Chapter 14: Performing Client-Side Attacks – Social Engineering

While many cybersecurity professionals focus on implementing security appliances and solutions to prevent cyberattacks and threats, they often lack focus on protecting the minds of employees. The human mind does not have cybersecurity solutions to protect it from psychological manipulation, and this creates the most vulnerable aspect within any organization. Threat actors and penetration testers often trick employees into performing an action or revealing confidential information that helps perform a cyberattack and compromise an organization.

During this chapter, you will learn the fundamentals and key concepts that are used by threat actors during their penetration testing exercises to trick and manipulate their targets into revealing sensitive information and even performing a task. You will also discover the characteristics of various types of social engineering attacks and how to develop an awareness of...