Social Engineering
Social engineering is a technique used by attackers to manipulate people into giving up sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. Instead of breaking into systems through technical means, attackers exploit human psychology—often using tricks like pretending to be someone trustworthy (like an IT technician) or creating a sense of urgency. It's one of the most common and effective methods in cyberattacks.
Snexa , an employee at a large financial firm, receives a call from someone claiming to be from the company's IT department. The caller, speaking urgently, informs Snexa that there has been a network breach and that his account is at risk. He instructs Snexa to verify his identity by reading out her company login and a temporary password reset link.
The caller sounds knowledgeable and uses technical jargon, even referencing the name of Snexa’s real IT manager. Trusting the urgency and apparent familiarity, Snexa complies. Without conducting any further verification, Snexa blindly trusts the caller based solely on his name, leading to emotional distress when she realizes she was deceived.
Later, it is discovered that the attacker used Snexa’s credentials to access the company’s internal systems and steal sensitive client data. Had Snexa enabled multi
factor authentication (MFA) on her account or been more aware of modern threats and attacker tactics, she might have been protected from the phishing attack.
A few days after the incident, Snexa reviews the surveillance footage and discovers that someone had entered a restricted area of the company premises — a zone off-limits to guests — raising further concerns about physical security.
