Complete Social Engineering Fundamentals.
Hello my dear hacker friends, welcome back to my new article. This is your friend Sagar. I hope you all are good, safe & secure at your home / your country and wherever you are.
Today I’m back with new intresting and another hot topic, about ethical hacking and pentesting.
Because this will gonna importnant topic which you should not miss out at any cost !!!
Seeing the title, By reading a title, hope you will get, that today we will be cover Complete Social Engineering Fundamentals from start to end.
We are gonna discuss everything about social engineering & human hacking, every key points, procedure, impact, mitigation and some POC as well.
In this session we will see the tools, tactics, techniques and some other bonus points that we see at every end of the topic.
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Let’s Start !!!
1. Overview :
☛ Social Engineering : Social engineering is the psychological manipulation of individuals to gain confidential information or access to systems, often for malicious purposes. It exploits human behavior, nature’s tendency to trust and comply with requests from seemingly authoritative or trustworthy sources.
☛ History : Social engineering techniques have been employed for centuries, but the term gained prominence with the rise of computer hacking. Early examples include con artists manipulating people for personal gain. With the advent of the internet, social engineering became a prevalent tactic in cybercrime.
☛ Terminology : Social engineering encompasses various techniques such as phishing, pretexting, baiting, and tailgating.
☛ Unique Hacking Approach : Unlike traditional hacking, which relies on exploiting technical vulnerabilities, social engineering targets human psychology and behavior. It bypasses security measures by manipulating individuals rather than directly attacking systems. This makes it difficult to defend against as it exploits inherent human trust and cognitive biases.
☛ Impact on Work : Social engineering poses significant risks to organizations by compromising sensitive information, disrupting operations, and damaging reputation. Employees are often the weakest link in cybersecurity defenses, making awareness training and robust security protocols essential to mitigate risks.
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2. Attack Vectors :
☛ Phishing : Phishing involves sending fraudulent emails containing malicious links or attachments, often disguised as legitimate messages from trusted entities. Spear phishing targets specific individuals or organizations, tailoring the content to increase the likelihood of success. Whaling, a type of phishing, targets high-profile individuals or executives within an organization, typically seeking sensitive corporate information or financial data through personalized and sophisticated email scams.
☛ Vishing : Vishing, or voice phishing, uses phone calls to deceive individuals into providing sensitive information or performing actions. Attackers may impersonate legitimate entities, such as banks or government agencies, to gain trust and extract information.
☛ Smishing : Smishing employs SMS or text messages to trick recipients into divulging personal information or clicking on malicious links. These messages often create a sense of urgency, prompting users to act quickly without thorough scrutiny.
☛ Quishing : Quishing is a form of phishing that targets individuals through voice calls, typically using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Attackers impersonate trusted entities and employ social engineering tactics to elicit sensitive information or financial transactions.
☛ Baiting : Baiting involves enticing victims with the promise of something valuable, such as free software or media downloads, to lure them into clicking on malicious links or downloading malware-infected files.
☛ Tailgating : Tailgating occurs when an unauthorized individual gains physical access to a restricted area by following closely behind an authorized person. This technique exploits human courtesy or oversight to bypass security measures.
☛ Piggybacking : This involves following closely behind an authorized person to gain access to a secured area without proper authentication. This is the tailgating. In this case, the social engineer relies on the assumption that the authorized person will hold the door or allow them to enter without questioning their credentials, exploiting human courtesy or lax security procedures.
☛ Shoulder surfing : In shoulder surfing, the social engineer observes or eavesdrops on individuals as they enter passwords, PINs, or other sensitive information. This can be done discreetly in public places like ATMs, computer terminals, or even over someone’s shoulder in an office setting. The goal is to capture confidential information without the victim’s knowledge.
☛ Dumpster diving : Dumpster diving involves rummaging through trash or recycling bins to find discarded documents, hardware, or other items containing sensitive information. Social engineers can uncover valuable data such as passwords, financial records, or proprietary documents that were improperly disposed of. This information can be used for various malicious purposes, including identity theft or corporate espionage.
