Social engineering

Social engineering is a set of techniques to obtain information, usually sensitive, from unaware people. The main goal is to compromise a (very often computer) security system. One of the most common examples of social engineering is getting a password or a new account? from an operator. Usually the process involving impersonating a lawful user, company employee, or similar. Convincing an operator of your "bona fides" is not so difficult if you have the employee data. And getting these date one piece at a time is also not difficult, with calls to different departments.

Although the term's origin is in the unauthorized access to computer systems, the idea nehind it is older than the telephone itself.