KnowBe4 Blog

Social Engineering

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

Vendor Impersonation Competing with CEO Fraud

Researchers at Abnormal Security have observed an increase in vendor impersonation in business email compromise (BEC) attacks.

FBI Warns of Fraudsters on LinkedIn

The US FBI has warned that scammers on LinkedIn are a “significant threat,” CNBC reports. Sean Ragan, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento field offices, ...

Smishing Text Scams Have Doubled in the Last Three Years

New data shows a rise in the use of text messages as an effective vehicle to connect with potential victims for social engineering scams as Americans increase their preference of the ...

PDF Phishing Attacks: Sneaky New Office Document Obfuscation

Security researchers have discovered a cunning PDF-based phishing attack that leverages social engineering and PDF prompt specifics to trick users into opening malicious Office docs.

Over 2000 Social Engineering Scammers Arrested in Multi-Country Crackdown on Fraud, BEC, and Money Laundering

Thousands of members of cybercriminal groups were arrested in a sting that lasted 2 months and involved coordinated efforts of the law enforcement departments of 76 countries.

Vishing Attacks Increase 550% Over Last Year as the Financial Sector Continues to be a Primary Target

Cybercriminals are continuing to bypass the use of malware in favor of response-based and credential-centric social engineering attacks, according to new data from Agari and PhishLabs.

A Closer Look at HR Scams: Does Niceness Have a Downside?

Threat actors are targeting HR employees who are looking to hire new people, according to Lisa Vaas at Contrast Security. As part of their job, HR employees frequently interact with ...

Spear Phishing Campaign Targets Former Israeli Officials

An Iranian threat actor is conducting a spear phishing operation against Israeli officials, according to researchers at Check Point. The targets have included the former Foreign Minister ...

Monkeypox Scams Continue to Increase

Attackers are taking advantage of the current news about monkeypox to trick people into clicking on malicious links, Pickr reports. Researchers at Mimecast have spotted a phishing ...

FTC Warns that Scammers are Turning to Cryptocurrencies

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned that people have reported losing over $1 billion in crypto to scams since the beginning of 2021. The vast majority of these losses were ...