What is social engineering?

Social engineering is defined as the act of manipulating individuals to divulge confidential information. This practice relies on psychological manipulation rather than technical hacking methods, targeting the human element of security. By creating a sense of urgency, trust, or fear, an attacker can trick individuals into providing sensitive data such as passwords, credit card information, or personal identification numbers.

Understanding social engineering is crucial for security training as it emphasizes the importance of awareness and education among individuals within an organization. Security professionals focus on teaching employees how to recognize signs of social engineering attempts, such as phishing emails or phone calls from fake tech support, making them less vulnerable to these tactics.

The other options refer to technical aspects of cybersecurity but do not capture the essence of what social engineering entails. For instance, securing networks and detecting viruses involve using software and hardware solutions, while coding methods relate to software development, none of which directly address the manipulation of people that defines social engineering.