Kiosk Software Protects from Social Engineering Security Threats
Social engineering poses one of the most difficult threats to protect against and largest security threats to systems.
What is social engineering? In the self-service environment, social engineering is the human factor. It is the ability to influence human beings using emotion, trickery, and outright deception. It’s the sharing of your password or clicking a link, exposing your device to outside files and users. When someone calls or emails system users for passwords or sends an email link for users to click for more information, those are places in which your user exposes your system to vulnerabilities.
Phishing Attacks
What are phishing attacks? They are emails or other methods used by troublemakers to gain access to your computer’s file system via links that initiate unauthorized and infected downloads.
When users are accessing email (if allowed) on a device locked with KioWare, attempted phishing attacks can be blocked. Example: You receive an email that encourages you to click the link. While many will not click the link, some phishing attacks are more believable and when clicked, expose your device to malware or infected files. With KioWare configured properly, phishing attacks are blocked because:
1. KioWare blocks users from going to an unauthorized website
2. KioWare blocks downloads
Another method of gaining access to a system is knowingly or unknowingly using an infected external device, such as a USB drive on a system device. Example: You find a “lost” USB drive in the parking lot and plug it into your computer to determine to whom it belongs. The infected USB drive is then able to install the defective/infected files on the device.
KioWare can be configured to block external devices like USB drives, as well as disabling system file access.
Preventing Social Engineering Security Breaches
Nothing beats educating your users on how to be smart about downloading files, clicking email links, or sharing private user data. Kiosk software is a strong option for providing protection to users and your network to reduce the havoc that social engineering can cause on your system.
Some articles about security threats, social engineering, and best practices for training your user on being vigilant are found below:
What is Phishing;
Example Phishing Scams
Training Users on Social Engineering Scams
Tips to avoid phishing scams
Security's Weakest Link Technology vs. Social Engineering