Social engineering is the art of manipulating people so they give up confidential information. It refers to psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. A type of confidence trick for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or system access, it differs from a traditional “con” in that it is often one of many steps in a more complex fraud scheme.
The term “social engineering” as an act of psychological manipulation is also associated with the social sciences, but its usage has caught on among computer and information security professionals.
