Foundations of Information Security

8HUMAN ELEMENT SECURITY

In information security, we refer to people as the “weak link” of security programs. Regardless of the security measures you set, you have little control over your employees who might click dangerous links, send sensitive information via unprotected channels, hand over passwords, or post important data in conspicuous places.

Worse yet, attackers can take advantage of these tendencies to conduct social engineering attacks that manipulate people to gain information or access to facilities. These attacks usually rely on the willingness of people to help others, particularly when faced with someone who appears to be in distress, ...