Social Engineering Testing is Necessary to Fend off Phishing Attacks

The success of social engineering as part of phishing and spear phishing attacks has caused organizations to realize they need an effective tactic to make employees vigilant.

In a recent interview, Mark Bernard, principal at security consulting firm Secure Knowledge Management, discussed the two reasons why social engineering attacks are successful:

• Users have the mindset that social engineering attacks will never happen to them. But when faced with an attack, it’s when they least expect it.
• The use of two-factor authentication has also lulled many organizations into a false sense of security, thinking it can’t be bypassed (which it has).

With users believing either they are impervious to attack, the risk of successful attack is even higher. So, how can organizations elevate their security posture?

According to Bernard, the answer lies in phishing testing. By continually testing user’s ability to pick up social engineering cues, they become used to the need for scrutinizing emails and can spot a real socially engineered phishing email before they become its next victim.

The additional benefit is found in testing the entire organization. That way everyone from executives to assistants – and anyone in between – is having their awareness of the need for secure practices when interacting with email elevated on an ongoing basis. You can read the entire interview over at SC Magazine.

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