Week 8

The weakest link in an organization chain are humans. Some of the most damaging and well-known cyber attacks are not caused due to weak technology or a crack in the code, instead, humans. This week, we explored the most powerful and common forms of attack: social engineering. Rather than targeting software or hardware, these attacks focus on exploiting human behavior to gain unauthorized access or information. 

Social Engineering Attack Process

We broke down the social engineering attack lifecycle into four main phases:

  1. Intelligence Gathering – Researching the target through social media, company websites, or public records.

  2. Identifying Vulnerabilities – Pinpointing weak spots in communication channels or personal behaviors.

  3. Planning the Attack – Choosing a method, setting a goal, and crafting the approach.

  4. Execution – Carrying out the deception, such as sending a phishing email or impersonating an employee.

Common Attack Techniques

We studied psychological tactics often used by attackers:

  • Impersonation – Pretending to be someone trusted (e.g., IT staff or executives).

  • Reciprocation – Offering a favor to encourage compliance.

  • Authority – Using fake titles or positions to pressure victims.

  • Scarcity – Creating urgency (e.g., “You must act now!”).

  • Social Relationships – Exploiting existing trust within teams or organizations.

Practical Lab: Social Engineering Toolkit (SET)

We used SET (Social Engineering Toolkit) to simulate a phishing attack by creating a fake login page:

Practical (SET Demo)

  1. Launch SET from the terminal.

  2. Choose: Social-Engineering Attacks → Spear-Phishing Attack Vectors → Metasploit Browser Exploit Method.

  3. Configure payload and listener settings (reverse shell or meterpreter).

  4. SET will generate a malicious link.

  5. When the target clicks the link using a vulnerable browser, SET delivers the payload and opens a remote session.

This exercise demonstrated how easy it can be to fool users with fake sites, especially when attackers create convincing replicas. 

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