Having an IT Support to Help Avoid Social Engineering Attacks

Human Nature Hacks

IT support providers in Milwaukee can help your business avoid a number of attacks which are to be expected in the tech industry. Viral infections from malware, adware, spyware, and the like can be prevented with antivirus software. Firewalls can secure your system as can proactive management and support. However, one area where you need to work in conjunction with a given MSP involves social engineering hacks. These require some level of education to properly protect against because they often tend to have a changing nature. What remains core about them all is that, instead of using technological vulnerabilities to undermine your business, social engineering hacks employ subtly harnessed human nature. Check out this link. In it, a woman who understands how social engineering hacks can work uses a pre-recorded baby’s cry to trick a representative at a cell-phone company into giving out personal information on an account.

Large-Scale Attacks

It would be nice if the “hacking” of human nature were only in such a one-on-one capacity. But, unfortunately, this isn’t the case. In reality, modern social engineering hacks are often on a massive scale. Messages in very large numbers will be sent out to entire email lists. These messages will, at first, glance, appear legitimate and will use urgent language to push recipients into allowing hackers into the system or into a business’s finances.
The way this is done with the greatest success involves understanding the “target audience”. The hacker knows who they’re trying to hoodwink. Maybe a previous company that you’ve worked with sends a message out of the blue. Check the recipient list on such emails. Look for signs of tools designed for automation.

Spoofing

There’s another pernicious social engineering hack that comes under the penumbra of “spoofing”. If you’re unfamiliar, spoofing is basically an impersonation of a legitimate client, partner, or what-have-you. You’ve likely seen some spoofed Facebook emails that include the same font, logos, and color scheme of the social media giant. Many a time, the information they’re looking for only requires an uninformed individual to reply.

Pragmatism

At the end of the day, your IT support provider in Milwaukee should help you train workers in regard to these issues. But the truth is, social engineering’s input into cyber threats now makes infection all but inevitable, even with the best education and technological safeguarding. The way around this is quarantining and BDR (Backup and Data Recovery) techniques.

Avoiding Social Engineering Hacks

An IT support provider in Milwaukee like Risetech Partners can help you educate staff, apply far-reaching technological protections and design recovery solutions when all else fails. Contact us now for comprehensive protection.