What is social engineering & why is it important?

Social engineering manipulates people into sharing information they shouldn’t share, downloading software they shouldn’t download, visiting websites they shouldn’t visit, sending money to criminals, or making other mistakes that compromise their personal or organizational assets or security.

What are social engineering tactics & techniques?

Social engineering tactics and techniques are grounded in the science of human motivation. They manipulate victims’ emotions and instincts in ways proven to drive people to take actions that are not in their best interests. Most social engineering attacks employ one or more of the following tactics:

What are some examples of social engineering?

While some classic examples of social engineering take place in the "real world"—aa man in a FedEx uniform bluffing his way into an office building, for example—much of our daily social interaction takes place online, and that's where most social engineering attacks happen as well.

What is a social engineering threat?

In a social engineering threat, an attacker uses human emotion (usually fear and urgency) to trick the target into performing an action, such as sending the attacker money, divulging sensitive customer information, or disclosing authentication credentials. Social engineering is an illegal activity that accounts for 98% of cyber-attacks.