Social engineering
Social engineering is the manipulation of people through deception, persuasion, or other social tactics to induce disclosure, access, or actions that may compromise security.
Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security
Social engineering is the manipulation of people into disclosing confidential information or performing actions that compromise security.
- How it is used
- Explains how attackers exploit human behavior to obtain information or induce security-compromising actions.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the technique, classifies major attack types, and provides representative scenarios without detailing technical exploitation.
- Examples
- Uses deceptive emails, a fake IT password-reset call, and unauthorized entry by following an employee.
- What you can do after
- Practice recognizing social engineering attempts and responding through awareness, training, and security policies.
Introduction to Generative AI, Second Edition
Social engineering is the manipulation of people into disclosing information, granting access, or taking actions that benefit an attacker.
- How it is used
- Frames social engineering as an intentional-misuse category and explains how generative AI strengthens phishing and impersonation.
- How deep it goes
- Explains mechanisms, scale, and consequences through a campaign example, but stops short of operational attack instructions.
- Examples
- Uses a simulated 1,000-email campaign and a visualized targeted spear-phishing workflow.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate how LLMs increase the scale, personalization, accessibility, and potential impact of social engineering attacks.
Read how Introduction to Generative AI, Second Edition explains social engineering →
Data-Driven Cybersecurity
Social engineering manipulates people into revealing information, granting access, or performing actions that compromise security.
- How it is used
- Frames social engineering as an evolving attack surface requiring training, multifactor verification, and layered defense.
- How deep it goes
- Distinguishes phishing variants and demonstrates deepfake-assisted credential theft, but stops short of procedural attack instructions.
- Examples
- Uses a password-reset email, cloned IT-support voice, cloned credential-capture system, and AI-generated deepfake attacks.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate social-engineering risk by recognizing multichannel phishing and prioritizing training and multifactor verification.
Read how Data-Driven Cybersecurity explains social engineering →
Grokking Web Application Security
Social engineering is the manipulation of people into revealing confidential information or taking an unsafe action.
- How it is used
- Frames human trust as an attack path alongside software vulnerabilities.
- How deep it goes
- Defines trust-based manipulation and distinguishes phishing, spear phishing, and insider risk without detailing defensive procedures.
- Examples
- Uses phishing emails and research-driven attacks against named accounting employees as examples.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate/understand how trust, targeted research, and communication channels enable confidential-data theft.
Read how Grokking Web Application Security explains social engineering →
Related concepts
- phishingincludes · Phishing is a social-engineering attack that uses deceptive communications or content to impersonate a trusted source and induce disclosure of information or another unsafe action.
- pretextingincludes · Pretexting is a social-engineering technique in which an attacker fabricates a convincing scenario or identity to gain trust and induce disclosure or action.
- simulationused by · A simulation is a modeled or controlled enactment of a system, process, or scenario used to examine or reproduce behavior under specified conditions.
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