How to Mitigate Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineers are digital con artists who masquerade as trusted entities to trick your employees into revealing sensitive company information. They might pose as colleagues, IT support staff, or even customers to manipulate your team into compromising your security. This is why businesses must take phishing attacks seriously - they bypass technical safeguards by exploiting human psychology.

In this blog post, we'll examine the most effective strategies to prevent social engineering attacks, covering secure communication habits, network protection measures, and proper device management practices that will strengthen your organization's security posture.

How To Shield Your Business From Social Engineering Attacks

Protecting your business from social engineering threats requires a multi-layered approach. There are three key areas you need to address to build strong defenses against manipulative tactics that target your team members.

Area #1: Safe Communication And Account Management Habits

Your first line of defense against social engineering starts with establishing secure communication practices and proper account management throughout your organization.

1. Establish Companywide Policies And Procedures

Even with a strong cybersecurity culture, your organization remains vulnerable without documented protocols to guide and enforce secure behaviors.

Every employee represents a potential target for social engineers, which means every policy should address these potential attack vectors with specific guidance on prevention steps. To mitigate these risks, your organization should prioritize creating both social media policies and a Rapid Response Team (RRT).

A social media policy serves as your company's roadmap for online behavior. Include specific guidance for your team to use generic job titles instead of specific roles, avoid mentioning client names or project details, and never post screenshots of internal systems.

Your policy should also address connection requests from strangers, regular privacy setting reviews, and other security practices to protect your online presence.

A Rapid Response Team (RRT) is a dedicated group within your organization tasked with managing and responding to security incidents when preventive measures fail. They ensure you can quickly identify, contain, and recover from security threats or data breaches that could compromise your digital assets.

2. Always Double Check Senders

Never trust anyone whose identity you cannot confirm when communicating online. Attackers frequently compromise accounts or impersonate high-profile executives (whaling attacks) to trick employees into revealing sensitive information.

According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, 30% of whaling emails get opened, and 12% of recipients end up clicking on malicious links.

What’s worse is that these attacks can be devastating. In 2021, cosmetics company Natura & Co lost $14.6 million when attackers impersonated an executive and convinced the finance department to transfer funds to a Hong Kong bank account.

As a rule of thumb: Never click on anything that looks suspicious, and never divulge sensitive information. If you're unsure about a sender's legitimacy, use your company's approved channels to confirm the request. Also, ask other stakeholders if the request is real or if they should report it to IT and management.

3. Never Click On Links In An Email Or Message

Clicking on unknown links exposes organizations to serious threats, including data breaches, financial losses, operational disruptions, and reputational damage.

While email remains the most common phishing vector, there's been a huge spike in social media phishing. What makes social media phishing particularly dangerous is how it exploits trust and social validation. When a message appears to come from someone you know or a brand you trust, you're more likely to let your guard down and click suspicious links.

During the third quarter of 2024, a massive 30.5% of phishing attacks worldwide targeted social media platforms.

To stay safe, double-check the origin of all URLs before clicking on them, and if you cannot verify their legitimacy, avoid them altogether. Even better, instead of clicking on a link, type it manually in the address bar or use a search engine like Google to find the right page.

Also, use a social media security tool to automatically analyze all the social media messages you receive. Tools like Spikerz help organizations and individuals quickly monitor direct messages and comments for suspicious content, automatically filtering out harmful links and providing immediate alerts about potential scams.

4. Always Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication adds a crucial second security layer by requiring both your password and a time-sensitive verification code. This additional verification step, which could include biometrics or temporary passwords sent through third-party authentication apps, helps prevent social engineers from breaching a system even if they obtain your password.

For individual creators, standard 2FA works well. However, businesses with teams face unique challenges. Traditional 2FA links authentication to a single device, requiring team members to constantly request codes from the account owner.

This is why businesses should consider specialized 2FA solutions for multiple users. These systems allow authorized team members to access accounts securely while maintaining centralized control over permissions.

Another significant advantage of team-based 2FA solutions is simplified offboarding. When team members leave, these systems let you instantly revoke their access without changing passwords across all platforms, streamlining security management and  preventing former collaborators from accessing your accounts.

