• Why IRONSCALES
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      Gain protection against advanced email attacks like BEC, ATO, social engineering, and more

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      Turn hours-a-day to minutes-a-month combatting phishing with customizable security automation

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    Press: New Research

    New Osterman study reveals orgs with high confidence still lack capabilities against QR code attacks

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    Case Study: Webhelp

    Learn how Webhelp saved over 450 SecOp hours and is protecting 36,000 mailboxes

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    IRONSCALES earns 'Fastest Growing Email Security Company' for 3rd straight year

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    Spring '24 Software Release! Check out our new deep image-based detection, GWS capabilities, and more. Explore the new additions
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    • Inbound Email Protection
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      Get Adaptive AI email security against advanced attacks missed by other security controls​

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      Eliminate the risk of ATO with advanced prevention, detection, and response

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      Image-Based Attack Protection

      Protect your organization from image-based attacks like malicious QR codes

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      Send your employees customized simulations built from real-world threats

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      Leverage insights from 20,000+ security analysts in our community for email remediation

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    • BEC & Executive Impersonation
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      Stop advanced attacks like BEC, VEC, and VIP impersonation

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      Continuously protect against malicious links and attachments

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      Block attackers from stealing your sensitive business data

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      Prevent, detect, and respond to ATO attacks in real time

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      Decipher image-based attacks from weaponized QR codes

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      Safeguard your organization against GPT-crafted attacks

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      Test your employees with real-world email attacks

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  • Learn
    New Report! Osterman Research releases their 2024 findings on Image-based/QR Code Attacks. Read the report
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    FEATURED
    Email Security in the Age of AI
    Email Security in the Age of AI

    Understand the role of AI in fortifying defenses against evolving threats.

    QR Code Phishing
    QR Code Phishing

    QR codes serve as a new bypass method to evade detection.

    The ABCs of MFA
    The ABCs of MFA

    MFA is your digital doorman that keeps the malicious actors at bay.

    Phishing Prevention
    Phishing Prevention

    Dive into our complete 13-chapter guide on phishing prevention best practices

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    Spear Phishing

    Understand the inner workings of highly specialized phishing tactics and how to stop them

    Voice Phishing
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    See how attackers leverage new methods and channels to defraud businesses

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What is Social Engineering?

Social engineering works by exploiting human psychology. Attackers will use social cues to influence victims into trusting them and acting against their interests. The goal of the attacker is to get the target to take actions such as giving away personal information or downloading malicious software.

Social Engineering Explained

Social engineering is a type of malicious attack used by cybercriminals to gain access to an organization’s sensitive data and resources. This attack usually involves manipulating individuals into providing confidential information or performing actions that can put the business at risk. Social engineers use tactics such as impersonation, phishing, pretexting, and more to take advantage of unsuspecting people. They often target vulnerable individuals within an organization, such as interns or low-level employees, who may not be aware of the security risks involved with providing data or access to a system.

Types of Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering attacks can take many forms, but the most common methods include:

  1. Impersonation: An attacker may pose as a legitimate employee or someone else in order to gain access to sensitive information or resources.
  2. Pretexting: Attackers use false pretenses to get victims to reveal information or access systems that they otherwise wouldn't allow them to. For example, an attacker may call posing as an IT technician in order to gain access to an employee's computer.
  3. Phishing: This is the most common type of attack and involves sending emails that contain malicious links, attachments, or requests for personal information. These emails may appear to be from a legitimate source, such as a bank or other trusted organization, and come in a variety of forms including Business Email Compromise Attacks, Spoofing, Smishing, Spear Phishing, Vishing, and Whaling.

How Does Social Engineering Work?

Social engineering works by exploiting human psychology. Attackers will use social cues, such as flattery or authority, to influence their victims into trusting them and acting against their better judgment. They will also use the power of suggestion and manipulation to get people to take actions that would otherwise be out of character. This can include anything from revealing confidential information to clicking a malicious link.

The goal of the attacker is to get the target to take an action that they otherwise wouldn't allow them to, such as giving away personal information or downloading malicious software. Social engineering attacks can be targeted at any type of user, from individuals and small businesses all the way up to large corporations.

Read more about a cyber-attack on Uber that made global media headlines in September 2022 when a threat actor infiltrated the company’s internal systems where social engineering techniques were used.

How to Prevent Social Engineering Attacks

Organizations and individuals can protect their assets from social engineering attacks by taking a few simple steps, which include:

  • Learning to recognize the signs of an attack
  • Developing good security awareness training for employees
  • Verifying email addresses and links before clicking on them
  • Implementing a two-step authentication process to ensure only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data
  • Conducting regular security audits to help identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses that attackers could exploit

See below to learn all about IRONSCALES™ award-winning social engineering protection tools. 

