According to IBM's "2014 Cyber Security Intelligence Index", 95% of all security incidents involve human error. Many security incidents are due to social engineering. Examples of this include humans clicking on links (phishing), opening unknown attachments, or entering personal or confidential information into a seemingly friendly and familiar account. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Social engineering is a technique used by hackers and intruders to access data or other critical information. This technique exploits the weakest link in cybersecurity, humans. Using the trusting nature of humans, the hacker or intruder gains access to data or a secure building. Either through a phishing email or by stalking someone inside the secure building. “Social engineering is essentially the art of gaining access to buildings, systems or data by exploiting human psychology, rather than breaking in or using normal hacking techniques.” No matter how much security your organization has, social engineering will always be a threat. This is due to the human mind and how we always want to trust others. One way to describe us would be naive, especially us Norwegians who in 2009 were named the most naive in Europe by a survey funded by the European Commission. Only 10% are considered generally “skeptical” towards other people. Chris Nickerson is a consultant who performs red group testing for his clients using social engineering techniques. In one of his tests he bought a Cisco t-shirt and tried to tailgate it. When he arrived at the building he simply asked one of the smoking employees to hold the door for him and introduced himself as a Cisco technician. He gained full access to the building and even managed to get his team inside. This is just one example that shows how easy it is to interpret someone's naivety and willingness to trust other people. Therefore it is important to educate your employees about social engineering to ensure that they are aware of the different techniques that can be used and the dangers that these techniques can lead to. Social engineering will continue to grow and change its approach and discover techniques that work better, this means it is essential to regularly update employees on the dangers and techniques of social engineering. Fortunately, there are techniques that help somewhat mitigate the dangers of social engineering. To mitigate the danger we must eliminate the dependence on human intelligence. One way to do this is a technology called Remote Browser Isolation. Remote browser isolation isolates users' web browsing activity away from the endpoint device, thus excluding most browser-related attacks such as phishing, while ensuring accessibility and productivity. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom EssayHumans generally give confidence, even when they know they work in a facility where safety is of the utmost importance. Consultants like Chris Nickerson demonstrate how easy it is to use social engineering and thus make their clients more aware of possible dangers and exploits. We've also seen that by using remote browser isolation we can avoid some of the human error by isolating the activity from the endpoint device..
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