Key Takeaways

• Social engineering is a psychological attack: It targets the human element of security to trick people into giving up access, data, or money, often bypassing strong technical controls.
• Attacks follow a four-stage process:
  • Investigation & Research
  • The Hook & Engagement
  • The Attack & Exploitation
  • The Exit.
• Defense requires a layered approach: Prevention relies on both the human layer (security awareness training, clear policies) and the technology layer (proactive threat intelligence to block malicious infrastructure).

Introduction

Even the most secure lock is useless when someone hands the attacker the key. And, while your employees are your most valuable asset, they’re also your biggest vulnerability. Social engineering attacks are psychological, targeting the human element of security instead of the technology and designed to trick people into giving up access, data, or money.

That’s what makes it so dangerous: it can easily be used to bypass even the strongest technical controls.

How Social Engineering Attacks Work: The Attacker’s Playbook

Most social engineering attacks follow the same general lifecycle, whether simple or complex.
There are four basic stages:

1. Investigation & Research

To begin, the attacker identifies their target and gathers information available online, such as LinkedIn, company websites, social media, and anything else out there that makes up a person’s digital footprint. This research is how the attacker makes their approach believable.

2. The Hook & Engagement

Next, the attacker makes initial content and establishes a relationship or a pretext. This involves spinning a credible story (for example: “I’m from the IT help desk,” “This is an important invoice,” or other pretenses that establish a sense of urgency).

3. The Attack & Exploitation

Now the attacker makes their move. This is the moment they ask for the credentials, the click on the link, the wire transfer, or the malware download.

4. The Exit

In a successful social engineering attack, the attacker covers their tracks, deletes communications, and uses the stolen information once they have what they need.

While most social engineering attacks follow this process, there are several different types of strategies.

7 Common Types of Social Engineering Attacks

The attacker’s playbook can take many forms. It’s important to train your employees on how they can recognize and avoid each one.

1. Phishing & Spear Phishing

Phishing is a bit of a “drag net” approach where the attacker sends mass emails to many users hoping that a few will get caught. Picture emails that say your Amazon password has been compromised or from the foreign prince hoping you can help him out in exchange for some of his mass fortune.

Spear phishing is a more sophisticated approach. This is a targeted attack aimed at a specific person, group, or company. The attacker uses personalized information (name, role, colleagues, etc.) gathered during the research phase to appear legitimate. For example, you may receive an email from the president of the company asking you to purchase gift cards for him or an email from your manager to pay an attached invoice.

2. Vishing & Smishing

Vishing, otherwise known as “voice phishing,” uses phone calls, often with spoofed caller IDs, to impersonate a trusted entity like a bank, the IRS, or a tech support agent.
Smishing, or SMS phishing, utilizes text messages with urgent, clickable links (e.g., “There’s been a problem with your package delivery. Click here…”).

3. Pretexting

Here, the attacker creates a detailed, fabricated scenario (a pretext) to obtain information. For example, posing as an HR employee needing to “verify” a Social Security number or a vendor updating billing information.

4. Baiting

This social engineering attack lures a victim with a false promise, like a “free movie download” or a “bonus payment.” There’s the classic physical example as well—leaving a USB drive labeled “Executive Salaries 2025” in a public area that in reality contains malicious files.

5. Quid Pro Quo

Also known as a “this for that” social engineering attack, the attacker offers a service in exchange for information, such as calling employees to offer a “fast IT upgrade” in exchange for their login credentials.

6. Tailgating

A physical approach where the attacker follows an authorized employee into a secure building or room, often by “piggybacking” through a door before it closes. The attacker may even carry packages to prey upon employees’ kindness as they hold open doors to be polite.

7. Business Email Compromise (BEC)

A sophisticated approach that often uses spear phishing, BEC attacks impersonate a high-level executive, like the CEO or CFO. The goal is to trick an employee in finance or HR into performing an “urgent and confidential” wire transfer or sending sensitive information like employee W-2s.

Red Flags: How to Spot a Social Engineering Attack

There are some telltale signs that a communication is a social engineering attack. Knowing what red flags to watch for can prevent a costly cybersecurity breach for your organization.

What to look for:

• A Sense of Urgency: Messages that include phrases like "Act NOW," "Urgent Action Required," or "Your account will be suspended." create pressure designed to make you panic and not think critically.
• An Appeal to Emotion: The message uses fear (a problem), greed (a prize or bonus), or sympathy (a request for help).
• Suspicious Sender or Domain: The email address is almost right aside some typo or misspelling (e.g., [email protected]). A best practice is to hover over links to see the actual destination URL.
• Unusual Request: A CEO emailing or texting you directly to buy gift cards or a bank asking for your password via email are not normal procedures and should raise your antenna.
• Generic Greetings: An email opening with "Dear Valued Customer" or "Dear User" (though attackers are getting better at personalization).
• Spelling and Grammar Mistakes: Typos are often a sign of a non-professional, mass-produced phishing email.

How to Prevent Social Engineering: A Two-Part Defense

Social engineering can be difficult to stop entirely. Neither technology nor people are completely infallible. To prevent falling victim to social engineering attacks, you need a layered approach.

Part 1: The Human Layer (Security Awareness)

• Security Awareness Training: This is your #1 defense. Train employees to recognize the red flags listed above.
• Phishing Simulations: Regularly test employees with safe, simulated phishing attacks to reinforce training.
• Clear Policies: Have simple, clear procedures for handling sensitive information and verifying financial requests (e.g., "All wire transfer requests must be verbally confirmed.").
• "See Something, Say Something" Culture: Encourage employees to report any suspicious message without fear of blame.

Part 2: The Technology Layer (Using Intelligence to Stop Threats)

Unfortunately, you can’t train everyone perfectly. An employee will eventually take the bait. Your defense must stop the attack before it reaches the inbox or before the malicious link can connect.

That’s where technology comes in. Proactive threat intelligence can help block attacker infrastructure. Social engineering attacks don’t come from nowhere—attackers need to register domains, set up servers, and create malicious links.

Threat Intelligence helps with:

• Brand Protection: Recorded Future monitors the internet along with dark web sources for mentions of your brand and executives, identifying typosquatted domains (e.g., recorded-future.co) and fake social media profiles used in attacks.
• Phishing and C2 Intelligence: The Recorded Future Intelligence Graph provides a real-time feed of malicious domains, IPs, and URLs associated with phishing and malware command-and-control (C2).
• Automated Defense: This intelligence is automatically fed into your security tools (SOAR, SIEM, firewall, email filter) to block these threats in real-time. An employee can't click a link that's already blocked.

This turns your security from reactive (cleaning up after a click) to proactive (blocking the threat before the click is possible).

To see firsthand how Recorded Future’s threat intelligence services can help you prevent social engineering attacks, book a demo today.