True Stories of Cyber Awareness: Social Engineering (09/20/2025)
I consider myself a good guy. I used to think I was a nice guy but that has changed. Some individuals think that nice guys are taken advantage of because of their niceness. There isn't a mean bone in their body. Being nice these days can get you into trouble even online. I refer to myself as a good guy because I can also be very mean and tell people to piss off. That doesn't mean I am a bad guy. I am a good guy with morals and boundaries.
When it comes to social engineering, I am not a nice guy in person and online. Social engineering is everywhere. It's more prevalent than phishing as you can use it offline. You can engineer a person into what you want with con artistry and mental manipulation to achieve your goals.
I know you have heard of a physical Trojan horse used by the Greeks to conquer Troy. Give a huge wooden horse as a gift and stuff some dudes into the center and wait. Chaos ensues. A form of social engineering was carried out to perfection.
Humankind has been building impenetrable structures for centuries, but the human response ends up getting you slaughtered in the middle of the night.
A co-worker mentioned one day that his wife paid $2,000 as a response to a popular social engineering tactic and I even asked him if she knew what he did for a living. Working for MSP's, you see a lot of ways people fall victim and we do our best to educate our clients. After a few weeks of payment, they came back wanting more. Of course they did. They always want more.
One of the funniest templates was the one where the cyber assailant says he knows that you have been watching porn and has the evidence and will release it to people you know unless you pay. This was brought up by a few clients and the first question I had was what type of porn do you watch? Why would you bring this to the IT team unless you watch porn on your business device.
I always say, click on the Report Phishing Icon within your email client and enjoy the rest of your day.
