How to Hack A Human: Social Media, Social Engineering, and Business Email Compromise
Tessian interviewed ten ethical hackers, commissioned a survey of 4,000 employees (2,000 in the US, 2,000 in the UK), and analyzed inbound email data to dig deep into how bad actors can – and do – use publically information to target people with social engineering attacks.
Our research reveals that hackers hack humans to hack the companies they work for by exploiting two key vulnerabilities. First, the average person shares a lot of information online, giving bad actors up-to-date intelligence about where they’re working, who they’re working with, and what they’re working on. Second, that the average person doesn’t follow cybersecurity best practices. (Spoiler alert: 76% of people reuse the same password for multiple accounts.)
Readers will:
- Learn how bad actors leverage posts on social media and even OOO messages to craft targeted and effective social engineering attacks and crack passwords.
- Understand which industries are the most frequently targeted by social engineering attacks, and what the biggest threat vector is.
- Discover how employees can level-up their cybersecurity online and at the office to prevent successful attacks.
