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Michael Bird
Explain IT Host
In this episode host Michael Bird is joined by Adam Louca, Softcat's Chief Technologist for Security, and Darren Thompson, CTO of the EMEA region at Symantec, to look at a hot topic in IT security news: social engineering. We provide an overview of IT and security in the context of social engineering, as cybercrime is maturing, so are cybercriminals and the way they try to access your data. From whaling - targeting a senior level executive - to using techniques that get you to spread malware to your friends - social engineering is prominent in ransomware attacks. Darren talks about how Symantec now employ pscychologists to combine the social science element of these attacks with the social science. Darren and Adam then discuss methods of protection, including simulating real life scenarios, and a back-up plan to implement if your organisation is targeted.
- Senior Executive level fraud is often known as whaling - a long-term attack on one big fish - this is an attack on one senior level target due to the minimal interaction most employees have with them
- The cybercrime market is maturing: cybercriminals now range from teenagers at home, to whole gangs of 100+ cyber criminals
- Symantec are now employing psychologists to help them understand more sophisticated cybercriminals
- Plan for failure - how would you respond if your users are phished?
- Implement additional security controls, such as good password hygiene and multi-factor authentication
- Social engineering techniques are becoming more prominent, playing on your social network by engineering you to spread the malware yourself
Hosts
Guests
Adam Louca
Chief Technologist for Cyber Security, Softcat
Darren Thomson
CTO & Vice President, EMEA Region, Symantec
