What is Baiting?

Have you ever clicked on one of those social media posts that offer access to an enticing story? If you have, you'’ll understand the meaning of "“baiting."” In the case of a "“clickbait"” story, often the link takes you to a mildly annoying site with lots of pop-up ads. However, baiting can be used for nefarious purposes too. Baiting is a form of social engineering that often involves a false promise or reward to lure victims, which can result in data theft, financial losses, and malware infection. TitanHQ explores this insidious attack and how to prevent employees from taking the bait.

Understanding Baiting

Baiting is a type of social engineering attack that involves enticing victims with false promises or rewards. Cybercriminals often use this tactic to gain access to sensitive information or install malware on a victim’s device. Baiting attacks exploit human emotions and trust, making them a significant threat to both individuals and organizations. By understanding the different techniques attackers use, we can better protect ourselves from these deceptive tactics.

Baiting attacks typically rely on a “bait” that appeals to human curiosity or desire. This could be anything from a free download or a tempting offer to a seemingly innocuous USB drive left in a public place. Once the victim takes the bait, the attacker can gain access to sensitive information or compromise the victim’s device with malware. Recognizing the psychological manipulation involved in baiting is crucial to defending against these attacks.

How Does Baiting Work?

Baiting works because the "“bait"” is designed to elicit a natural response, like curiosity or urgency. This ability to manipulate human behavior is known as social engineering. In other words, attackers abuse humans'’ behavior as social creatures to navigate the world. This manipulation results in some action that benefits the attacker.

Social engineering has become one of the most prevalent attack vectors, with almost all (98%) cyber-attacks having a social engineering element. Social engineering can be thought of as human hacking. Social engineering works because people have set behaviors that cybercriminals can exploit. For example, people often like to conform to fit in and to be a good employee. In this case, attackers can pressure people to share sensitive or financial information to perform a task quickly and efficiently. Attackers often play on emotional reactions to situations, such as the fear of missing out on an opportunity. Cybercriminals can use many ways to manipulate people based on socially engineering their behavior.

Baiting is a variant of phishing in which attackers use “bait” like a gift or a great offer to entice a person. Baiting can also involve a physical item, such as leaving a USB key lying around. A common baiting technique involves using malware-infected devices, particularly USB drives, which are deliberately placed in obvious locations to lure individuals into plugging them into their computers. Curiousness gets the better of the victim, who plugs the USB key into their computer. If the bait is taken, the result will be stolen data, financial losses, or malware infection.

Types of Baiting

Baiting attacks come in various forms, each with its method of deception. Here are some common types:

Phishing: Attackers send fake emails or messages that trick victims into revealing sensitive information or downloading malware. These messages often come from legitimate sources, making them particularly compelling.

Spear phishing is a more targeted form of phishing in which attackers use personalized messages to target specific individuals or organizations. By tailoring the message to the victim, attackers increase their chances of success.

Vishing: In vishing attacks, cybercriminals use phone calls or voicemail messages to trick people into disclosing sensitive information. These calls often impersonate trusted entities, such as banks or government agencies.

Smishing: Like phishing, smishing uses text messages or SMS to deceive victims. These messages may contain links to malicious websites or prompt the victim to download malware.

Pretexting: Attackers use false or misleading information to gain access to sensitive data. This could involve impersonating a trusted individual or creating a fabricated scenario to trick the victim.

Physical Baiting: This involves using malware-infected devices, such as USB drives, to trick victims into installing malware. Attackers may leave these devices in public places, relying on human curiosity to do the rest.

Identifying Baiting Attempts

Recognizing baiting attempts requires a combination of education, awareness, and vigilance. Here are some tips to help you identify and avoid falling victim to these attacks:

• Be cautious of unsolicited requests for information: If you receive an unexpected request for sensitive information, verify the source before responding.

• Verify the authenticity of emails and messages: Look for signs of phishing, such as suspicious email addresses, grammatical errors, and urgent language.

• Be wary of suspicious links and attachments: Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown or untrusted sources.

• Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication: Protect your accounts with complex passwords and additional authentication methods.

• Keep software and operating systems current: Regular updates help protect against known vulnerabilities that attackers may exploit.

• Disable autorun on your computer: Prevent malware-infected devices from automatically running programs by disabling autorun features.

Techniques Behind Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering relies on the manipulation of people. The psychology of social engineering utilizes a variety of tactics, some of which include:

Influence and Power: People in positions of influence or power can encourage specific actions -take influencers on social media, for example. Recent research found that over three-quarters of consumers planned a purchase based on a social media post. People who are seen as being in a position of authority can change the behavior of individuals. Baiting uses this behavior by sending out phishing emails or SMS texts that impersonate authority figures, like the government or a CEO. Alternatively, an attacker may make a USB device look "official" by using a logo of a known brand to encourage an unsuspecting employee to use it.

A Helpful Nature: People like to help others, especially in the workplace. Baiting attackers exploit this part of human nature to encourage people to donate to charities or support a "colleague" by sharing passwords or opening locked doors. In the latter case, malicious insiders or tailgaters often use this behavior manipulation.

