Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing - Third Edition

Chapter 8. Social Engineering

Social engineering is the practice of learning and obtaining valuable information by exploiting human vulnerabilities. It is an art of deception that is considered to be vital for a penetration tester when there is a lack of information about the target that can be exploited. As people are the weakest link in the security defense of any organization, this is the most vulnerable layer in the security infrastructure. We are social creatures, and thus our nature makes us vulnerable to social engineering attacks. Social engineers employ these attacks to obtain confidential information, or gain access to restricted areas. Social engineering takes different forms of attack vectors; each is limited by one's imagination, ...