Detecting Social Engineering

This paper proposes a theoretical solution to the problem of Social Engineering (SE) attacks perpetrated over the phone lines. As a byproduct real time attack signatures are generated, which can be used in a cyber forensic analysis of such attacks. Current methods of SE attack detection and prevention rely on policy and personnel training, which fails because the root of the problem, people, are still involved. The proposed solution relies on computer systems to analyze phone conversations in real time and determine if the caller is deceiving the receiver. This Social Engineering Defense Architecture (SEDA) is completely theoretical as the technologies employed are only in the proof of concept phase, but they are all proven to be tractable problems.