In our latest social engineering report, Proofpoint researchers analyze key trends and behaviors in social engineering throughout 2021 that highlight some common misconceptions people may have about how criminal or state actors engage with them, including:
- Threat actors may build trust with intended victims by holding extended conversations
- Threat actors expand abuse of effective tactics such as using trusted companies’ services
- Threat actors leverage orthogonal technologies, such as the telephone, in their attack chain
- Threat actors know of and make use of existing conversation threads between colleagues
- Threat actors regularly leverage topical, timely, and socially relevant themes