What Is Social Engineering and Are You at Risk?


 Have you ever received an unexpected call from your friend’s brother asking for your bank details as his father was in the hospital? In that panic moment as you tend to share the details and then suddenly you realized why bank details?  Instead, he could ask for help in any other form. 

This is social engineering, a cybercrime to manipulate human psychology of persuasion and divulging them to share their personal details like passwords, bank details, or date of birth to hack their belongings.

Social engineering targets human vulnerabilities instead of your devices. They could ask you to share your personal details or may ask you to visit some websites that are malware.

Who are they?

They could be anyone sitting in any corner of the world with an intention to penetrate your security and steal cash from your online bank accounts. This set of cyber mafia targets your loopholes instead of hacking your system they could target your social media group.

Are you at risk?

Being alert and knowing the cyber norms you can be out from any sort of risk factors. There are some tactics to avoid such heinous practices. 

1)    Receive a strange message from your friends

If you receive some out-of-the-blue message from your friends then you are in danger. Try to immediately cross-check it with that person in contact. Your alertness could save you from any such hacks.

2)    Your emotions are stretched

The more vulnerable we are the more we are prone to these acts. In the extreme of our emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, curiosity, guilt, or sadness they stir the intention of exploiting our personal details through the online platform or through any means of interactions.

3)    The request is urgent

Similar to the above case. If you receive a call that asks you to take immediate action then you are at high risk of social engineering. They try to create a panic situation and then they will steal the details to make you lose.

4)    Too good to be true offer

If you receive a message on your social media account or on your email regarding some lucrative offer then don’t rush into it. Try to evaluate the offer whether it could be real or not.  Usually, they trick the potential victim through tempting offers that are unusual or difficult to rely on.

5)    Unexpected help

Offering some unexpected help on your social account or on your contact then you need to rethink before enjoying it. Getting some help that is unexpected then it is an alarming sign for you.

6)    The identity of the sender is doubtful.

This is the easiest sign to understand that you are at risk. If you get a notification from some doubtful or unrecognized sender then you can easily understand the hidden warning.

 Conclusion

Social engineering is draped in a so-called friendly pack. They trigger your emotions and then try to rob your online bank account. K7 antivirus on your system will alert you to such acts. They filter these criminals and protect you from these misleading activities. 

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