The Job of a Social Engineering

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In today's world there is an abundance of information. When you think of hackers you normally think of individuals who use technology to gain access to information that is not otherwise available. In a lot of cases this can be true but there are other ways to gain access to information that requires little technical knowledge. A lot of this information is available freely without restrictions. Social engineering takes advantage of this fact to acquire additional information by manipulating perceptions of those disclosing the needed information.

Although, social engineering does not require that one be tech savvy, to be an effective social engineer requires a few specific traits. The first trait is that you have to be a well perceptive person. You have to be able to see everything in your surrounds and use them as a tool. For example, in a parking lot near a government building or military facility, you can find out a lot of information about the owner of the vehicle. Most federal faculties require that an employee's vehicle be mark for proper access and parking. You can use this information to figure out rank, access and position of the owner from which you can further refine your approach to this person if information is needed. Parking passes and window stickers works for more than just government employees as a lot of business and schools require these items as well.

Another aspect of a successful social engineer is be able to blend in. This usually requires that you have done your research and know what the normal operations would entail. Knowing exactly how to convincingly perform is essential to successful convincing other to reveal additional information. As a social engineer, you must not appear as a treat. This requ...

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...available to a social engineer. You have to be proactive in using available tools to prevent access to information like security tool built into social media sites and proper techniques of information disposal. There is no getting around the fact that if the information is there someone will use it against you.

Works Cited

Long, J. (2007). No-Tech Hacking. Presented at DEFCON15. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfFELeCP-oA

Scher, R. (2011). From Within: What Happens When IT Goes Wrong. Retrieved from: http://www.social-engineer.org/resources/DamageFromWithin.pdf

Scher, R. (2011). Protect your company: Social Engineering and Your Employees. Retrieved from: http://www.social engineer.org/wiki/archives/NewsArticles/ProtectYourCompany.pdf

Whitman, M. E., & Mattord, H. J. (2011). Principles of Information Security. Boston: Course Technology.

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