Social Engineering

Definitions

1. The art of manipulating people into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security, exploiting human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities.

   In plain English: Tricking real people instead of hacking computers — like pretending to be tech support to get someone's password.

   Example: "Kevin Mitnick famously said he rarely had to write an exploit — he just called the help desk."

Etymology

1890s

The phrase 'social engineering' originates in political science, describing efforts to shape public behavior at scale

1984

Hacker culture adopts the term to describe manipulating people rather than machines, as described in early BBS communities

1990s

Kevin Mitnick becomes famous for social engineering his way into corporate networks, later writing 'The Art of Deception'

2011

RSA SecurID breach traced to a phishing email — social engineering proves it can compromise even security companies

Related Terms

• Phishing
• Credential Stuffing
• OSINT
• Spear Phishing
• Shoulder Surfing
• Watering Hole Attack