What makes social engineering so successful? Demographically speaking, list in order the people most susceptible to least susceptible affected by social engineering. Give at least three different groups.
There’s a sucker born every minute” – P.T. Barnum. …probably.
Social Engineering works because it exploits the machinations of community. You trust your neighbor because you want your neighbor to trust you. You haven’t been taken advantage of more times than you have been taken advantage of. It’s basically confirmation bias at it’s finest. People trust all their information to their iPhone, or tax collector, or human resource department, because, for the most part, they haven’t been exploited before, and moreover, they have to assume they won’t be exploited, or else nothing would get done. How can you get paid if you refuse to release your social security number to your employer?
- The most likely candidate susceptible to social engineering would be your Suburban Middle Class Female, who has been fortunate enough to not face hardship or tribulation in her life.
- The next demographic is the mildly successful Middle Aged man, who may be wary and prudent to a particular extent, but is scared or bullied by threats of legal action, and while he wouldn’t release pictures of his credit card on social media (smh) he would rather pay out a small sum than have his internet history released to the public.
- The final category would be that of the disenfranchised, and they would prove hardest to dupe. Naturally distrustful, they expect every call to be a debtor of some sort and will go through elaborate lengths to avoid releasing any personal information. Broke folks believe everyone wants money they don’t have, and are suspicious by nature.
