Social Engineering: An Introduction
Social engineering is a word used to encompass a broad range of malevolent activities accomplished through human interactions. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information. Social engineering attacks happen in one or more steps. A perpetrator first studies the intended victim to gather essential background information, such as possible points of entry and weak security protocols, needed to advance with the attack. Then, the attacker moves to gain the victim’s trust and offer stimuli for consequent actions that break security practices, such as revealing delicate information or giving away access to critical resources. What makes social engineering dangerous is that it depends on human error, rather than weaknesses in software and operating systems. Mistakes made by genuine users are much less predictable, making them harder to identify and thwart than a malware-based intrusion. Social engineering att...