Social Engineering Interview Questions and Answers

by Sachin, on Aug 8, 2022 10:09:15 PM

Q1. What is social engineering?

Ans

Social engineering is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information. Social engineering attacks happen in one or more steps.

Q2. What are the types of social engineering?

Ans

Phishing.
Vishing and Smishing.
Pretexting.
Baiting.
Tailgating and Piggybacking.
Quid Pro Quo.
Cyber Threats Beyond Social Engineering.

Q3. What is the role of social engineering?

Ans

Social engineering is a manipulation technique that exploits human error to gain private information, access, or valuables. In cybercrime, these “human hacking” scams tend to lure unsuspecting users into exposing data, spreading malware infections, or giving access to restricted systems.

Q4. What are the characteristics of social engineering?

Ans

The phrase "social engineering" encompasses a wide range of behaviors, and what they all have in common is that they exploit certain universal human qualities: greed, curiosity, politeness, deference to authority, and so on.

Q5. Which is the first stage of social engineering?

Ans

There is a predictable four-step sequence to social engineering attacks, typically referred to as the attack cycle. It includes the following: information gathering, establishing relationship and rapport, exploitation, and execution.

Q6. What are the 3 common methods of social engineering?

Ans

ONLINE AND PHONE. Phishing scams and smishing (fake SMS/text messages) are trick users online and over the phone into giving up sensitive information or money.
HUMAN INTERACTION.
PASSIVE ATTACKS.

Q7. How is social engineering effective?

Ans

In today's world, social engineering is recognized as one of the most effective ways to obtain information and break through a defense's walls. It is so effective because technical defenses (like firewalls and overall software security) have become substantially better at protecting against outside entities.

Q8. Which two precautions can help prevent social engineering?

Ans

Keep your password securely under your keyboard. Escort all visitors.Do not allow any customers into the workplace. Always ask for the ID of unknown persons.

Q9. What is the most common method of social engineering?

Ans

Phishing: The Most Common Form of Social Engineering

Phishing is a form of email scam where someone sends an email claiming to be from a trustworthy business or person.

Q10. What is social engineering life cycle?

Ans

In its simplest form however, the Social engineering lifecycle follows four basic phases: Investigation, Hook, Play, and Exit. The Investigation phase is when an attacker performs their recon.

Q11. What is the primary target of social engineering?

Ans

Social Engineering attacks exist in many forms and employ a wide variety of techniques, but their main purpose is almost always to circumvent security measures by exploiting a human entry point. Understanding these attacks will help employees identify potential attack vectors and verify their authenticity.

Q12. What vishing means?

Ans

Vishing refers to phishing attacks that involve the use of voice calls, using either conventional phone systems or Voice over Internet Procotol (VoIP) systems.

Q13. What is a common warning signs of social engineering?

Ans

Message Arrives Unexpectedly.
Sender Asks Something Out of the Ordinary.
Requested Action is Potentially Harmful.
Attacker Attaches an Unusual File or URL.
Attacker Includes a Sense of Urgency.

Q14. What is active spoofing?

Ans

Spoofing is the act of disguising a communication or identity so that it appears to be associated with a trusted, authorized source. Spoofing attacks can take many forms, from the common email spoofing attacks that are deployed in phishing campaigns to caller ID spoofing attacks that are often used to commit fraud.

Q15. What is spear phishing in social engineering?

Ans

A spear phishing email uses social engineering techniques to urge the victim to click on a malicious link or attachment. Once the victim completes the intended action, the attacker can steal the credentials of a targeted legitimate user and enter a network undetected.

Q16. What is cyber calling?

Ans

In most cases, the caller sounds professional and provides a convincing reason for calling the customer. After giving a false sense of security, the caller then tricks the victim into giving away their personal and confidential data such as: • One-Time-Password (OTP) • Credit/debit card number.

Q17. What is difference between phishing and whaling?

Ans

The difference between whaling and spear phishing is that whaling exclusively targets high-ranking individuals within an organization, while spear phishing usually goes after a category of individuals with a lower profile.

Q18. What are backdoor attacks?

Ans

A backdoor refers to any method by which authorized and unauthorized users are able to get around normal security measures and gain high level user access (aka root access) on a computer system, network or software application.

Q19. What is trap door in security?

Ans

A trap door is kind of a secret entry point into a program that allows anyone to gain access to any system without going through the usual security access procedures. Another definition of a trap door is it is a method of bypassing normal authentication methods. Therefore it is also known as a back door.

Q20. What is meant by logic bomb?

Ans

A logic bomb is a string of malicious code inserted intentionally into a program to harm a network when certain conditions are met.

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