Page 8 - The Bureau - Cyber Security Awareness e-book.indd

Why should we worry?
The very targeted nature of social engineering means that the fraud it likely to be greater and
more damaging. With so much data available online today, particularly personal data on social
media, it is relatively easy to build a well targeted and convincing campaign to fool even the
most vigilant person.

Some favourite Social Engineering Techniques:

Pretexting.
This one is becoming popular and usually applied when the target is already known.
The intention of the cyber criminals is to steal more information, possibly by posing as a
known provider, to lure them into volunteering more personal information.

Delivery or Diversion Theft.
This is found in delivery, postal and courier sectors where cyber criminals target a delivery
company to trick them into making the delivery somewhere else. More recently during the

pandemic months, this has taken on a new form where rogue delivery firms disguised as
genuine providers claim to have a parcel that has not been paid for and promising to deliver
once the payment is made. The cyber criminals then put-up a fake bank payment screen
and steal the money.

Phishing.
One of the best-known cyber-crime techniques where criminals seek to steal IT and computer
user-names, passwords, credit card details, usually via a phishing email appearing to come from
a known and trusted provider, work colleague or personal friend. Bitcoin promotions, utility
companies, HMRC and suppliers that each seem genuine and harmless enough are increasingly
hi-jacked by hackers and fraudsters.