Social Engineering Techniques in the Arsenal of Criminals: An in-Depth Analysis of Methods and Current Threats

The topic of social engineering methods used by criminals is extremely relevant in the context of cybersecurity in modern conditions. Social engineering is a set of psychological methods used by attackers to manipulate people, obtain information from them that criminals need, or perform certain actions beneficial to the attacker. This area of criminal activity has become especially widespread with the development of information and telecommunication technologies, which has led to a significant increase in the number of crimes in cyberspace. The growing number of cybercrimes committed using social engineering methods requires the active development of measures to prevent and combat them. This includes not only technical solutions, but also psychological aspects, since the main target of attack by criminals who commit crimes using social engineering methods are people's emotions and vulnerabilities in their psyche. This article is devoted to an in-depth analysis of social engineering methods used by criminals in modern conditions. The analysis of these methods allows for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying social engineering and the development of effective measures to protect against such threats. Understanding the methods used by criminals is crucial for developing counter-technologies aimed at creating psychological security for citizens and increasing their resistance to social engineering methods. This article examines the main regulatory and scientific approaches to defining the concept of social engineering, provides criminological characteristics of the personality of a criminal who commits crimes of this category, a classification of the main social engineering techniques used by criminals, such as phishing, pretexting, qui pro quo and others, identifies current problems in the field of cybersecurity. The paper also analyzes the most relevant criminal schemes used by intruders when committing crimes using social engineering methods. The results of the conducted research can serve as the basis for further scientific research in the field of countering cybercrime and the formation of effective protection mechanisms against manipulative technologies.