Freebies: Everyone likes the offer of something for free. The fear of missing out (FOMO) is another social engineering tactic used alongside the enticement of a free offer. For example, making an offer limited. Baiting attackers then use the freebies to encourage an employee or other individual to click on a link.

Taking The Bait - What Happens?

If someone, like an employee, takes the bait, data theft, malware infection, industrial espionage, and financial losses occur. Malware-infected devices can exploit the autorun feature that automatically runs programs when connected to a computer, leading to the execution of harmful software. Typical cyber-attack outcomes come about using the following types of bait and baiting methods:

Data Theft Via Email or SMS Text

Emails or SMS text (Smishing) used for Baiting may contain a link that, if clicked, takes the victim to a spoof website. The site will be designed to look like a well-known brand and will request the individual enter personal data or credit card details. Some infected sites may also exploit vulnerabilities in device software to download and install malware. Some baiting sites targeting businesses will mimic brands like M365 and even encourage employees to enter login credentials. If data of any kind is entered into a baiting site, it will be stolen.

Malware Infected Devices Via USB Keys

Malware-containing ads (malvertising) are a lucrative way for cybercriminals to make money. The malware is hidden in online ads, often hosted on legitimate sites, where the hacker has paid for or hacked into a display ad campaign. Malvertising frequently uses 'drive-by-downloads,' meaning the ads don't need to be clicked upon for the malware to install. Baiting attacks use malvertising by baiting emails and social media posts that take victims to these malicious ads. Malvertising is predicted to cost businesses worldwide $10.5 trillion by 2025.

The Impact of Baiting Attacks

Baiting attacks can have severe consequences for both individuals and organizations. Successful baiting attacks often lead to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational harm. According to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Report, 74% of breaches involved a human element, highlighting the significant role of social engineering in cyber threats.

The 2023 Gone Phishing Tournament found that one in 10 employees fall for phishing scams, demonstrating the effectiveness of these attacks. Beyond financial losses, baiting attacks can result in identity theft and long-term damage to an organization’s reputation. Understanding the potential impact underscores the importance of robust defenses against these threats.

Social engineering has become one of the most prevalent attack vectors, with almost all (98%) cyber-attacks having a social engineering element.

How to Prevent Baiting and De-Risk Your Company

Reducing the risk of Baiting is complicated because the attackers use human behavior as a weapon. Using a mix of education, cyber security measures, and technology provides the best way to mitigate the insidious and complex nature of baiting attacks:

Education and Awareness

Educating employees about the dangers of baiting attacks is crucial. They should be aware of the risks associated with unknown devices. Training programs should include real-world examples and simulations to help employees recognize and avoid baiting attempts.

Policies and Procedures

Organizations should implement clear policies and procedures to guide employee behavior. This includes guidelines on handling suspicious items and reporting potential baiting attempts.

Establishing a strong security culture within the organization is essential. Educating employees about social engineering threats and implementing clear policies to guide behavior underscores the importance of a robust security culture for safeguarding sensitive information.

Policies

Robust security policies define how your organization handles the complex nature of social engineering. As social engineering covers a broad range of tactics, a policy should encompass the organization's approach to safe internet use, password hygiene, and using USB keys and other removable media.

Education for a Strong Security Culture

Security awareness training improve employees' recognition of Baiting and other social engineering attacks. Baiting attackers rely on employees and others to be unaware they are being exploited. Security awareness training must improve employees' awareness of how baiting attacks work. TitanHQ SAT  provides interactive and engaging security awareness training that covers all aspects of social engineering tricks.

Some people are more susceptible than others to certain types of social engineering. Therefore, behavior-led security awareness training programs focusing on the individual are more effective. Regular training is also essential as this helps to identify individual strengths and weaknesses over time. Focused training on behaviors at the personal level helps to mitigate the chances of a successful baiting attack.

Simulated baiting attacks are another option in some security awareness training offerings. They should be used as part of an overall security awareness training program. A company sets up fake baiting attacks to demonstrate the types of vectors used to socially engineer people. Reactive training and gamification of exercises will ensure that training is engaging and effective.

Over time, staff across the workplace will improve their resilience to social engineering. A security culture will become customary for the organization, and successful phishing and other social engineering attacks, such as Baiting, will be prevented.

Technology

The deployment of specific technology solutions should be used alongside security awareness training. These technologies help to mitigate the attack vectors used in baiting attacks. Because baiting takes many forms, using a multi-layered, defense-in-depth approach to security is essential. TitanHQ solutions provide seamless protection for SMBs using M365, protecting against persistent threats like phishing, ransomware, suspicious logins, and the growing risk of business email compromise (BEC) attacks. Through real-time analysis and threat assessment, TitanHQ phishing protection neutralizes Business Email Compromise (BEC) and sophisticated phishing scams before they begin, preventing targeted employee email attacks.

Learn more about how TitanHQ can help your business significantly reduce phishing risks. Sign up for a free demo today.