Immutable Cybersecurity Law #12

“Never underestimate the simplicity of the attackers, nor the gullibility of the victims.”

Cyberattacks don’t always rely on sophisticated exploits or advanced malware. In reality, many of the most successful breaches stem from simple tactics like phishing emails, social engineering, and exploiting basic security misconfigurations. Complexity isn’t a prerequisite for effectiveness — attackers often favor the path of least resistance.

Victims can be easily deceived or manipulated. People frequently fall for scams, phishing, and other attacks due to a lack of awareness, trust in seemingly legitimate sources, or simple human error. Even experienced individuals can be tricked when caught off guard.

This Immutable Cybersecurity Law is a reminder that cyber threats often succeed not because of advanced technology but because of human vulnerabilities — both in how attacks are executed and how victims respond. While advanced security measures are necessary, organizations and individuals should not overlook basic security practices or underestimate the effectiveness of simple attack methods. It also highlights the importance of user education and awareness in preventing successful attacks, as even the most sophisticated security systems can be compromised by human error or gullibility.

Attackers benefit when victims are overly trusting, untrained, or distracted — thereby susceptible to simple manipulations that appear obviously suspicious in hindsight. Human error and susceptibility to social engineering tactics continue to be significant vulnerabilities in cybersecurity, accounting for a majority of compromises.

Criminals, like everyone else, seek the easiest means to success. The rudimentary act of asking for login credentials or to install unfamiliar software sometimes works with very little deception effort. Despite the growing sophistication of cyber-attacks, simple and seemingly outdated methods can still be highly effective. Brute force attacks, with a list of commonly used passwords remains popular among cybercriminals, even though there have been widespread campaigns teaching users to not rely on such predictable secrets.

Cybersecurity must address low-tech attack methods and human vulnerabilities which remain significant threats in the digital landscape. Behavioral and cognitive exploitation is fast, easy, and delivers results across a wide range of targets, including everyday users, employees, consumers, and executives. Even technical personnel are not immune. A recent scam targeted GitHib users, with a verification request to prove the user was not a robot — by having them press keyboard combinations which opened a PowerShell window, paste malicious code uploaded to the clipboard, and run the commands — leading to the users credentials harvested by malware. This successful attack targeted code developers — once again proving that technical savvy is not an immunity.

Cybersecurity must protect against the full range of attacks, from the complex to the absurdly simple, and not expect users will, without guidance and motivation, act in a defensive way.