On a more macro level, any action related to behavioral psychology can be considered social engineering. However, this concept is not always related to criminal or fraudulent activities. In fact, social engineering is widely used and studied in fields such as social sciences, psychology, and marketing.

When it comes to cybersecurity, social engineering refers to a range of malicious activities that attempt to manipulate people into bad behavior with ulterior motives, such as stealing personally identifiable information and later To steal their company's personal or confidential information. Identity fraud is a common consequence of these types of attacks, resulting in significant financial losses in many cases.

Social engineering is often viewed as a cyber threat, but the concept has been around for a long time, and the term can also be associated with real-world fraud, often involving impersonating an auditor or IT expert. However, the advent of the Internet has made it easier for hackers to carry out manipulation attacks on a wider scale, and unfortunately these malicious activities also occur in the cryptocurrency space.

How does it work?

All types of social engineering rely on weaknesses in human psychology. Scammers use emotions to manipulate and deceive their victims. They prey on people's fears, greed, curiosity, and even their willingness to help others. Among various malicious social engineering behaviors, phishing is one of the most common and well-known cases.

Phishing

Phishing emails often imitate emails from legitimate companies, such as national banks, chain stores, reputable online stores, or Email provider. In some cases, these scam emails warn users that their accounts need updating or that unusual activity has occurred, asking them to provide personal information to confirm their identity and manage their account. Out of fear, some users will immediately click on the link and navigate to a fake website, providing the criminals with the data they need. At this point, the information will be in the hands of hackers.

Threatware

Social engineering techniques are also used to spread so-called scareware. As the name suggests, threatware is a type of malware designed to intimidate and threaten users. They often involve creating false alerts in an attempt to trick victims into installing legitimate-looking fraudulent software or tricking users into visiting websites in order to infect their systems. This technique usually relies on users' fear that their systems have been compromised, persuading them to click on web banners or pop-ups. These messages usually say: "Your system is infected, please click here to clean it." ”

Baby

Baby is another form of social engineering that causes problems for many unwary users. Typically exploiting the user's greed or curiosity to lure victims. For example, a scammer could create a website that offers free content, such as music files, videos, or books. In order to access these files, users usually need to create an account and provide their personal information. In some cases, account creation may not be required, as downloaded files can also be directly infected with malware that will invade the victim's computer system and collect their sensitive data.

In real life, phishing may also occur through the use of USB storage and external hard drives. Scammers may intentionally leave an infected device in a public place, luring curious individuals to check it out and view its contents, ultimately infecting their personal computers.

Social Engineering and Cryptocurrency

When it comes to financial markets, a greedy mentality can be very Dangerous, traders and investors are particularly vulnerable to phishing, Ponzi and pyramid schemes, and other types of scams. In the blockchain industry, the attention generated by cryptocurrencies has attracted many new people to the field in a relatively short period of time (especially during the bull market).

Although many people don’t fully understand how cryptocurrencies work, they often hear news reports about the market’s potential to generate huge gains and make assumptions without adequate research. In this case, invest blindly. Social engineering is especially concerning for newbies because they are often trapped by their own greed or fear.

On the one hand, the desire to make quick profits and make money will make novices chase false benefits and believe in airdrop promises. On the other hand, users may fear that their private files will be compromised and pay the ransom. In some cases, users are simply deceived by fake alerts or messages created by hackers and are not actually infected by ransomware.

How to prevent social engineering attacks

As mentioned before, the reason why social engineering scams are Work only because they exploit human weaknesses. They often use fear as a motivator, prompting people to take immediate action to protect themselves (or their systems) from an unreal threat. Some social engineering attacks also rely on human greed to lure victims into various types of investment scams. So it's important to remember that if an offer seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam.

While some scammers are sophisticated, average attackers make obvious mistakes. The titles of some phishing emails and threatware often contain grammatical or spelling errors, which usually only fools the unwary - so be careful.

To avoid becoming a victim of a social engineering attack, you should pay attention to the following security measures:

• Educate yourself, family and friends . Teach them common examples of malicious social engineering and introduce them to key security principles.
• Be cautious when handling email attachments and links. Avoid clicking on ads and websites from unknown sources;
• Install genuine anti-virus software to keep your software applications and operating system up to date;
• If you want to protect your email login credentials and other personal data, use a multi-factor authentication solution. Like setting up two-factor authentication (2FA) for your Binance account.
• For enterprises: Employees should be equipped with the ability to identify social engineering attacks to prevent phishing and social engineering attacks.

Summary Thoughts

Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to trick users with the goal of stealing their money and sensitive information, so educate yourself and those around you. people are very important. The internet provides a safe haven for these types of scams, which are particularly common in the cryptocurrency space. So be careful and vigilant to avoid falling into social engineering traps.

In addition, anyone who decides to trade or invest in cryptocurrencies should conduct sufficient research beforehand to ensure a good understanding of the market and working mechanisms of blockchain technology.