https://DevOpsCloud.io -- Cloud Monk Losang Jinpa, Ph.D., MCSE/MCT, GitOps DevOps Engineer

In the context of information security, social engineering is the use of psychological influence of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. It has also been more broadly defined as "any act that influences a person to take an action that may or may not be in their best interests." A type of confidence trick for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or system access, it differs from a traditional "con" in the sense that it is often one of many steps in a more complex fraud scheme.

Social engineering attacks have been increasing in intensity and number, prompting research into novel detection techniques and cybersecurity educational programs.

Research undertaken in 2020 has indicated that social engineering will be one of the most prominent challenges of the upcoming decade. The ability to thwart social engineering attacks will be increasingly important for organizations and countries. Social engineering raises the question of whether our decisions will be accurately informed if our primary information is engineered and biased.