Synopses & Reviews
"Chris Hadnagy has penned the ultimate text on social engineering. Meticulously researched and teeming with practical applications, this brilliant book offers solutions to very real problems and ever-present dangers to your business — and even to yourself. Truly groundbreaking."
—Kevin Hogan, author of The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say "Yes" in 8 Minutes or Less
Discover the secrets of expert con men and human hackers
No matter how sophisticated your security equipment and procedures may be, their most easily exploitable aspect is, and has always been, the human infrastructure. The skilled, malicious social engineer is a weapon, nearly impossible to defend against.
This book covers, in detail, the world's first framework for social engineering. It defines, explains, and dissects each principle, then illustrates it with true stories and case studies from masters such as Kevin Mitnick, renowned author of The Art of Deception. You will discover just what it takes to excel as a social engineer. Then you will know your enemy.
Tour the Dark World of Social Engineering
Learn the psychological principles employed by social engineers and how they're used
Discover persuasion secrets that social engineers know well
See how the crafty crook takes advantage of cameras, GPS devices, and caller ID
Find out what information is, unbelievably, available online
Study real-world social engineering exploits step by step
"Most malware and client-side attacks have a social engineering component to deceive the user into letting the bad guys in. You can patch technical vulnerabilities as they evolve, but there is no patch for stupidity, or rather gullibility. Chris will show you how it's done by revealing the social engineering vectors used by today's intruders. His book will help you gain better insight on how to recognize these types of attacks."
—Kevin Mitnick, Author, Speaker, and Consultant
Synopsis
The first book to reveal and dissect the technical aspect of many social engineering maneuversFrom elicitation, pretexting, influence and manipulation all aspects of social engineering are picked apart, discussed and explained by using real world examples, personal experience and the science behind them to unraveled the mystery in social engineering.
Kevin Mitnick—one of the most famous social engineers in the world—popularized the term “social engineering.” He explained that it is much easier to trick someone into revealing a password for a system than to exert the effort of hacking into the system. Mitnick claims that this social engineering tactic was the single-most effective method in his arsenal. This indispensable book examines a variety of maneuvers that are aimed at deceiving unsuspecting victims, while it also addresses ways to prevent social engineering threats.
- Examines social engineering, the science of influencing a target to perform a desired task or divulge information
- Arms you with invaluable information about the many methods of trickery that hackers use in order to gather information with the intent of executing identity theft, fraud, or gaining computer system access
- Reveals vital steps for preventing social engineering threats
Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking does its part to prepare you against nefarious hackers—now you can do your part by putting to good use the critical information within its pages.
About the Author
Christopher Hadnagy is the lead developer of www.social-engineer.org, the world's first social engineering framework. In more than 14 years of security and IT activity, he has partnered with the team at www.backtrack-linux.org and worked on a wide variety of security projects. He also serves as trainer and lead social engineer for Offensive Security's penetration testing team.
Table of Contents
Foreword xiiiPreface and Acknowledgments xvii
1 A Look into the World of Social Engineering 1
Why This Book Is So Valuable 3
Overview of Social Engineering 9
Summary 21
2 Information Gathering 23
Gathering Information 26
Sources for Information Gathering 33
Communication Modeling 43
The Power of Communication Models 53
3 Elicitation 55
What Is Elicitation? 56
The Goals of Elicitation 58
Mastering Elicitation 74
Summary 76
4 Pretexting: How to Become Anyone 77
What Is Pretexting? 78
The Principles and Planning Stages of Pretexting 79
Successful Pretexting 91
Summary 99
5 Mind Tricks: Psychological Principles Used in Social Engineering 101
Modes of Thinking 103
Microexpressions 109
Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) 136
Interview and Interrogation 143
Building Instant Rapport 162
The Human Buffer Overflow 172
Summary 178
6 Influence: The Power of Persuasion 181
The Five Fundamentals of Influence and Persuasion 182
Influence Tactics 187
Altering Reality: Framing 215
Manipulation: Controlling Your Target 233
Manipulation in Social Engineering 248
Summary 256
7 The Tools of the Social Engineer 259
Physical Tools 260
Online Information-Gathering Tools 279
Summary 297
8 Case Studies: Dissecting the Social Engineer 299
Mitnick Case Study 1: Hacking the DMV 300
Mitnick Case Study 2: Hacking the Social Security Administration 306
Hadnagy Case Study 1: The Overconfident CEO 310
Hadnagy Case Study 2: The Theme Park Scandal 317
Top-Secret Case Study 1: Mission Not Impossible 322
Top-Secret Case Study 2: Social Engineering a Hacker 329
Why Case Studies Are Important 337
Summary 338
9 Prevention and Mitigation 339
Learning to Identify Social Engineering Attacks 340
Creating a Personal Security Awareness Culture 341
Being Aware of the Value of the Information You Are Being Asked For 344
Keeping Software Updated 347
Developing Scripts 348
Learning from Social Engineering Audits 348
Concluding Remarks 354
Summary 361
Index 363