The Use of Social Engineering as a Means of Violating Computer Systems

Author: Malcolm Allen Published April 1, 2011 from SANS

'Social Engineering' is a practice that can be used to exploit what has long been considered the 'weakest link' in the security chain of an organization -the 'human factor'. As a security professional, it is important to be familiar with this threat, the techniques that could be used and the countermeasures that can be implemented to protect against it.