- Social Engineering Allowing Gullible Victims to Self-Select in Online Attacks
Blatantly fraudulent scam emails may be intentional—by appearing obviously fake, they filter out savvy people who would waste the scammer's time, ensuring only the most gullible victims self-select....
- Malware How Malicious Code Can Run in Microsoft Office Documents
Microsoft Office documents can execute malicious code through VBA macros (requiring social engineering to enable), exploit payloads targeting Office vulnerabilities, embedded Flash objects, or...
- Social Engineering An Example of SMS Text Phishing
SMS phishing ('smishing') messages impersonate carriers like Verizon to direct victims to credential-harvesting websites using spoofed sender numbers and lookalike domains. Mobile users are...
- Social Engineering The Need for Ethics When Researching Social Engineering
Studying social engineering helps strengthen defenses against persuasion-based attacks, but research must be conducted ethically. The term "con artist" glorifies fraud; social engineering without...
- Social Engineering Psychological Similarities Between Shoplifting and Malicious Hacking
Most shoplifters aren't professionals. They steal for excitement, superiority, and belonging, and those same emotions help explain what draws people to malicious hacking.
- Social Engineering Similarities Between Riots and Modern Internet Hacktivism
Decentralized hacking groups operate without formal leadership, yet they coordinate like mobs in a riot. De-individuation, instigating events, and risk-taking 'entrepreneurs' drive both, and...