social engineering

<jargon, security>

A term used among crackers and samurai for cracking techniques that rely on weaknesses in wetware rather than software; the aim is to trick people into revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the required information and posing as a field service tech or a fellow employee with an urgent access problem. See also the tiger team story in the patch entry.

[Jargon File]

Last updated: 2006-11-22

Nearby terms:

SOAP ♦ SOAR ♦ social engineering ♦ social network ♦ social networking

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