Book Image

Learn Social Engineering

Book Image

Learn Social Engineering

Overview of this book

This book will provide you with a holistic understanding of social engineering. It will help you to avoid and combat social engineering attacks by giving you a detailed insight into how a social engineer operates. Learn Social Engineering starts by giving you a grounding in the different types of social engineering attacks,and the damages they cause. It then sets up the lab environment to use different toolS and then perform social engineering steps such as information gathering. The book covers topics from baiting, phishing, and spear phishing, to pretexting and scareware. By the end of the book, you will be in a position to protect yourself and your systems from social engineering threats and attacks. All in all, the book covers social engineering from A to Z , along with excerpts from many world wide known security experts.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Influence and Persuasion

There is no easier way to persuade someone than by appealing to their interests. Persuasion is a strong part of a social engineer's game and that is why it could not be discussed together with mind tricks. Influence and persuasion are ways of getting people to do or think exactly how you want them to. Persuasion is commonly used in day-to-day life and it is highly unlikely that you have not been subject to it. It is used by politicians, leaders, and advertisers of a variety of products to get people to subscribe to their ideas and do as they please. People can be convinced into dropping ideas they had earlier for the ones sold to them if persuasion is effectively used. This chapter will look into all of the elements of persuasion. It will cover the following topics:

  • Fundamentals of persuasion
  • Influence tactics
  • Reality alteration (framing)
  • Manipulation...