Despite what it may sound like, social engineering isn’t the sort of thing you’d get a degree in from an Ivy League school. In fact, this kind of nefarious so-called engineering is quite the opposite. It could easily be called social reverse-engineering, since it has little to do with building up positive social interactions and everything to do with deconstructing them for personal gain.
What is Social Engineering?
One definition of social engineering comes from prominent Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs. The firm defines it as a category of techniques employed by cyber-criminals, designed to trick unsuspecting victims into disclosing their confidential data, infecting their computers with malware, or opening links to infected sites.
Although it’s certainly true that many social engineering attacks happen on the internet, there’s an equally large risk of falling prey to social engineering outside the digital realm. In a broader sense, social engineering is just skillful psychological manipulation, and it can occur in any interaction between two or more people.
Social engineering attacks often occur over the phone, in the mail, or even during face-to-face interactions. Certainly, protecting ourselves every day while using technology is critical, but in a grid-down or emergency situation, eliminating the risk of someone eliciting personally identifiable information (PII) is the key to protecting your assets and identity. Most importantly, countering these attacks will keep you and your interests
