What's social Engineering? 

Social engineering techniques rely on the weaknesses of human psychology. Scammers take advantage of emotions to manipulate and trick their victims. People's fear, greed, curiosity, and even their willingness to help others are turned against them through a variety of methods. Among the multiple sorts of malicious social engineering, phishing is certainly one of the most common and well-known examples.

1.Phishing

Phishing emails often mimic correspondence from a legitimate company, such as a national bank chain, a reputable online store, or an email provider. In some cases, these clone emails will warn users that their account either needs to be updated or has shown unusual activity, requiring them to provide personal information as a way to confirm their identity and regularize their accounts. 

2.Scareware

 Scareware is a type of malware designed to scare and shock users. They typically involve the creation of false alarms that attempt to trick victims into installing a fraudulent software that looks legitimate, or into accessing a website that infects their system.

3.Baiting

 Baiting involves the use of baits to lure victims based on their greed or curiosity. For instance, scammers may create a website that offers something for free, like music files, videos, or books. But in order to access these files, users are required to create an account, providing their personal information. In some cases, there is no need for an account because the files are directly infected with malware that will penetrate the victim’s computer system and collect their sensitive data.

Baiting schemes may also occur in the real world through the use of USB sticks and external hard drives.

Social engineering and cryptocurrencies

-A greedy mentality can be quite dangerous when it comes to financial markets, making traders and investors particularly vulnerable to phishing attacks, Ponzi or pyramid schemes, and other types of scams. Within the blockchain industry, the excitement that cryptocurrencies generate attracts many newcomers to the space in a relatively short period of time (especially during bull markets).

Even though many people do not fully understand how cryptocurrency works, they often hear about the potential of these markets to generate profits and end up investing without doing appropriate research. Social engineering is particularly concerning for the rookies as they are frequently trapped by their own greed or fear.

-On the one hand, the eager to make quick profits and earn easy money eventually leads newcomers to chase false promises of giveaways and airdrops.

- On the other hand, the fear of having their private files compromised may drive users to pay a ransom. In some cases, there is no real ransomware infection, and users are tricked by a false alarm or message created by hackers.

How to prevent social engineering attacks

Social engineering scams work because they appeal to human nature. They usually use fear as a motivator, urging people to act immediately in order to protect themselves (or their system) from an unreal threat.

In order to avoid becoming a victim of social engineering attacks, you should consider the following security measures:

1.Educate yourself, family and friends. 

Teach them about the common cases of malicious social engineering and inform them about the main general security principles.

2.Be cautious with email attachments and links. Avoid clicking on ads and websites of unknown source

3.Install a trustworthy antivirus and keep your software applications and operating system up to date

4.Make use of multifactor authentication solutions whenever you can to protect your email credentials and other personal data.

5.For businesses: consider preparing your employees to identify and prevent phishing attacks and social engineering schemes