What Are Common Examples Of Social Engineering Attacks?

Human error remains a key vulnerability in cybersecurity, making it essential to understand social engineering tactics. According to Verizon's 2025 report, human error contributes to 60% of breaches. These attacks exploit human psychology, tricking individuals into disclosing confidential information and serving as the foundation for many cyber threats—from phishing scams to advanced techniques like spear phishing and Business Email Compromise Attacks.

In this blog, we'll uncover the most common types of social engineering attacks that organizations should be aware of to improve their defenses.

How Do Social Engineering Attacks Work?

To defend against social engineering attacks, it’s crucial to understand 3 main steps attackers follow:

1. Discovery and Investigation

Attackers start by gathering information, often through social media, public records, or even dumpster diving. They collect details like email addresses and job roles to make their attack more convincing.

2. Deception and Hook

Using that information, attackers craft a scenario that plays on emotions—like a fake urgent email from your bank or a coworker in need. The goal is to make you act without thinking.

3. The Attack

Finally, they get you to take action, like clicking a malicious link or sharing sensitive data. This can lead to data theft, financial loss, or a cybersecurity breach.

By understanding these three steps, it’s clear how social engineering attacks rely more on psychology than technology.

Common Types of Social Engineering Attacks You Can Face in 2025

Now, let’s dive deeper into the most common social engineering attack types. Each method uses psychological manipulation to achieve its objective.

In 2025, cybercriminals are expected to ramp up their efforts using tactics that blend old-school deception with modern-day digital manipulation. Whether you’re an individual, a business owner, or a security professional, understanding these attack types is essential to building stronger defenses.

Below, we break down the most common forms of social engineering attacks to watch out for this year—and what you can do to stay protected.

Phishing Attack

Phishing attacks are some of the most common social engineering tactics, using deceptive emails, websites, or messages to steal sensitive information. Despite growing cybersecurity awareness, phishing scams remain effective because attackers use urgent, familiar, or convincing messages that catch users off-guard. To mitigate phishing risks, many organizations are turning to phishing simulations to help employees recognize and resist these scams.

Read our article to dive deeper into phishing attacks and how they work.

Spear Phishing

Spear phishing takes phishing to a more targeted level by using specific information about an individual or organization to make attacks more credible. Attackers might create emails that appear to be from a trusted colleague or partner, convincing high-level targets to share sensitive information. Because of its targeted nature, spear phishing is particularly challenging to detect, making advanced security awareness training important.

Read our blog to learn what is spear phishing and how it works in more detail.

Baiting

Baiting uses enticing offers or items—real or virtual—to lure individuals into a trap. A common tactic is to leave infected USB drives in public spaces or offer attractive online downloads that are actually malicious. This type of attack preys on human curiosity and desire for rewards, making it effective and dangerous. Reducing the risk of baiting requires regular training that emphasizes safe practices and vigilance.

Read our guide to learn more about Baiting and how it works.

Pretexting

In pretexting, attackers create a convincing scenario to gain the target's trust. They often impersonate trusted entities, such as banks or utility companies, and craft a detailed story to persuade the victim to share sensitive information. This method frequently targets sectors like finance and utilities, where attackers can build credibility through familiarity. Verifying identities and questioning unusual requests can help minimize pretexting risks.

For further details, check out our article about Baiting.

Quid Pro Quo

Quid pro quo attacks offer something in return for information. Attackers might impersonate IT support personnel, offering to help solve “technical issues” as a way to trick users into giving away credentials. To prevent this, organizations should educate employees about verifying the identity of those requesting access or offering help.

Check out our blog to dive deeper into Quid Pro Quo.

Tailgating

Tailgating exploits people’s natural inclination to be polite and helpful, allowing unauthorized individuals to enter secure areas by simply following a legitimate employee. For instance, an attacker might pose as a delivery person and walk in as an employee opens a secure door. To counteract tailgating, organizations should enforce strict access control policies and train employees to question unknown individuals attempting to gain access.

Read our article to learn more about tailgating.

Watering Hole Attacks

Water-hole attacks involve infecting specific websites frequently visited by targeted groups, allowing attackers to compromise multiple users who access these sites. This tactic is especially common in sectors like finance and healthcare, where attackers target widely visited sites. To defend against water-holing, organizations should encourage safe browsing practices and restrict employee access to sensitive websites when possible.

Explore our article to gain deeper insights into watering hole attacks.

Vishing

Vishing (voice phishing) uses phone calls to trick victims into providing sensitive information. Attackers may impersonate law enforcement, banks, or company officials, creating a sense of urgency to prompt immediate action. Encouraging employees to verify callers’ identities before sharing sensitive information can significantly reduce the success of vishing attacks.

