The Threat of Social Engineering and Your Defense Against It

There are several methods that the malicious individual can use to try to breach the information security defenses of an organization. The human approach, often termed Social Engineering, is one of them. This paper describes Social Engineering and its cost to the organization. It discusses the various forms of Social Engineering, and how they take advantage of human behavior. It also discusses ways to fight and prevent social engineering attacks, and highlights the importance of policy and education in winning the battle.