Social engineering – nope, not “social media” – is a rapidly growing category of cyberattack. While this strategy targets many industries, accounting firms are emerging as a primary target for social engineering attacks. Social engineering is a type of cyberattack that uses psychological manipulation to trick people into giving away sensitive information or performing actions that compromise their security.
From phishing and baiting to wire transfer fraud, social engineering is expanding in sophistication and frequency. Firms are wise to identify vulnerability points and address them with targeted cybersecurity measures to protect IT and financial assets.
If you thought social engineering meant Instagram and Twitter, or if you’re an accounting firm looking to stay ahead of the cybersecurity curve, this blog is for you. Let’s dive into all things social engineering.
Why Are CPA Firms a Target for Social Engineering?
Social engineering attacks often target CPA firms because of the valuable data they hold, such as clients’ financial statements, tax returns, and personal identification information. Attackers use social engineering and phishing scams to access this data and commit financial crimes like tax fraud or identity theft.
Social engineering is specifically dangerous for CPA firms because strategies like spoofing are designed to trick you. The “trick” is that cybercriminals take advantage of their vistim’s environment, situation, or behavior characteristics. For example, because CPAs are client service-oriented, when employees receive messages or requests from clients, the initial response is to want to help or respond to the client. Cybercriminals know this and target this vulnerability.
Hackers also know that CPAs have a universal busy season. Tax season is a time of year when employee attention may not be at the same level as at other times of year. For this reason, CPA social engineering attacks are statistically more successful from January through April — another example of hackers taking advantage of certain kinds of victim characteristics.
What Are the Different Types of Social Engineering Attacks?
These types of social engineering attacks are not solely used on accounting firms but are common strategies cybercriminals use to target firms. Among these strategies, CPAs are most often targeted with wire fraud schemes from compromised client emails.
Phishing
Phishing is a common type of social engineering attack that involves sending fake emails or texts that appear to be from a legitimate company or individual. The goal is to trick the recipient into giving away sensitive information like login credentials or financial information.
Baiting
Baiting is similar to phishing, but instead uses the promise of a good or item to entice victims. For example, a baiting attack might offer free movie or music downloads to trick users into giving up their login credentials.
Pretexting
Pretexting is another type of social engineering attack that involves impersonating an authoritative figure or co-worker to gain trust before a phishing attack. This adds legitimacy to any request for login credentials or data.
Protect Your CPA Firm Against Social Engineering
If it’s not malware or ransomware, now it’s social engineering. Using tried and old tactics like phishing, social engineering tricks users by using fake context, promises, or impersonations in order to initiate a certain action. As tactics grow in sophistication, it can be incredibly difficult for employees to differentiate between a legitimate request and a malicious one.
What are firms to do? It’s simple: you need a personalized security strategy. When your enemies know your patterns – busy season, client-focused business model, financial data storage, etc. – you have to stay one step ahead of them.
As a managed IT service provider, PK Tech is proud to offer 15 years of experience with a focus on CPA firms. We boast AICPAs SOC 2 Type II attestation, proving via third-party audit by an independent CPA firm that we passed a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of our security and privacy controls. With dedicated experience working with countless CPA firms in the Greater Phoenix Area, we have the knowledge and strategy to craft a proactive security structure to defend against your vulnerabilities.
Schedule a time to chat with our team here.
