Way back in the good old days, engineering was about making things. You studied physics, chemistry, biology and electronics. That’s when engineering was engineering! Not so anymore! Say hello to the world of Social Engineering! Social Engineering is the process involved in getting people to release confidential information or perform some action that compromises a company’s security. This is typically done using some means of fraud or deception, and it is usually very effective. Often it is more effective than trying to defeat technical barriers such as firewalls.
In the September issue of ComputerWorld, Workers Readily Divulge Sensitive Info, there is an article that should concern all of us. It relates how at the DefCon hacking conference, there was a real life demonstration of Social Engineering. While sitting in a Plexiglas booth, with an audience watching, ‘contestants’ called the employees of various companies, and tried to get them to divulge corporate details. The article, says that they were very successful.
As people, I think we all want to live in a world where we can trust those around us, whether they are our fellow employees, our neighbors or just the people we meet on the street. Unfortunately, we cannot. Instead, trust is something that must be earned, and security is something that must be trained. As a company it is important to have security policies that are re-enforced by regular training. Teach your employees about Social Engineering. Often times, hackers will pretend to be part of the IT or Helpdesk. Instruct your technical teams that it is not appropriate for them to ask for or share technical or login information over the phone and make sure your employees know that your IT staff will not ask them to divulge secure information or ‘install software’ from an email link.
At NICE CXone, our job is to handle and process your customer contacts, delivering them to you reliably and safely. This requires product features, network design, secure data transmission solutions and security training for our employees. We always have your security in mind in the hiring and training of our staff and the design of our products. As your partner, we are here to help your business. If you would like to review the security of your NICE CXone services, please contact your Global Service Delivery representative and ask to speak to our Trust department.
