By Bill Pytlovany
If you’re interested in PC Security, you’ll want to check a look at research recently compiled by the folks at PC Pitstop. Even I was surprised at how much people mistakenly rely on their security software. The research shows that even with some of the most popular and/or highest quality protection computers are still at risk.
https://www.pcmatic.com/blog/2010/05/13/the-state-of-pc-security/
It’s not uncommon for a system to be infected and users won’t even know it. Even more common is folks have no clue how an infiltration could have possibility happened. Nine times out ten it will result from a social engineered attack on our human nature. No matter how often people claim they don’t download strange software, they will. They just won’t immediately know it’s a bad file to download or bad link to click on.
Historic Social Engineered Infiltrations
In the early days, the bad guys used simple methods which aren’t much different than the creative attacks used today. Imagine you’re a secretary at a company and you get a phone call like…
“This is Mr. Hunt from IBM. It seems someone did something wrong on your computer which has damaged your accounts payable system. Could you please give me your user name and password so I can correct this error.? We don’t have to report any mistakes to your boss”.
You can bet this kind of breach wasn’t rare and still happens today with a different script. One well known hacker tells the story how he’d just leave a copy of infected floppy disks labeled “Salary Figures” laying around inside a company.
This post is excerpted with Bill’s permission from his blog
