There's an email in your inbox from someone you know. The sender asks you for sensitive information and you send it without any hesitation because you trust them. Shortly after, you realize that the information has been exposed or used to compromise an account.

You reach out to the sender only to realize they never requested such information from you. You have just been a victim of an impersonation attack. To avoid the above scenario, learn how an impersonation attack works, its various types, and how to prevent it.

What Is an Impersonation Attack?

An impersonation attack is when a cybercriminal pretends to be someone else to compromise your network or steal your sensitive data. It’s different from regular cyberattacks because it pries on human relationships.

The attacker doesn’t pretend to be just anyone else but someone you know and trust. If such a person asks something of you, you would oblige them.

How Do Impersonation Attacks Work?

Impersonation attacks are a form of phishing attack where the threat actor deploys deploy social engineering tricks to lure you into doing their bidding.

In most cases, attackers use text-based mediums such as emails and instant messages for impersonation attacks because it enables them to control the communication pace.

A typical impersonation attack works in the following ways.

Identify a Target

Impersonation attacks are anything but random. The attacker takes their time to identify a suitable target. The first thing they consider in doing this is the presence of valuable data. Whoever they choose must have something of value to them.

Gone are the days when organizations were the only targets of cyberattacks due to their financial power and confidential data. Nowadays, people have information that intruders can exploit so anyone can be a target of impersonation attacks.

Gather Information About the Target

When the attacker chooses you as their target, they conduct extensive research about you to learn about your work, online interactions, and the people you engage with the most.

With social media and other online platforms, attackers can figure out the people you interact with. They determine the most suitable person they can impersonate to deceive you.

Clone a Relevant Contact’s Account

Having identified the right person to impersonate, their next call is to plan how to contact you. To make it look real, they either hack the person's account so they can contact you with it or create a lookalike account.

Impersonate the Contact

A cybercriminal executes the previous steps of the impersonation attack from afar without interacting with you. But at this point, they reach out to you impersonating the person whose account they have either compromised or cloned. They maintain a believable disposition and do nothing out of the ordinary.

Initiate Action

Once the hacker sees that you believe they are the person they are impersonating, they’ll ask you to act in their favor. They might ask for your personal information, and login credentials, or even ask you to send some money to them.

In some instances, an impersonation attack can take a different path. A hacker hijacks your account and goes through your messages to identify a contact with resources they need. They reach out to the person as if they were you and then lure the person to do what they want.

Types of Impersonation Attacks

Impersonation attacks involve some level of creativity and initiative from the attacker. Here are the most common types of impersonation attacks.

1. Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Business email compromise (BEC) is a situation where a threat actor attacks an organization via email correspondence.

Organizations operate an open email communication policy, receiving emails from customers, clients, and prospects. The criminal leverages open communication to impersonate an executive in the company, a business partner, or an important client to trick employees into carrying out actions that will put the company in a difficult position. Most attackers who launch BEC attacks just want to extort money.

2. CEO Fraud

Chief executive officer (CEO) fraud is an impersonation attack technique where the hacker pretends to be your CEO and tricks you into performing tasks such as revealing sensitive information or sending money to them.

CEO attacks are specific to corporate organizations. Since the CEO wields power and authority, an attacker can easily have their way once they successfully impersonate the CEO of a particular organization.

3. Account Takeover

An account takeover is an act whereby an intruder hijacks your account, impersonates you, and tricks the people around you into doing their bidding. The attacker quickly requests your friends, family, or colleagues to divulge personal information or send some money to them.

How Can You Prevent Impersonation Attacks?

The rising popularity of social media increases impersonation attacks because hackers can get the information they need to impersonate victims from the victims’ social media pages. Nonetheless, you can prevent these attacks in the following ways.

1. Cultivate Cybersecurity Awareness

Cybercriminals can hardly attack systems by themselves. They need vulnerabilities and insider input to be successful. You can prevent impersonation attacks better when you are sensitive to cyber threats and attacks. This level of consciousness comes from an awareness of how attacks work.

For instance, instead of responding to every new email you receive, you must confirm that they are from the correct email addresses. Some impersonation attacks involve hijacking victims’ accounts through techniques like phishing. If you are conscious of opening random messages and links, an intruder can't hijack your account easily.

2. Use Custom Email Services

Impersonation attacks thrive on email messages. Hackers send you messages with an email address bearing the name of someone you know. You stand a higher risk of falling prey when you use public email services such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail because anyone can create an email address that looks like that of someone you know.

Custom email domains offer a more exclusive email identity, account management, and advanced security controls to protect your communications.

3. Install Email Security Applications

Email is a common medium for impersonation actors. Even if you are security cautious, you might engage with harmful content. Email security tools like anti-spam automatically prevent suspicious emails from entering your inbox.

You can also use anti-malware email software that automatically detects harmful or fraudulent emails hackers may send to you. Some of these tools have advanced features that block infected files from opening even when you try to open them.

Keeping an Eye Out for Imposters

Impersonation attacks can happen to anyone. As long as you know or work with others, cybercriminals may try to exploit your relationship with them.

While it's good to cultivate a healthy cybersecurity culture to avoid indulging threat actors, it also helps to automate your security systems to detect the slightest foul play.