GLOSSARYSocial Engineering
Social engineering is an umbrella term for malicious activity done via deceptive and manipulative social interactions.
What is Social Engineering?
| Social engineering is an umbrella term for malicious activity done via deceptive and manipulative social interactions. With cybersecurity in particular, social engineering takes many forms such as phishing, scareware, baiting, pretexting, and many more. While they may be different tactics, they all follow the same core goal: to deceive victims into divulging personal information that could be used for fraud.
A major component in social engineering is taking advantage of a user’s lack of knowledge. With so many different types of threats emerging in our digital age, it can be hard to keep up with what may be real or not. It’s because of this that users can have trouble protecting themselves and their information. In addition, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), fake images, audio and video created via generative AI make it even easier for scammers to appear convincing. They can send images or videos of something seemingly authentic, or mimic real voices realistically, only for it to have been modified. Always verify the authenticity of the digital content in front of you. |
