What is "social engineering"?

Social engineering is a deed in order to gain unfair access. This is one of the ways a hacker and a cracker use. To make managers and users to open attached files by devising sentences is an example of methods used.

In general, social engineering is to get important information related to security like passwords by social methods such as steeling a glance, eavesdropping, and so on. In a narrow sense, it is the methods for getting some information out of people by non-technical way, which means that social engineers don't use electronic ways.

There are several concrete ways used in social engineering.
1. Trashing
This method is to get information from things trashed, or to read information in trashed office computer.
2. Steeling a glance
This method is to look at passwords on a paper attached on computer, or to look at a scene a person is inputting his or her password.
3. Web spoofing
This method is to make users to access forged Website, and then social engineers get information by having made users to input.

Security experts worry that as our society depend on information, social engineers will treat any security system. So, they raise the following as important things:
1. To educate people to be aware of the value of information they have
2. To train people to protect their information
3. To be aware of the methods social engineers are using