Social engineering: 3 golden rules to thwart hackers

Whilst cyber attacks on major organisations or governments are increasingly hitting the front pages, hackers still have plenty to gain from attacking smaller organisations.

In the government’s latest Information Security Breach Survey, 74% of small and medium-sized businesses reported that they had suffered a breach.

One of the most commonly used tactics in cyber attacks against smaller businesses is social engineering. While social engineering can take on several forms — such as phishing or baiting — these attacks have one thing in common. They all target a link in the chain that is very often overlooked in security strategies: humans.