Department of Accounting and General Services

Social Engineering is an approach to gain access to information through misrepresentation.  It is the conscious manipulation of people to obtain information without their realizing that a security breach is occurring.  It may take the form of impersonation via telephone or in person and through email.  Some emails entice the recipient into opening an attachment that activates a virus.

Follow these best practices:

• Before providing information to a telephone caller, check if the individual is authorized to receive that information.
• Employees should report any suspicious calls to the appropriate individual in your organization.
• Before opening an email attachment or clicking on a link, verify it is from someone you know, ensure your anti-virus software is current and that the message in the email makes sense for you to receive.  If all the parts don’t add up, the attachment may contain a virus.  Delete it immediately.

Cyber Security Tips are provided by Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), https://www.msisac.org