☛ Juice Jacking : Juice jacking exploits the trust users place in public charging stations by installing malware or harvesting data from devices connected via USB cables. Attackers may compromise devices with malicious charging stations, potentially accessing sensitive information or installing malware without the user’s knowledge.
☛ Quid Pro Quo : Quid pro quo in social engineering involves offering something of value in exchange for desired information or actions. It typically entails a reciprocal arrangement where both parties benefit, albeit one party often does so unknowingly or to their detriment. This tactic can include offering favors, privileges, or incentives in return for access to sensitive information, systems, or resources. Quid pro quo schemes exploit reciprocity and the desire for gain, ultimately compromising security and trust.
There are some scam attack are consider as a “quid pro quo” attack such as, website community scam, free software scam (Spacially Torrent Sites), customer service scam etc.
☛ Physical Access : This technique involves gaining physical access to a restricted area or computer systems within an organization to execute malicious activities. For instance, an attacker posing as a maintenance worker gains access to an office building and inserts a USB Rubber Ducky device OR Autorun made USB into a computer, which emulates keyboard inputs to execute preprogrammed commands, such as installing malware or stealing sensitive data without detection.
☛ Pharming : Pharming is a process where attacker redirects web traffic from legitimate websites to malicious ones, often without the user’s knowledge, by exploiting vulnerabilities in DNS (Domain Name System) servers or through malware. For example, an attacker compromises a DNS server, redirecting users attempting to access a legitimate banking website to a fraudulent site designed to capture their login credentials and personal information.
☛ Business Email Compromise (BCE) : BCE involves compromising legitimate business email accounts to conduct fraudulent activities, such as unauthorized fund transfers or sensitive data theft. For instance, an attacker gains access to a company executive’s email account through phishing or social engineering tactics. They then impersonate the executive, sending convincing emails to colleagues or financial departments requesting urgent wire transfers to fraudulent accounts.
☛ Watering Hole Attack : In this attack state hackers get the advantages of the client side vulnerability of websites such as CSRF, XSS, Clickjacking, OR Taking ownership of any subdomain and put any phishing page on them. Such as login portal for employees and many more thinks could do.
When users visit the compromised site, their systems can be infected with malware. This attack is a bit of technical attack, but, if it get compromise then attacker could get so much information from employees.
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3. Effective Technique For Human Manipulation & Social Engineering :
☛ Impersonation : Impersonation in social engineering involves pretending to be someone else to deceive individuals into divulging sensitive information or performing actions they wouldn’t normally do. This could include impersonating a trusted colleague, authority figure, or service provider through various medium such as email, phone calls, or in-person interactions. Impersonators exploit trust and authority to manipulate victims into complying with their requests, whether it’s sharing passwords, transferring funds, or granting access to secure systems.
Being a news reporter is the best play of inpersonation.
☛ Pretexting : Pretexting involves creating a fabricated scenario or pretext to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information or performing actions they wouldn’t typically do. This technique often involves building rapport or credibility to gain trust. Basically all types of scam comes into pretexting such as Job Scam, Tech-Support Scam, Charity Scam, Free Gifts Scam, Trust Scam, IT_Support Scam.
☛ Emotional Manipulation : Emotional manipulation in social engineering involves exploiting people’s feelings, such as fear, urgency, or sympathy, to manipulate them into divulging sensitive information or performing desired actions. For instance, an attacker might impersonate a distressed family member in urgent need of financial assistance, exploiting the victim’s compassion to convince them to wire money or share personal details without verifying the situation’s authenticity.
☛ Influance : Influence is the ability to shape the thoughts, behaviors, and decisions of others. It’s a fundamental aspect of human interaction and can manifest in various forms and contexts. In the realm of social engineering, which involves manipulating individuals or groups to divulge confidential information, perform actions, or make decisions that are against their best interests, influence plays a crucial role. Let’s delve into each aspect you’ve mentioned:
1. Women : We often that Beauty Is a Weakness of Man. In social engineering, individuals may use gender dynamics to their advantage. Women, particularly in certain cultures or contexts, might be perceived as less threatening or more trustworthy, making it easier for them to gain access to sensitive information or manipulate others.
