Defending against hacking attacks is more important than ever in today's environment. With the average cost of a data breach running into the millions, it's something no firm can afford to cut corners on.
Often, however, the stereotypes of the hacker using complex code to find weaknesses in firewalls and other defenses isn't accurate. In many cases, the best skill a criminal can have to help them gain access to a network is psychology - understanding how your employees' minds work and how to exploit this.
This is called social engineering and it's a major cause of data breaches. Research by SlashNext Threat Labs suggested that in 2021, social engineering threats rose by 270%, while Verizon's 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report suggests this is a factor in nearly a quarter of incidents.
Social engineering hackers have a number of advantages. Firstly, these methods often don't require much technical knowledge. What's more, they're hard to stop. Many traditional antimalware solutions can let some techniques slip through their defenses, and it only takes one employee who happens to be a bit rushed or careless that day to succeed.