Social Engineering
Psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information.
Definition
Social engineering is the psychological manipulation of individuals into performing actions or divulging confidential information, bypassing technical security controls by exploiting human behavior. Attackers use tactics like pretexting (creating a fabricated scenario), baiting (offering something enticing), quid pro quo (offering a service in exchange for information), and impersonation. Social engineering is the root cause of many major data breaches because humans are often easier to exploit than technical systems.
Example
“An attacker calls an IT helpdesk pretending to be a senior executive locked out of their account, convincing the technician to reset the password without proper verification.”
Synonyms
- psychological manipulation
- human hacking
- pretexting
Antonyms / Opposites
- security awareness training
- user education
Images
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Related Terms
- phishing
- pretexting
- security-awareness
- insider-threat