Social Engineering Attacks Cost Companies

Half of businesses have experienced more than 25 successful social engineering attacks in the past two years, with some having to spend up to $100,000 per incident in cleanup costs.

Strategic Security Survey: Global Threat, Local Pain (click image for larger view and for full slideshow)
In the past two years, 48% of large businesses have suffered from socially engineered attacks at least 25 times, resulting in losses of between $25,000 and $100,000 per incident.
Those findings come from a new survey of 850 IT and security professionals in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, conducted by Dimensional Research and sponsored by Check Point Software Technologies.
Social engineered attacks are a growing threat, according to 86% of survey respondents. By their estimates, attackers primary motivation is stealing financial information, followed by extracting trade secrets, or revenge. Meanwhile, the primary tool used for social engineering attacks is the phishing email, followed by using social networking sites that disclose employees personal details.
Many CIOs see socially engineered attacks--aka hacking the human--as one of the
primary threats
facing corporate networks. While emerging strains of malware can often be countered using sophisticated technology defenses, social engineering targets whats often the weakest link in the security equation:
people
.
[Learn 7 crucial tips for
surviving a zero-day attack
from a CIO who lived through one.]
Furthermore, by socially engineering the right employee, attackers can gain a toehold in the corporate network, then use it to exploit sensitive information. In the case of the
breach of RSA
, for example, attackers socially engineered using a relatively unsophisticated technique: they sent an email with the subject line 2011 Recruitment Plan to two small groups of RSA employees. One of the employees retrieved the email from their junk mailbox and opened the spreadsheet, which was really a piece of malware designed to provide the attacker with a direct connection into RSAs network. From there, the attacker was able to harvest the users credentials and ultimately access sensitive information relating to RSAs two-factor SecurID system.
According to the survey, one-third of businesses dont train employees to avoid social engineering attacks, although half of them said they plan to do so. At the end of the day, people are a critical part of the security process as they can be misled by criminals and make mistakes that lead to malware infections or unintentional data loss, said Oded Gonda, vice president of security products at Check Point, in a statement. Many organizations do not pay enough attention to the involvement of users, when, in fact, employees should be the first line of defense.
Interestingly, some types of employees see more socially engineered attacks than others. Respondents to the Check Point survey said that new employees seemed to be the most susceptible to social engineering attacks, followed by contractors, executive assistants, HR employees, senior managers, and IT personnel.
After experiencing a successful social engineering attack, businesses said they typically suffered business disruption and lost productivity, lost revenue, and needed to detail experienced IT personnel to undo damage or
conduct a forensic analysis
. As a result, roughly half of survey respondents said their related per-incident response costs totaled at least $25,000, while 30% of larger businesses said theyd seen per-incident costs of more than $100,000. In general, social engineering attack clean-up costs were greater for businesses in the financial services and manufacturing industries.
Attend Enterprise 2.0 Santa Clara, Nov. 14-17, 2011, and learn how to drive business value with collaboration, with an emphasis on how real customers are using social software to enable more productive workforces and to be more responsive and engaged with customers and business partners. Register today and save 30% off conference passes, or get a free expo pass with priority code CPHCES02.
Find out more and register.

Last News
▸ ArcSight prepares for future at user conference post HP acquisition. ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Samsung Epic 4G: First To Use Media Hub ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Many third-party software fails security tests ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security

**Cyber Security Categories**
Google Dorks Database	Exploits Vulnerability	Exploit Shellcodes

CVE List

Tools/Apps

News/Aarticles

Phishing Database

Deepfake Detection

Trends/Statistics & Live Infos

Tags:
Social Engineering Attacks Cost Companies