This is a great article about infamous Social Engineering attacks throughout history. The author’s tongue-in-cheek tone makes light of the intrusions, yet the damages each caused were anything but humerus. What’s very interesting about the article is that the attacks are mostly technologically based, meaning, inevitably, a hacker broke into a computer system and stole something or corrupted something but there are a few that are not. The first hack in the list dates back to the 1960s when the infamous Frank Abignale (Catch Me If You Can) used different characters to trick people into thinking he was something he wasn’t-a Trojan Horse of sorts. The article also discusses how a man was able to rob a bank without any technology at all. The only thing he deployed to obtain millions of dollars worth of jewelry was his charm. I think this is relevant to what Wade was mentioning with mingling with smokers outside of a company’s office so as to gain information. The article goes on to discuss several large hacks and how social engineering paved the road into the corrupted systems. A security analyst is quoted at the end of the article saying in so many words, “if you want to stay safe, engage end users”. Information systems are comprised, essentially, of computers, data, and end users. This article certainly suggests end users are the weakest link of the three when it comes to security.
http://www.darkreading.com/the-7-best-social-engineering-attacks-ever/d/d-id/1319411
I really like the RSA SecurID Breach .Usually people tell its gullible people tricked into social engineering but there are also employees working in security company getting tricked .It is expected from employees of such company to be aware of such social engineering tricks.This also reveals how can the zero day attacks could be a lot dangerous