Social Engineering: Towards A Holistic Solution

As most employees are information-workers nowadays, they are very vulnerable to various malicious attacks. However, some threat sources have realized that it is far easier to obtain wanted information directly from authorized users than using software or other means to obtain such information. This is generally referred to as Social Engineering. Therefore, organizations are at risk, because most information-workers are very vulnerable to socially malicious attacks. The objective of this paper is, therefore, to present guidance in the form of a flowchart which should give employees some guidance on how to act when faced with a potential Social Engineering attack. The flowchart was deduced from information gathered in an extensive literature survey. If followed correctly, it should reduce the risk related to Social Engineering significantly.