Social engineering – sharpened tools

In difficult times, bankers need all the friends they can get. But it’s important to be sure your new best friend isn’t a fraudster on the make wanting to exploit the situation. As financial institutions are continually probed by fraudsters looking for a way to compromise security, Andy Holder has been investigating their methods and modus operandi. The tricks they pull and the games they play are impressive, and are turning social engineering into a new black art that threatens to make trying to protect against technical vulnerabilities redundant, along with a great many more bankers.

Andy Holder is a freelance journalist who has been investigating and writing about financial fraud for over 20 years.

Financial institutions that remain focused on technical countermeasures ignore the risk of human hacking at their peril. The human element is today a critical part of any self-respecting fraudster’s armoury, and at the core of many a successful attack on a financial institution. Their approach is creative, innovative and multi-faceted. It exploits a number of human vulnerabilities and psychological models, and it attacks on a number of levels, all of which can lead to a significant loss.