5. Use Strong Passwords And A Password Manager

Your password forms your first line of defense against unauthorized access. As such, they should be both complex and unique, and never repeated for more than one site or account.

Create passwords that are at least 14 characters long, combining numbers, special characters, and both uppercase and lowercase letters. Random combinations work best, avoiding anything that resembles actual words or phrases found in dictionaries.

If you feel like you won’t be able to remember all your passwords, use a secure password manager to automatically generate them, save them, organize them and have them available when needed.

6. Be Cautious Of Online-Only Relationships

Organizations must be extremely cautious with online-only relationships. Many social engineers send connection requests to get access to data they normally wouldn't have.

For example, on LinkedIn, it's pretty common to receive a lot of connection requests from people you don't know. If you randomly accept them, you'll risk letting people with bad intentions get access to your personal information.

That said, not everyone who sends you a connection request has bad intentions, but you need to be selective with the people you accept. A relationship that does not include any in-person interaction or phone conversation can easily be used for social engineering. Beware of anyone who wants to interact solely online.

Area #2: Safe Network Use Habits

The second area to address involves your network security and usage practices, which play a critical role in preventing social engineering attacks.

1. Never Let Strangers Connect To Your Primary Wi-Fi Network

Allowing someone to access your primary Wi-Fi network leaves it open to eavesdropping. To prevent this, use a guest network for those who visit your office or home.

2. Use A VPN

A virtual private network (VPN) provides you with a secure, encrypted tunnel through which communications pass. Even if someone were to snoop on your communications, the VPN would encrypt the transmissions, rendering them useless for the attacker.

3. Keep All Network-Connected Devices And Services Secure

While your Wi-Fi connections at and around the office are likely secure, as are your mobile devices, it is important to not neglect other devices like infotainment systems in your car and at home.

While it's less likely to happen for the vast majority of people, getting within these systems can help a social engineer further personalize their attack. People in high positions like C-suite, founders, and directors should be especially careful of whaling attacks.

Area #3: Safe Device Use Habits

The third area to protect is your devices, which serve as the main gateway for social engineering attempts.

1. Use Internet Security Software

Internet security software can protect your system from malware that gets implanted via a social engineering attack. One of the most common programs is antivirus software. However, it's not the only one.

Modern security suites now offer expanded capabilities exceeding traditional antivirus functions. They not only block malicious software but can also track attack sources, enabling you to report incidents to authorities and contribute to cybercrime investigations.

2. Do Not Ever Leave Your Devices Unsecured In Public

Unfortunately, a lot of people may take the opportunity to snoop around your devices while you are gone. Your computer and mobile devices should always be locked up or securely on your person. This holds true whether you are in a public place or a semi-public environment like your job.

3. Keep All Software Updated

While we know it can be annoying to update software all the time, it's essential to ensure that your devices are as secure as they can be.

Software updates help ensure your applications are impervious to the newest kinds of attacks. After an attack has been successful, the software's design team may address the vulnerability in an update, so frequent updates provide you with the most up-to-date security.

4. Check For Known Data Breaches Of Your Online Accounts

As a company, you should keep track of accounts that have been compromised. If your account information is on their list, take steps to secure it by changing your password and adding 2FA.

There are many tools you can use to do this. For example, some antivirus software has data breach monitoring capabilities that help you scan for online breaches.

There are also social media security tools like Spikerz that scan the web for online breaches and alerts you when it finds something suspicious so you can take immediate action.

Conclusion

Social engineering attacks target human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities, making them particularly dangerous for businesses of all sizes. However, if you implement strong communication practices, secure network habits, and proper device management, you’ll significantly reduce your risk of falling victim to these manipulative tactics.

Remember that your security is only as strong as your weakest link. Train your team to recognize threats, establish clear policies, use strong authentication methods, and deploy security tools like Spikerz to create multiple layers of protection.

These steps won't just protect your sensitive information—they'll safeguard your brand reputation, customer trust, and business operations from this growing threat.