# What is Social Engineering?

> Social engineering is an umbrella term for attacks that use deception, impersonation, influence, or manufactured pressure to persuade a person to disclose information, grant access, transfer value, or perform another action that weakens security.

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## Content

It can occur through digital messages, voice conversations, in-person contact, or combinations of channels; the manipulated decision, rather than the communication technology, defines the technique.

Attackers may borrow trusted roles, exploit urgency or authority, build rapport over time, or combine a convincing story with compromised accounts and technical tools. Effective defenses reduce reliance on individual judgment by making sensitive requests independently verifiable and unusual activity easy to report.

### Key points

- **Common forms:** Phishing, pretexting, impersonation, baiting, and physical-access techniques such as tailgating can all use social engineering.
- **Resilient processes:** Use independent verification, separation of duties, least privilege, safe account recovery, visitor controls, and clear escalation paths for sensitive requests.
- **When an attempt is reported:** Preserve relevant messages, call details, account activity, or access records; assess whether information, credentials, money, or physical access was exposed.
- **Important limitation:** Warning signs and awareness training can reduce risk, but no person can reliably detect every credible deception; blaming recipients also discourages the early reporting that limits harm.

### Related terms

[Phishing](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/phishing/>) · [Pretexting](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/pretexting/>) · [Tailgating](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/tailgating/>) · [Security awareness training](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/security-awareness-training/>) · [Identity theft](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/identity-theft/>)

### Sources

[NIST glossary: Social Engineering](https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/social_engineering) · [Canadian Centre for Cyber Security: Social engineering](https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/social-engineering-itsap00166) · [NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/171/r3/final)

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