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How to Spot Social Engineering

Practical advice for identifying social engineering tactics such as pretexting, baiting, tailgating, and impersonation. These posts equip readers with specific red flags to watch for and verification steps to take before trusting any request.

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Social Engineering

How to Spot Social Engineering Before It Costs You

In July 2020, a teenager convinced Twitter employees to hand over internal credentials through a phone-based social engineering attack. The result: hijacked accounts belonging to Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Apple — broadcasting a Bitcoin scam to hundreds of millions of followers. The attacker didn't exploit a

Carl B. Johnson Apr 12, 2021 7 min read
Social Engineering

How to Spot Social Engineering Before It Costs You

In January 2024, a finance employee at Arup — the engineering firm behind the Sydney Opera House — joined a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every face on the screen was a deepfake. By the time anyone realized what happened, the employee

Carl B. Johnson Jan 09, 2020 7 min read