Analysis of 1.3M Emails Unveils Hidden Threats Missed by Other Email Security Solutions
Analysis of 1.3M Emails Unveils Hidden Threats Missed by Other Email Security Solutions
What is Reverse Social Engineering & How Does It Work?

What is Reverse Social Engineering & How Does It Work?

Reverse social engineering involves human interaction, sabotaging, advertising, and intimidating people. Social engineers start by finding ways to disrupt a network through psychological manipulation and suspicious activities.

Reverse social engineering attacks can be as complex as performing a denial-of-service attack against a target website or as simple as sending emails from a spoofed email account telling users that they’ve been infected with a virus.

Regardless of which technique is employed, the security cyber-criminal has either sabotaged the system or given the impression that it is sabotaged. Even with advanced security procedures, reverse social engineering impacts every organization globally.

Reverse social engineering and social engineering differ mainly in their approaches. In a typical social engineering attack, the attacker makes direct contact with the victim through emails and social media platforms.

On the other hand, the attacker does not initiate contact with the victim in a reverse engineering attack.

A hacker might trick the person into approaching them by offering a solution to a problem that they have created such as resetting system parameters or deleting a critical file and pretending to be skilled security personnel from his own company, for example.

Once the victim reaches out for help and gives access to the system, the hackers will fix the issue but they will also create a back door to keep track of online activities and steal data, etc.

Organizations are encouraged to create separate operational procedures and perform due diligence to address a possible attack for both vectors.

Methods Of Attacks

Baiting Attacks

Online forms of baits consist of enticing ads that lure users into visiting malicious websites or downloading malware-infected applications.

This is one of the most popular social engineering attacks used by hackers for both its simplicity and effectiveness.

Scareware Attacks

Scareware is another commonly used social engineering attack that involves victims receiving false alarms and threats from their computer systems.

Users are tricked into thinking their computer is infected with malware, so they download programs that don’t help them but maybe malware themselves.

Pretexting Attacks

An attacker establishes trust with their victims through human interactions by impersonating co-employees, police officers, bank and tax officials, or other people who have right-to-know authority. 

Read more about pretexting here.

Phishing Attacks

Phishing scams are emails that create a false sense of urgency, curiosity, or fear in victims.

Malware is software designed to damage or disable computers, often for financial gain. Malicious links will be embedded in the phishing email, trickling the end-user into clicking.

Spear-Phishing Attacks

A spear-phish attack involves an attacker pretending to be someone else to trick people into opening an attachment.

The message prompts recipients of an email to change their passwords and provides them with a URL redirecting them to another malicious web page where the attacker now collects their login credentials.

Learn about the difference between phishing and spear-phishing.

Reverse Social Engineering Through Email (Human Factor)

A reverse social engineering attack starts with a phishing link. Preying on human weakness, the user clicks on the link, and the malicious software is installed, it will begin affecting your computer.

If an attacker contacts the victim pretending to be someone with authority, they may contact the victim under false pretenses.

After that, they will claim to be able to fix the problem for a fee or even give it away for free by loading a rootkit, APT, or other malware designed to bypass anti-malware software.

They will fix the issue and create a backdoor to keep track of your online activity and steal your information.

Social Engineering Methods (Direct Security Threats And Intimidation)

Reverse social engineering is very effective because it causes people to panic and creates a need for the attacker to intervene since you think they’re saving you. Hackers will impersonate government agencies like the IRS to intimidate the email recipient.

Unsure of what to do or being afraid to disclose to SecOps that possible failure to follow corporate security procedures, employees may panic and try to communicate with the hacker attempting to rid themselves of the problem.

This “reverse” communication is precisely what the hacker hoped for in the (??) when conducting a reverse social engineering attack.

Organizations typically use employee numbers which allow them to authenticate their employees. With the adoption of an authentication procedure, employees can verify the caller’s identity through a phone call to their personal mobile number.

What invites reverse social engineering?

The success of reverse social engineering depends on the following:

  • Lack of security awareness and employee education
  • Poor planning and implementation of security controls.
  • Phony link inside of an email

Social Engineering Techniques

When it comes to social engineering, most organizations have basic security policies stating that employees shouldn’t disclose sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and transaction details.

Many employees don’t fully understand the importance of these policies. Most users avoid using key security features such as multi-factor authentication, scanning unknown devices, etc., making it easier for hackers to implement an effective social engineering attack.

