KnowBe4 Blog

Social Engineering

Latest social engineering news, analysis, tactics the bad guys are using and what you can do to defend your organization.

Authorized Push Payment Fraud Responsible for Over Half of U.K. Frauds and Scams

Research from The Financial Ombudsman Service, a U.K. based organization dedicated to helping citizens with free financial advice, has found an increase in Authorized Pushed Payment (APP) ...

Your Lawyers Are Increasingly Targeted by Phishing Attacks, Ransomware

Researchers at Bitdefender warn that law firms are high-value targets for ransomware gangs and other criminal threat actors. Attackers frequently use phishing to gain initial access to an ...

Election-Themed Scams Are on the Rise

Researchers at Malwarebytes warn of a surge in election-themed scams ahead of November’s presidential election in the US. These attacks can be expected to increase as the election grows ...

Manufacturing Sector Is the Latest Target of Advanced Credential Harvesting Attacks

A new attack runs slow and steady, focused on compromising large manufacturing companies using contextual social engineering to trick victims into giving up credentials.

Phishing is Still the Top Initial Access Vector

Phishing remains a top initial access vector for threat actors, according to researchers at ReliaQuest. Phishing and other social engineering tactics can bypass security technologies by ...

Threat Actors Increasingly Exploit Deepfakes for Social Engineering

The availability of deepfake technology has given threat actors a valuable tool for social engineering attacks, according to researchers at BlackBerry.

Organizations in the Middle East Targeted By Malware Impersonating Palo Alto GlobalProtect VPN

A social engineering campaign is targeting entities in the Middle East using malware that impersonates Palo Alto Networks’ GlobalProtect VPN, according to researchers at Trend Micro.

Nearly Half of Mid-Market and Enterprise Organizations Have Experienced Four or More Ransomware Attacks in the Last Year

New data exposes the reality of ransomware attacks today, including their frequency, impact, ransom payment – and the involvement of human error.

Iran’s APT42 Targets WhatsApp Users With Spear-Phishing Attacks

Researchers at Meta have published details on Iranian spear-phishing attacks targeting WhatsApp accounts. The activity is attributed to APT42, a threat actor tied to Iran’s Islamic ...

Email Compromise Remains Top Threat Incident Type for the Third Quarter in a Row

New analysis of Q2 threats shows a consistent pattern of behavior on the part of threat actors and threat groups, providing organizations with a clear path to protect themselves.