What are the Goals of Social Engineering?
Social engineering is the process of infiltrating a system by exploiting human behavior and vulnerabilities. In other words, it can be defined as a method of deception and trickery. Cybercriminals, while launching cyberattacks using all electronic systems and networks, can gain unauthorized access and exploit vulnerabilities by targeting the weakest link among employees and utilizing social engineering techniques.
Social Engineering Attacks
During a social engineering attack, not only your system but also your identity and professional life are directly targeted. In such an attack, malicious actors attempt to obtain the information they want by exploiting human behavior. Social engineering attacks are among the oldest and most dangerous types of attacks in internet history.
Goals of Social Engineering
The first stage of these attacks involves identifying the target. After the target is identified and the victim is selected, individuals who are careless and prone to making mistakes, often defined as the weakest link, are generally chosen. The second stage is entered with the information collected about the targeted individual. Every piece of collected information is important for social engineering attacks. Regardless of whether the information is considered insignificant or worthless, as much comprehensive information as possible is gathered, and all data about the selected target is attempted to be collected, including from social media networks. The third stage involves vulnerability scanning processes, and the identified vulnerabilities provide significant support for proceeding to the next stage. In the final stage, after the targeted elements are successfully achieved, evidence and proof are eliminated.
