The Weakest Link in the Cybersecurity Chain Is Sitting at the Keyboard

MIN READOct 19, 2017 | 21:08 GMT

Social engineering attacks rely on a combination of charm, psychology and sociology to get the required information from people, rather than on technical hacking of networks.

(ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the foundational precepts of Stratfor's security analysis is that as security measures become more effective, people increasingly become the weakest link in a security system. For example, when it comes to security along the U.S. border with Mexico and as the walls have lengthened and checks at entry points have grown more sophisticated, smugglers have increasingly resorted to bribery of officials to circumvent the tighter security. This same principle applies to cybersecurity. The more that computer networks have become secured against external technical attacks, the more that people have become the weak link in cybersecurity....