News release: “Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. announced the results of a new report revealing 48 percent of enterprises surveyed have been victims of social engineering, experiencing 25 or more attacks in the past two years, costing businesses anywhere from $25,000 to over $100,000 per security incident. The report, The Risk of Social Engineering on Information Security, shows phishing and social networking tools as the most common sources of socially-engineering threats – encouraging businesses to implement a strong combination of technology and user awareness to minimize the frequency and cost of attacks. Socially-engineered attacks traditionally target people with an implied knowledge or access to sensitive information. Hackers today leverage a variety of techniques and social networking applications to gather personal and professional information about an individual in order to find the weakest link in the organization. According to the global survey of over 850 IT and security professionals, 86 percent of businesses recognize social engineering as a growing concern, with the majority of respondents (51%) citing financial gain as the primary motivation of attacks, followed by competitive advantage and revenge.”