Social Engineering Protection from IRONSCALES

IRONSCALES™ provides mailbox-level fraud and anomaly detection that conventional Secure Email Gateways (SEG) miss. Our social engineering solution: 

  • Creates a unique sender “fingerprint” for each employee. This is accomplished by analyzing “sent-from” IPs, communication context and habits, and other factors. Any deviation from the norm is detected immediately
  • Leverages Natural Language Processing to flag commonly used BEC language
  • Uses AI and machine learning to continuously study every employee’s inbox and detect suspicious email data and metadata
  • Automatically quarantines any detected anomaly in real-time, and visually flags the email subject line and body with guidance for the employee
  • Adapts to sophisticated social engineering developments using AI, machine learning, and crowdsourcing techniques
  • Provides automated phishing simulation testing and security awareness training to educate and train your employees to recognize credential harvesting attacks

Get a demo of IRONSCALES™ today!  https://ironscales.com/get-a-demo/

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Featured Content

AI in Email Security

This comprehensive Osterman Research study explores the evolving landscape of AI-driven threats and innovative solutions implemented to stay ahead.

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Gartner® Email Security Market Guide

This guide gives email security experts an exclusive access to Gartner® research to ensure their existing solution remains appropriate for the evolving landscape.

Get The Gartner Guide

Defending the Enterprise from BEC

Data shows organizations deploy defense-in-depth approaches ineffective at addressing BEC attacks. Discover truly effective strategies in this report.

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Schedule a Demo

Request a demo to see what IRONSCALES AI-powered email security can do for you.
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Social Engineering Explained

Social engineering is a type of malicious attack used by cybercriminals to gain access to an organization’s sensitive data and resources. This attack usually involves manipulating individuals into providing confidential information or performing actions that can put the business at risk. Social engineers use tactics such as impersonation, phishing, pretexting, and more to take advantage of unsuspecting people. They often target vulnerable individuals within an organization, such as interns or low-level employees, who may not be aware of the security risks involved with providing data or access to a system.

Types of Social Engineering attacks

Social engineering attacks can take many forms, but the most common methods include:

  1. Impersonation: An attacker may pose as a legitimate employee or someone else in order to gain access to sensitive information or resources.
  2. Pretexting: Attackers use false pretenses to get victims to reveal information or access systems that they otherwise wouldn't allow them to. For example, an attacker may call posing as an IT technician in order to gain access to an employee's computer.
  3. Phishing: This is the most common type of attack and involves sending emails that contain malicious links, attachments, or requests for personal information. These emails may appear to be from a legitimate source, such as a bank or other trusted organization, and come in a variety of forms including Business Email Compromise Attacks, Spoofing, Smishing, Spear Phishing, Vishing, and Whaling.

How Does Social Engineering Work?

Social engineering works by exploiting human psychology. Attackers will use social cues, such as flattery or authority, to influence their victims into trusting them and acting against their better judgment. They will also use the power of suggestion and manipulation to get people to take actions that would otherwise be out of character. This can include anything from revealing confidential information to clicking a malicious link.

The goal of the attacker is to get the target to take an action that they otherwise wouldn't allow them to, such as giving away personal information or downloading malicious software. Social engineering attacks can be targeted at any type of user, from individuals and small businesses all the way up to large corporations.

Read more about a cyber-attack on Uber that made global media headlines in September 2022 when a threat actor infiltrated the company’s internal systems where social engineering techniques were used.

How to Prevent Social Engineering Attacks?

Organizations and individuals can protect their assets from social engineering attacks by taking a few simple steps, which include:

  • Learning to recognize the signs of an attack
  • Developing good security awareness training for employees
  • Verifying email addresses and links before clicking on them
  • Implementing a two-step authentication process to ensure only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data
  • Conducting regular security audits to help identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses that attackers could exploit

See below to learn all about IRONSCALES™ award-winning social engineering protection tools. 

Social Engineering Protection from IRONSCALES

IRONSCALES™ provides mailbox-level fraud and anomaly detection that conventional Secure Email Gateways (SEG) miss. Our social engineering solution: 

  • Creates a unique sender “fingerprint” for each employee. This is accomplished by analyzing “sent-from” IPs, communication context and habits, and other factors. Any deviation from the norm is detected immediately
  • Leverages Natural Language Processing to flag commonly used BEC language
  • Uses AI and machine learning to continuously study every employee’s inbox and detect suspicious email data and metadata
  • Automatically quarantines any detected anomaly in real-time, and visually flags the email subject line and body with guidance for the employee
  • Adapts to sophisticated social engineering developments using AI, machine learning, and crowdsourcing techniques
  • Provides automated phishing simulation testing and security awareness training to educate and train your employees to recognize credential harvesting attacks
Get a demo of IRONSCALES™ today!  https://ironscales.com/get-a-demo/
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Featured Content

Human & Machine

A core tenet at IRONSCALES is that phishing is a human + machine problem that can only be solved with a human + machine solution.

Read More

Vendor Spoofing

A researcher at IRONSCALES recently discovered thousands of business email credentials stored on multiple web servers used by attackers to host spoofed Microsoft Office 365 login pages.

Read More

The Cost of Phishing

Businesses are spending too much time and money on phishing. Discover how much in this survey report. 252 security professionals. 20 industries. 5 key takeaways.

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