Includes index.

Harden the human firewall against the most current threats Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking reveals the craftier side of the hacker's repertoire--why hack into something when you could just ask for access? Undetectable by firewalls and antivirus software, social engineering relies on human fault to gain access to sensitive spaces; in this book, renowned expert Christopher Hadnagy explains the most commonly-used techniques that fool even the most robust security personnel, and shows you how these techniques have been used in the past. The way that we make decisions as humans affects everything from our emotions to our security. Hackers, since the beginning of time, have figured out ways to exploit that decision making process and get you to take an action not in your best interest. This new Second Edition has been updated with the most current methods used by sharing stories, examples, and scientific study behind how those decisions are exploited. Networks and systems can be hacked, but they can also be protected; when the "system" in question is a human being, there is no software to fall back on, no hardware upgrade, no code that can lock information down indefinitely. Human nature and emotion is the secret weapon of the malicious social engineering, and this book shows you how to recognize, predict, and prevent this type of manipulation by taking you inside the social engineer's bag of tricks.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (John Wiley, viewed July 2, 2018).

Cover; Title Page; Copyright; About the Author; About the Technical Editor; Credits; Acknowledgments; Contents; Foreword; Preface; 1 A Look into the New World of Professional Social Engineering; What Has Changed?; Why Should You Read This Book?; An Overview of Social Engineering; The SE Pyramid; OSINT; Pretext Development; Attack Plan; Attack Launch; Reporting; What's in This Book?; Summary; 2 Do You See What I See?; A Real-World Example of Collecting OSINT; Nontechnical OSINT; Observational Skills; Technical Open Source Intelligence; Two Other Things; Tools of the Trade; SET; IntelTechniques.

FOCAMaltego: The Granddaddy of Them All; Summary; 3 Profiling People Through Communication; The Approach; Enter the DISC; What Is DISC?; To Know Thyself Is the Beginning of Wisdom; Summary; 4 Becoming Anyone You Want to Be; The Principles of Pretexting; Principle One: Thinking Through Your Goals; Principle Two: Understanding Reality vs. Fiction; Principle Three: Knowing How Far to Go; Principle Four: Avoiding Short-Term Memory Loss; Principle Five: Getting Support for Pretexting; Principle Six: Executing the Pretext; Summary; 5 I Know How to Make You Like Me; The Tribe Mentality.

Building Rapport as a Social EngineerThe Moral Molecule; The 10 Principles of Building Rapport; The Rapport Machine; Use the Friends and Family Plan; Read; Take Special Note of Failures; Summary; 6 Under the Influence; Principle One: Reciprocity; Reciprocity in Action; Using Reciprocity as a Social Engineer; Principle Two: Obligation; Obligation in Action; Using Obligation as a Social Engineer; Principle Three: Concession; Concession in Action; Using Concession as a Social Engineer; Principle Four: Scarcity; Scarcity in Action; Using Scarcity as a Social Engineer; Principle Five: Authority.

Authority in ActionUsing Authority as a Social Engineer; Principle Six: Consistency and Commitment; Consistency and Commitment in Action; Using Commitment and Consistency as a Social Engineer; Principle Seven: Liking; Using Liking as a Social Engineer; Principle Eight: Social Proof; Social Proof in Action; Using Social Proof as a Social Engineer; Influence vs. Manipulation; Manipulation in Action; Principles of Manipulation; Summary; 7 Building Your Artwork; The Dynamic Rules of Framing; Rule 1: Everything You Say Evokes the Frame.

Rule 2: Words T hat Are Defined with the Frame Evoke the FrameRule 3: Negating the Frame; Rule 4: Causing the Target to T hink About the Frame Reinforces the Frame; Elicitation; Ego Appeals; Mutual Interest; Deliberate False Statement; Having Knowledge; The Use of Questions; Summary; 8 I Can See What You Didn't Say; Nonverbals Are Essential; All Your Baselines Belong to Us; Be Careful of Misconceptions; Know the Basic Rules; Understand the Basics of Nonverbals; Comfort vs. Discomfort; Anger; Disgust; Contempt; Fear; Surprise; Sadness; Happiness; Summary; 9 Hacking the Humans.