Most of the people uses honey trap OR love trap to get information from someone. It could be anyone for male or female. (⚠️ Use this technique at your own risk ⚠️)
2. Power : Those with perceived power or authority often have greater influence over others. Social engineers may exploit power differentials to manipulate individuals into compliance or divulging information they wouldn’t otherwise share.
3. Seduction : Seduction involves enticing someone into a particular action or mindset. In social engineering, this could involve using charm, flattery, or even romantic interest to lower someone’s guard and manipulate them into revealing sensitive information or performing actions they wouldn’t normally do.
4. Corruption : Corruption involves using unethical or illegal means to achieve a particular end. In social engineering, this could involve bribing individuals or exploiting person vulnerabilities, such as financial troubles or personal secrets, to coerce them into compliance. Social engineers targets the organization’s person who are hungry for money.
5. Insider Threat : Insider threats refer to individuals within an organization who misuse their access or privileges to compromise security. Social engineers may exploit insider threats by manipulating these individuals to provide access to sensitive information, systems, or facilities.
Influence operates through various psychological mechanisms, such as persuasion, manipulation, authority, and social norms. Social engineers often leverage these mechanisms to exploit human psychology and circumvent security measures.
☛ Blackmail / Extortion : Blackmail and extortion in social engineering involve gathering compromising information, threatening exposure or harm, demanding compliance, exploiting fear and vulnerability, and manipulating decision-making to maintain control. Perpetrators leverage these tactics to coerce individuals or organizations into meeting their demands, often leading to significant financial and reputational damage.
☛ Identity Spoofing Technique : Identity spoofing is a technique used by malicious actors to impersonate someone else or a legitimate entity for nefarious purposes. This technique involves various methods, including:
1. Phone Number Spoofing : This involves manipulating the caller ID to display a different phone number than the actual one from which the call is originating. This can be done using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services or specialized software.
2. Voice Cloning : With advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, it’s possible to clone someone’s voice using their existing recordings. This cloned voice can then be used to make fraudulent calls or recordings that appear to be from the targeted individual.
3. SMS Spoofing : Similar to phone number spoofing, SMS spoofing involves forging the sender’s information in a text message to make it appear as if it’s coming from a different source. This can be done using various online services or software tools.
4. Email Spoofing : Email spoofing involves forging the header information of an email to make it appear as if it’s coming from a trusted sender. This can be achieved by manipulating the email’s “From” field or by using techniques like SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) relaying or spoofing the email server’s address. You can see into the image of email spoofing explaination.
5. Website Cloning : Website cloning involves creating a replica of a legitimate website with the intent to deceive users into providing sensitive information such as login credentials, financial details, or personal information. Attackers typically use techniques like phishing or creating fake login pages to trick users into divulging their information.
These techniques are often used in combination to create more convincing and sophisticated attacks. For example, an attacker might spoof a phone number to call a victim, use voice cloning to mimic a trusted individual, and then send follow-up SMS or emails with cloned sender information to further deceive the victim.
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4. Methodology :
There are many methodology at there to exploit target via social engineering, but Personally my favorite is “CYBER KILL CHAIN.”
Q- What is Cyber Kill Chain ?
A- The Cyber Kill Chain is a concept developed by Lockheed Martin to describe the stages of a cyber attack, from the initial reconnaissance to the final objective.
It’s structured into seven distinct phases as follows :
1. Reconnaissance : In this initial phase, the attacker gathers information about the target. This can include identifying potential targets, gathering information about the target’s infrastructure, personnel, technologies used, and any other relevant information that can aid in the attack.
2. Weaponization : Once the attacker has gathered enough information about the target, they proceed to weaponize their attack. This involves creating or obtaining the necessary tools, malware, or exploits to carry out the attack. This phase often involves crafting malicious payloads or finding vulnerabilities in software or systems to exploit.
3. Delivery : In this phase, the attacker delivers the weaponized payload to the target. This can be done through various means, such as email attachments, malicious links, compromised websites, or physical media. The goal is to deliver the payload to a system within the target’s network.
