1. Social Engineering Attacks

2. The Concept Of Social Engineering Attacks
Social engineering attacks work solely with the assistance of human psychology
Human psychology, in this presentation, constitutes the primary security flaws that people have
Social engineer attackers want to steal; can be data, money, or precious items
The current firewalls used to protect computers make it hard to penetrate the organization systems
A social engineer attacker finds mistakes, behavioral mistakes that someone in charge would have made and use this to gain access

3. In an organization, a social engineer attacker may call the company and claim to be a computer expert who has been sent to repair some software
The attacker will ask for a password and use it to breach the systems
On an individual perspective, a caller may purport to be from a service provider and ask you to divulge information
This can be used to access you credit, bank account etc.

4. Technology and social engineering attacks
Technology and social engineering attacks seem to share a distinct relationship
Actually, they complement each other proactively
In the modern world, many people have digital footprints
Every account we create on a social website, comment on a normal website, have our personal data stored in an organization’s database is an example of a digital footprint
Such prevalence of technology provides the perfect platform for social engineer attackers
According to Chaffey (2018), there are social media users worldwide
This number is more than enough for social engineering attackers to plan and perform substantial attacks

6. Social Media And Social Engineering Attacks
Social media has a lot of freedom and is characterized by user-generated content
Therefore, social media users can create content
Imagine someone who writes about a challenge they have, can be about delayed bank transactions or mobile challenges
A social engineer attacker can use the chance to contact the person and purport to be of assistance
If the one in trouble falls for the charm and divulges their information, their risk their bank account, contacts etc.

7. ABN AMRO Bank, Belgium
In 2007, one of the most expensive social engineer attacks was performed at ABN AMRO bank, in Belgium
The attack cost the AMRO $28 million (Santiago, 2017)
The thief created a cordial relationship by the employees of the bank by purporting to be a successful businessman from Argentina

8. The thief used a fake Argentinian passport that was stolen from Israel
The employees believed that he was indeed successful and would not have to steal to be rich
After all, he is more than rich judging by his frequent visits to ABN AMRO bank
The thief even gave the employees chocolate boxes occasionally
In the end, the employees gave him access to security boxes that had 120,000 carats of gems worth $28 million (Santiago, 2017)
He went on to steal the gems without using violence or force
Notably, he was patient for over one year

9. How The Attack Would Have Prevented
Train workers to be more effective
provide that workers can maintain their ground
Therefore, a worker should know how to stick to procedures
Teach employees to be more privy when dealing with company information
The employees should have known how to communicate
Communication means do not divulge too little information that would not assist
Communication, also, means that the employees should have divulged too much information to the thief

10. Avoid carelessness
All it took is inattentive employees
Key to the success of the robbery at ABN AMRO bank, Belgium, was the gullibility of the employees
Mitigate Contact Between the employee and customer
There should be boundaries as to which extents employees and customers can interact
Worker-customer relationships should be personal
In the end, human psychology is gullible and a liability in social engineering attacks

11. How Future Social Engineering Attacks Can Be Prevented

12. After knowing how the attack at ABN AMRO happened, it is necessary to find out how it should have been prevented
Training Workers
Workers are the biggest threats in the social engineering attacks fight
Workers can simulate different ways that social engineering attackers use, this can help to create awareness
Setting Stringent Measures
Notably, humans beings seem to be somehow gullible by nature

13. To fight the gullibility, organizations can include strict procedures
The procedures will control the flow of information
For instance, if a safe requires three passwords to open it
Three different employees can be given each password, even if one gives in to an attacker’s demands, the others will not divulge theirs
Sharing Information
Businesses lost $6 million in 2013 courtesy of social engineering attacks (Cyber security, 2017)
Researchers and organizations should share information about attacks
This will help to solve the problem even faster and offer diversity of thought

14. Conclusion
A social engineering attack can be described as the act of manipulating people psychologically to let them perform an action or release information
In social engineering attacks, the attackers are preying on human liability to steal
Even the most secure technology is manned by human beings
At ABN AMRO bank, $28 million was lost to a social engineering attack
Training workers and mitigating contact between employees and customers would have helped prevent the attack
In the end, the aim is to allow workers to be careful while at work

15. references
Chaffey, D. (2018). Our compilation of the latest social media statistics of consumer adoption and usage. Smart Insights. Retrieved from media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research
Cyber Security. (2017). Top 5 social engineering attacks of all time. Retrieved from
Santiago, S. (2017). The most famous cases of social engineering. ODS. Retrieved from opendatasecurity.io/the-most-famous-cases-of-social-engineering

16. The end