Organizations know they need to invest in advanced security solutions but don’t want to spend the time and money required. Adding layers of security isn’t always the best solution.

Even though organizations try to build and integrate security technologies and procedures into their operations, they often fail to determine whether these efforts are practical or not.

Many organizations rely on their internal employees to test the effectiveness of these procedures and defenses to improve security, but as we already know, this isn’t often the case.

How to Mitigate Reverse Social Engineering Attacks?

Lack of security awareness, absence of procedural policies, security measures, and even poor implementation is by far the most common causes of both social engineering and reverse social engineering attacks.

This is why mitigating the effect of both is very similar:

  • Educating employees about the best use of the technical security features and build-in features inside most operating systems
  • Effectively identify the members of your company’s computer support and analysis to prevent attackers from implementing the “fake technical support” scheme.
  • Employees should receive basic security awareness training to better understand how to reverse social engineering work in order to better detect any anomalies or irregularities in time.
    • Create and establish internal security guidelines for the proper usage of external and unknown USB drives or any other peripheral device.

Trustifi Reverse Social Engineering Protection

In order to effectively mitigate reverse social engineering attacks, the solution must be more than just a technical solution to stop these cyber-attacks.

It should also include policy, end-user education, and adaptive controls that can reduce the social engineering attack from the surface significantly.

Whenever an end-user receives suspicious emails, many delete the message or become intrigued by the lure.

Trustifi’s In-bound shield™ spam filter solution provides several protective filters to help reduce unwanted or social and reverse social engineering phishing attempts.

Trustifi’s protection strategy employs machine learning to profile the typical behavior of regular system users. It then watches for abnormal system usage characteristics of a hacker who has penetrated the firewall and is trying to steal sensitive information.

The system then automatically notifies system administrators in real-time when it detects a compromised user account preventing any attempt of a reverse social engineering attack.

Personalized Inbox Management

Trustifi’s machine-learning engine observes how your users move messages to folders in their inbox. It then customizes how it routes messages automatically to match user preferences to create personalized white, black, and gray lists. In addition, each user can further customize their lists of wanted and unwanted messages.

Threat Notifications to Help End Users

Another effective way to stop any social engineering attack is by automatically scanning every incoming email in real-time to determine its threat level.

While some messages are apparent, others are trustworthy. Inbound Shield flags the gray emails and attaches a notification to them. Users see the notification before opening the news, so they know the potential risk they take.

Simplify Security Operations

Single-click API integration makes implementation easy. Trustifi integrates with one click and no disruption to mail flow. Deployment takes minutes.

Integrate Directly with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365

Integration with commercial cloud email systems like Google and Microsoft is fully automated. One-click connects Trustifi with your email system without downtime, interruption of service, changes to MX records, or modifications to email configurations.

Trustifi customized inbound rules for advanced protection

Trustifi’s inbound rule system allows customization rules for specific needs, such as blocking particular from/to addresses, auto-forwarding, auto-replies, and many others.

Threat Response System

Trustifi’s Threat Response system can remove potential threats from user inboxes even after the email was already delivered, a quick and efficient solution to mitigate existing threats and detect attacks that legacy systems may not have caught.

AI-BASED ENGINES PROTECT AND KEEP YOUR INBOX CLEAN. SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGY Includes:

  • Clears mailboxes ultimately, so only legitimate emails are received
  • Filters Spam and Graymail

Multi-layer Email Security Defense System

Trustifi’s Inbound Shield™ uses multiple layers of protection to ensure all potential threats including reverse social engineering attacks are detected and treated according to administrator-specific preferences. Links and attachments are scanned in a sandbox environment. At the same time, the AI engine analyzes the email’s content to determine if the email is spam, graymail, phishing, BEC (Business Email Compromise), or any other type of unwanted email.

Inbound scanning services look deep within the attachments, email messages, and headers for any compromising lures, extortion attempts, or requests to the user to download malicious packages, including malware, APTs, and rootkits. Trustifi’s solutions help reduce the victim attack surface by identifying and neutralizing the following attack vectors:

Trustifi’s Multifactor Authentication (MFA) For Message Receipt Protection

Endpoint compromises will happen even with the most secured devices. How would you ultimately send messages even if unaware that your machine has been compromised?

Ensuring messages are read-only by the intended recipient, Trustifi’s one-click to encrypt combined with their MFA solution prevents hackers from reading secured emails even if the endpoint device has been compromised due to reverse social engineering.

