social engineering
Exploiting human trust
Social engineering is manipulating people into revealing confidential information or taking actions that compromise security.
Rather than hacking systems directly, social engineers exploit human psychology—trust, helpfulness, fear of authority: The attacker used social engineering to get the receptionist to reveal the CEO's password.
In a broader sense, social engineering refers to government or institutional efforts to shape society according to a plan, often with authoritarian overtones: Critics accused the policy of social engineering.
Fraudulent credential harvesting
- pretextingDeceptive identity manipulation
- vishingVoice-based identity theft
- smishingSMS-based identity theft
- baitingDeliberately trying to provoke
tailgating · whaling · impersonation · spoofing · dumpster diving · shoulder surfing · watering hole · penetration testing
Argument against
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
- scamDishonest money-making scheme
- swindleDeception for financial gain
- hoaxDeliberate deception for effect
trickery · impersonation · identity theft · charlatan · grifter · ruse · subterfuge · misrepresentation
Convincing through reasoning
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
- complianceAdhering to requirements
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
- reciprocityMutual exchange of actions
scarcity · liking · commitment · consistency · cognitive bias · rapport building · elicitation · influence
Biased information for influence
- public policyGovernment's societal problem-solving approach
- nudgingLight push to prompt
- narrative controlAuthority over storytelling direction
- information warfareWeaponized communication against adversaries
disinformation · astroturfing · manufacturing consent · population management · public relations · media manipulation · thought reform · indoctrination
phishing
Fraudulent credential harvesting
- pretextingDeceptive identity manipulation
- vishingVoice-based identity theft
- smishingSMS-based identity theft
baiting · tailgating · whaling · impersonation · spoofing · dumpster diving · shoulder surfing · watering hole · penetration testing · red team
con
Argument against
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
- scamDishonest money-making scheme
- swindleDeception for financial gain
hoax · trickery · impersonation · identity theft · charlatan · grifter · ruse · subterfuge · misrepresentation · forgery
persuasion
Convincing through reasoning
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
- complianceAdhering to requirements
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
reciprocity · scarcity · liking · commitment · consistency · cognitive bias · rapport building · elicitation · influence · conformity
propaganda
Biased information for influence
- public policyGovernment's societal problem-solving approach
- nudgingLight push to prompt
- narrative controlAuthority over storytelling direction
information warfare · disinformation · astroturfing · manufacturing consent · population management · public relations · media manipulation · thought reform · indoctrination · collective behavior
- cybersecurityantivirus, malware, firewall, firewalls, encryption
- covert tacticssubterfuge, decoy, feint, diversion, misdirection
- cyber threatsmalware, phishing, hacking, virus, ransomware
- cybercrimehacking, phishing, malware, ransomware, data breach
- cybercrimeshacking, phishing, malware, ransomware, data breach
- Cyberthreatsmalware, phishing, ransomware, hacking, viruses
social engineeringcode injection
Inserting malicious commands into programs
malware attack · brute force attack · buffer overflow · zero-day exploit · network intrusion
social engineeringspontaneous order
Pattern emerging without design
laissez-faire · cultural evolution · grassroots movement · self-organization · individual liberty
social, society, associate, association, engineering, antisocial, societies, unsocial, societal