4. Exploitation : Once the weaponized payload reaches the target system, the attacker exploits vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access. This can involve exploiting software vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, weak passwords, or other weaknesses in the target’s defenses.
5. Installation : After successfully exploiting a vulnerability, the attacker installs malware or establishes a foothold within the target’s network. This allows them to maintain access and control over the compromised system for further malicious activities.
6. Command and Control (C2) : In this phase, the attacker establishes communication channels with the compromised systems. This can involve setting up command and control servers or utilizing existing infrastructure to remotely control the compromised systems, exfiltrate data, or carry out additional malicious actions.
7. Actions on Objectives : This final phase involves the attacker achieving their ultimate objectives, which could include stealing sensitive data, disrupting operations, causing financial loss, or other malicious activities. The specific actions taken depend on the goals of the attacker and the nature of the attack.
The Cyber Kill Chain provides a framework for understanding and analyzing the different stages of a cyber attack, which can help organizations develop strategies to detect, prevent, and mitigate such attacks.
By understanding each phase of the Kill Chain, organizations can implement security measures and controls to disrupt attacks at various stages and minimize the potential impact.
For more understanding you can see the following image :
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5. Bonus Points :
1. Disclaimer : ⚠️ Please don’t try to do any unethical things, using these methods. I’ll be not responsible, if you use these methods, tricks and techniques with any wrong intension. ⚠️
2. You should gather the information via actively , passively as well as technical and non-technical way. If you want to know more about it, the I made the blogs before, here you can read it !!
In this “Complete Red Team Recon Fundamentals” blog, you can gather much techniques, tips and tricks to gather the information.
In This “Complete OSINT Fundamental” article, you can gather the information via OSINT method. You’ll got almost millions of tools.
3. Non-verbal communication : It refers to the transmission of messages or information without the use of words. It encompasses various aspects such as body language, facial expressions, gestures, posture, tone of voice, and other non-verbal cues. Two important components of non-verbal communication relevant to social engineering are body language and microexpressions.
✯ Body Language : Body language refers to the non-verbal signals that individuals send through their body movements, postures, gestures, and facial expressions. It can convey a wide range of emotions, intentions, and attitudes. In social engineering, understanding and interpreting the target’s body language can be crucial for building rapport, gauging receptiveness, and influencing behavior. For example:
☛ Mirroring : Social engineers may mirror the body language of their targets to establish rapport and create a sense of connection.
☛ Open posture : Maintaining an open and relaxed posture can convey confidence and approachability, making it easier to gain the trust of the target.
☛ Eye contact : Maintaining appropriate eye contact can signal sincerity, engagement, and confidence, enhancing the persuasiveness of the social engineer’s communication.
✯ Microexpressions: Microexpressions are fleeting facial expressions that occur involuntarily and last for a fraction of a second. They often reveal concealed emotions or true feelings that individuals may be trying to hide. Social engineers can use their ability to recognize and interpret microexpressions to gain insights into the target’s emotional state, intentions, and level of comfort. For example:
☛ Detecting deception : Microexpressions can betray signs of deception or discomfort, helping social engineers identify when a target may be lying or withholding information.
☛ Emotional manipulation : By tailoring their approach based on the target’s emotional cues, social engineers can exploit vulnerabilities and manipulate the target’s behavior to achieve their objectives.
4. A once a legend of social engineering said us :
That’s why, cyber security awareness is important in our life !!
5. Bypass-AV- Bypass the antivirus is the problem of most of the peoples.
Here I’m comes with solution. The following cheat sheet will help you.
6. Recommendation of social engineering book :
Title : Social Engineering- The Science of Human Hacking
Author : Christopher Hadnagy
Title : Art of Deception- Controlling the Human Element of Security
Author : Kevin D. Mitnick and William L. Simon
7. Make A Plan : Don’t forget to make a proper cheatsheet before the social engineering operation and reports after complete the operation.
Also you can learn about above attack and techniques, using this folling diagram :
Hope this will help you !!!
Don’t forget to learn new things about social engineering always !!!
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I’ll see you with next article.
