Psychological Dimensions of Social Engineering in Cybercrime

This chapter reflects on social engineering as an important aspect of cybercrime, based on the psychology principles that make it possible to manipulate and deceive the individual in digital realities. It explains cognitive and emotional loopholes that attackers use, i.e. trust, fear, authority and curiosity, and discusses some commonly-used attack vectors, i.e. phishing, pretexting and impersonation. The discussion points out both the personal and corporate other results, that vary between financial loss and psychological trauma and loss of reputation. The idea is that there is a synergy between human psychology and technological systems that cybercriminals are able to adjust their tactics to the changing systems. The chapter also discusses defense measures, involving awareness training, psychological resilience and technical measures, as well as legal and ethical issues.