Click here to uncover what is vishing and how it poses a serious security threat.

Smishing

Smishing (SMS Phishing) is a a type of social engineering attack that uses text messages to trick victims into revealing sensitive information, clicking malicious links, or downloading malware. Like other phishing variants, smishing plays on human trust, curiosity, urgency, or fear.

Want to understand Smishing better? Read our full article now.

What Are The Techniques Used in Social Engineering?

Social engineering techniques play on human emotions and behavioral triggers, which is what makes them so effective. Some of the most common tactics include:

• Impersonation: Attackers pretend to be someone the victim trusts, such as a manager or tech support agent, to exploit the target’s trust.
• Urgency: Messages often invoke fear or pressure the target to act quickly, bypassing their critical thinking.
• Reciprocity: Attackers offer something in return, such as a reward, to manipulate the victim into sharing information.
• Authority: Posing as an authoritative figure—such as a government official or senior executive—forces the target into compliance.
• Familiarity: Attackers make the victim feel comfortable by acting as someone they know.

How Does Social Engineering Happen?

Most social engineering attacks rely on exploiting common human behaviors and can occur through various channels:

• Email: Fake emails are sent to multiple targets, leading them to click malicious links or download harmful attachments.
• Phone Calls: Attackers impersonate legitimate organizations to extract sensitive data over the phone.
• Text Messages: Urgent texts lure victims into providing personal information or downloading malware.
• In-Person: Attackers physically manipulate individuals, such as by tailgating into a secure facility.

These attacks typically leverage a combination of human vulnerability and technological tools to achieve their goals.

How to Protect Your Organization From Social Engineering Attacks?

While you can't entirely prevent social engineering attacks, there are several best practices that will minimize your organization's risk:

1. Security Awareness Training:Training employees on social engineering examples and warning signs can significantly reduce the likelihood of falling victim to these schemes. Regular phishing simulations can also reinforce good security behaviors.
2. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Requiring multiple forms of verification for login significantly reduces the success rate of phishing and other social engineering attacks. Even if an attacker obtains credentials, MFA adds an extra layer of defense.
3. Regularly Update Software and Systems: Keeping your software up to date ensures that any known vulnerabilities are patched, making it harder for attackers to exploit them during social engineering attempts.
4. Limit Access to Sensitive Information: Limit employee access to only the information and systems necessary for their role, reducing the potential damage in the event of a breach.
5. Monitor for Anomalies: Utilize behavior-based threat detection systems to flag suspicious activity or unauthorized access attempts.

Enhance Your Defense Against Social Engineering Attacks with Keepnet Security Tools

Defending against social engineering requires more than awareness—it demands hands-on training that prepares your team for real-world threats. Keepnet offers a suite of social engineering simulation tools to help organizations stay ahead of attackers by simulating various human-focused threats.

Here’s how Keepnet’s tools can help safeguard your organization:

• Vishing Simulator: Simulate voice phishing attacks to train and test employees on recognizing fraudulent phone calls and improving security protocols.
• Phishing Simulator: Leverage AI-powered phishing simulations to test your employees' responses. Boost phishing attack reporting by 92% and reduce dwell time by 87%.
• Smishing Simulator: Prepare your team for SMS phishing attacks by training them to identify and avoid deceptive text messages.
• Quishing Simulator: Simulate QR code-based phishing attacks to help employees recognize and avoid malicious QR codes used in emerging threats.
• Callback Phishing Simulator: Train employees to detect and respond to fraudulent callback requests, a growing tactic for bypassing traditional defenses.
• MFA Phishing Simulator: Simulate attacks designed to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) and educate employees on how to spot MFA phishing tactics.
• Awareness Educator: Build a strong security culture with engaging, gamified training courses that teach employees to handle real-world security threats.
• Incident Response: Accelerate your response to phishing, ransomware, and business email compromise (BEC) attacks, identifying and mitigating threats up to 48.6 times faster.
• Email Threat Simulator: Test and strengthen your email security systems—such as Office 365 and Google Workspace—to prevent phishing attacks from reaching your team.
• Threat Intelligence and Threat Sharing: Gain actionable insights into current threats and participate in threat sharing communities with 1M+ active threat hunters to improve collective defense.

Keepnet equips your organization with the tools and training needed to turn your employees into a powerful first line of defense against social engineering.

Get started today—schedule a free demo to see how Keepnet can strengthen your defenses and prepare your team for the latest social engineering threats.

This blog was updated on the 27th of May, 2025.