By enabling Multi-Factor Authenticationyou will ensure that emails are kept fully secure and can only be accessed by their intended recipients. Senders can encrypt emails with just a simple click of a button.

Recipients can securely and easily access encrypted emails in their inbox after verifying their identity with an additional authentication factor, without creating any new accounts or logging into any third-party systems.

This makes encryption much more accessible, so users are far more likely to use it making social engineering attacks less viable.

Many Methods to Verify the Identity of the Email Recipient:

–PIN code sent via SMS or as a phone call
–Personal password
–PIN code sent via email
–Utilizing the recipient’s Single Sign-On (SSO) with Gmail, O365, or Yahoo

In response to this problem, Trustifi integrates two-factor authentication directly into the receipt process. This additional step is streamlined and straightforward yet crucial for verifying that authorized individuals only access sensitive information.

It works like this: anytime an encrypted email is sent with Trustifi, the intended recipient must authenticate their identity in one of three ways pre-selected by the sender.

The primary option is through the use of an SMS authentication code that is sent via text message. When the recipient receives the encrypted email, it will prompt them to enter the SMS code sent to their mobile device.

Upon providing the verification code, the email will open and allow them to send an encrypted reply directly from the same screen.

A shared password can be used if the recipient doesn’t have a cell phone number or it is not known. A hint will be provided if the recipient doesn’t remember the password right away.

The third option sends the recipient a separate email containing their PIN code. When the encrypted email is delivered, the recipient must enter the separately shipped PIN. This option ensures that any regulatory requirements for data protection have been met.

Any of these methods will greatly protect end users from any attempt of reverse social engineering attack on the organization.

Trustifi Tracking & Postmark Proof

As many other aspects of modern business practices have been digitized, the use of Certified Mail for tracking and delivering sensitive data and information has remained an analog practice.

While you may be able to track Certified Mail online, the entire process of sending and monitoring Certified Mail is unwieldy, inconvenient, and expensive.

Trustifi’s Postmark Proof & Tracking offers the first truly viable alternative to Certified Mail and revolutionizes how sensitive data is sent and tracked via email.

Trustifi’s Postmark Proof & Tracking feature gives the sender a full-field view of email delivery confirmation, receipt of when it was opened, and what device it was on – all in real time. With immediate notifications, senders never miss when an email containing sensitive information is delivered and opened, making this a complete nightmare for any hacker trying to implement a reverse social engineering attack.

In addition to providing a receipt of comprehensive tracking information, Trustifi’s Postmark Proof & Tracking offers many more features that provide your organization with an added level of assurance that emails containing sensitive information are protected.

The Trustifi Difference with Social Engineering Prevention

Social engineering attackers’ main objective is to manipulate human feelings, such as curiosity or fear, to carry out schemes and draw victims into their traps.

Therefore, be wary whenever you feel alarmed by an email, attracted to an offer displayed on a website, or when you come across stray digital media lying about. Being alert can help you protect yourself against most social engineering attacks in the digital realm.

Why Trustifi?

Trustifi is a cyber security firm featuring solutions delivered on software as a service platform. Trustifi leads the market with the easiest-to-use and deploys email security products, providing both inbound and outbound email security from a single vendor.

As a global cybersecurity provider of both inbound and outbound email protection, Trustifi is THE best solution on the market against reverse social engineering attacks.

We currently support customers from dozens of countries including the USA, Canada, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, the UK, the Netherlands, India, the UAE, China, Japan, Cyprus, the Philippines, and more.

The company has also developed “One-Click Compliance” capabilities that cater to world security regulations, including PDPO for Hong Kong, POPI for South Africa, GDPR for Europe, and LGPD for Brazil.

Culture

Trustifi’s email security services feature a comprehensive suite of email tools for advanced threat protection, easily configurable Data Loss Prevention, and enterprise email encryption.

Trustifi’s easy-to-use software is unmatched in its user-friendliness, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. 

Trustifi’s time to value, ease of deployment, and lower cost of ownership for SecOps make the company culture secure and a financial match for any client seeking email security, data exfiltration, and message encryption.

Request A Demo: Trustifi: Email Security Solutions

 

Whether you’re looking for an extra layer of protection in your existing email environment or a complete suite solution, the expertise and simplicity Trustifi offers will exceed your expectations. Let’s discuss a customized email security plan that fits your needs perfectly.

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