Social media has opened up new opportunities for less than honest predators.

Newsmaker.com.au recently highlighted the act of social engineering in their article, “Social engineering: Deceiving people, not machines.”  This new term refers to the exploitation of the human aspect of computers, i.e. the user, into giving up secure access information. The author shares tales of employees giving up information that seems impossible to believe with little effort. It isn’t that they are stupid or are intentionally attempting to fraud the corporation; they just seem to be too trusting. Instilling some level of paranoid about revealing secure information in employees from their very first day on the job is advised.

The SSN Take: Phishing emails have been reported in over 50% of users’ in-boxes. Corporations need to educate staff on proper procedures and to beware.

Melody K. Smith, March 31, 2010

Note:   Post was not sponsored.