the user hasn't logged off. Make it company policy that all users must log off their workstations every time they leave it. If the policy is not followed then the employee should be written up or docked pay. Don't make a hacker's job any easier than it already is.

8. Training - Information security training is a must for any size company. Information security is a layered approach that starts with the physical structure of the building down to how each work station is configured. The more layers your security plan has the harder it is for an information thief to accomplish his mission.

My Links : Buy Lowest Prices Big Save Best Prices HDTV Best Deals Review

Hackers and Social Engineering Techniques

Do you know what social engineering is? Social engineering is the act of manipulating people into doing actions or exposing confidential information. It's trickery or deception to gather information, fraud, or computer system access where in the hacker never comes face-to-face with the victim. Here are some of the social engineering techniques:

The hacker steals passwords through guessing the victim's password reminder question with the help of gathered information from his or her social networking profile. One incident was when Hacker Roll was able to guess the password and broke into an e-mail account of Twitter's administrative assistant using the Google's password reset feature. After this, Hacker Roll was able to forward hundreds of pages of internal Twitter documents to different websites including TechCrunch which has published some and referred to others. Another college student also broke into Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account using Yahoo's password reset questions.

People should be careful in creating passwords for their accounts. They should not disclose personal information on services like Facebook, Twitter and any other social networking sites because it will be easy for hackers to know your passwords. With the information available in your social sites, it's easy to crack and discover your passwords. It's like you are giving away your passwords or inviting hackers to have an access on your account.

The hacker befriends an individual or a group to gain their trust. And if the victims already trust him, he will make the victim click on links or attachment infected with Malware which can weaken a corporate system. There's nothing wrong with meeting new friends in the Internet but it is very dangerous because you don't really know the people who you are dealing with online. It's not advisable to receive, accept or open links and attachments to unknown source. The hacker also pretends to be an insider to get information from the employees. If people think that you work for the same company, they will trust you a lot including the information that you need. This will be a big advantage on your part.

The hacker also impersonates you or your friends, even other people. He can message you anytime using the name of your friend. He will ask you a favor like asking for data from your office. Since you are not aware that you are talking to a stranger and not your friend, you'll give him what he needs. After this, he can manipulate the data that you have given to him and this will really put you into trouble. A hacker can also call any company and claim that he is from technical support. In this situation, he can pretend that he is part of the technical support, help solve the problem and be able to have access from the victim's computer and launch Malware.

Hackers and social engineering techniques can devastate your business or personal life. Include spoofing or hacking IDs for private e-mails, social networking sites or chat histories, phishing credit card account numbers and their passwords, and hacking websites of companies to destroy reputation. With the growing of numbers of hackers nowadays, it's important to protect your system and company at the same time. You should be careful enough when dealing with unknown person because they might deceive or manipulate you. Remember, the only purpose of the hackers and social engineering techniques is to exploit human weaknesses to get personal benefits.

Hackers use social engineering to trick people and reveal passwords or information that will weaken the security of an individual, group or company. Social engineering really relies on human weakness than weakness of the computer system (hardware, software, network design, etc.) itself. If you have been victimized by hackers and your computer gets infected, worry no more. Techie Now can give a solution to your problem. Contact us now and we will remove the infections of your computer. Techie Now will work on your PC right away.

Friends Link : Amazon Best Selling O.K. Neture Wonderful Ring Cheap Prices

Security Breach by Social Engineering

Internet threats can get real and big but when it comes to office network security, the bigger source of threats is still social engineering. This is the nontechnical way of stealing passwords in order to access a system and its files. Digging through trash and watching a co-employee type his password are some example by which this method of hacking can be used. Indeed, these people are wise for thinking they don't need to go through the rigors of hacking with the use of computers because they can always ask for their target's password and ease their way in.

There are many ways that social engineering may happen but the most common can be quite surprising. Sometimes, a social engineer simply asks for or a password and if one does not realize the dangers brought about by divulging the password, it could easily be given. Others try to talk to people who are close to the one being hacked. Or some simply use persuasion in getting their targets to give them their passwords. Of course, when the hacker has someone's password, anything can happen. That's why it is always recommended to have security measures in place to ensure that the network is free of Internet threat

What social engineers are banking on is the fact that a lot of employees do not realize the value of their passwords. They are actually unaware of the dangers that may unfold once their passwords, indeed, land in unsafe hands. By far, this is the most important reason why social engineering is even possible.

Obviously, when one knows the reality of Internet threats, one is always be in a better position to handle them more effectively. Sometimes, people tend to complicate things and focus only on the technical route that a hacker can take. While this is definitely important, it's necessary for all to know about social engineering because it could, in fact, be the easiest way to hack into their computer.

The most effective solution to social engineering is then education. When one knows how something works, then he's more likely to keep it working than stop it. In terms of social engineering, one needs to know about the specific scenarios that tricksters may use in order to get people's passwords. This is to help people detect a situation where he's being duped into giving out his password to a social engineer.

Technically, there is still and will always be a need for security measures to be implemented whether as a precaution against social engineering or digital hacking. For the latter, an IP changing software can be of great value. This program allows one to surf the web undetected because of his hidden IP. Hence, when he's online, it would be as if he weren't online because people won't detect his presence. He is, after all, using a fake IP provided by the software.

Tags : Wonderful Rings from a great selection of jewelry Who is Civil Engineer Foreman