social engineering

noun

1

: management of human beings in accordance with their place and function in society : applied social science

2

: social methods (such as phishing) that are used to obtain personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly

The previously noted trend of switching from social engineering to hacking methods in attacks on organizations strengthened …

—San Fernando Valley (California) Business Journal

social engineer noun

plural social engineers

Examples of social engineering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Verizon 2024 Data Breach Report reveals that 68% of breaches involved a non-malicious human element; in other words, these incidents involved insider errors or people falling for social engineering schemes. —Bret Fund, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024

But the politics of today’s left is heavy on social engineering according to group identity. —Bret Stephens, The Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2024

These bad actors may use information about your trading habits to craft convincing phishing emails or social engineering attacks. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 26 Oct. 2024

While effective at leveraging social engineering, early versions were limited to visual deception. —Lars Daniel, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1899, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

social engineering

noun

1

: management of human beings in accordance with their place and function in society : applied social science

2

: social methods (such as phishing) that are used to obtain personal or confidential information which can then be used illicitly