Episode 41 — Social Engineering Indicators: Smishing, Vishing, Whaling, Quishing, and Deepfakes
This episode explains social engineering indicators across message, voice, executive-targeted, QR-code, impersonation, and synthetic media attacks. Students should understand smishing as phishing through text messages, vishing as voice-based deception, whaling as targeting senior leaders, quishing as using QR codes to send users to malicious destinations, and deepfakes as manipulated audio, video, or images designed to create false trust. For Security+ scenarios, common warning signs include urgency, authority pressure, unusual payment requests, unexpected credential prompts, mismatched sender details, emotional manipulation, and instructions to bypass normal process. The practical focus is verifying unusual requests through trusted channels, reporting suspicious contact, and reducing user trust in appearance alone. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with. And dont forget Cyberauthor.me for the companion study guide and flash cards!
