Modus Operandi
Stage 1 – Information gathering
Information gathering is the first stage of the lifecycle. This step involves gathering data about the target's interests, personal information, by keenly and persistently observing the target.
Stage 2 – Engaging with target
After gathering the required amount of information, the attacker opens a conversation. It is the conscious manipulation of people to obtain information without realizing that a security breach is occurring.
Stage 3 - Attacking
This step generally occurs after a long period of engaging with the target and during this stage, information from the target is retrieved by using social engineering. In this phase, the attacker gets the results from the target.
Stage 4- Closing interaction
This is the last which includes slowly shutting down the communication by the attacker without arising any suspicion in the victim. In this way, the victim rarely comes to know the attack even happened.