Social Engineering

Social engineering has become the most popular method of compromising the security of personal data. The successful use of Social Engineering techniques has provided attackers and hackers the ability to breach computer systems and gain access to sensitive data. Many computer hackers have found that it is easier to trick somebody into giving his or her password than to carry out an elaborate hacking attempt.
Social engineering is the art of gaining access to buildings, systems or data by exploiting human psychology, rather than by breaking in or using technical hacking techniques. Social engineering involves the use of manipulation to trick others into providing the needed information that can be used to steal data and or gain access to secured systems. Most victims of social engineering attacks never see their attackers and they seldom realize that they have been hacked or manipulated.
I personally have sat through safety briefing about social engineering while in the army. Ever since then I have been very cautious about what information I make available to people. I tend to shred any mail or paperwork with possibly valuable information before throwing it in the waste can. I don’t leave stickers on my vehicle that would possibly reveal where I live.
The main goal or focus of social engineering is to use human weakness to gain access to secure systems and or data. Despite the implementation of a wide range of security controls and measures into a secured system; there will always be a human linked to the system. Humans are the weakest link in all secured systems.
My ex-girlfriend was a victim of social engineering. A man contacted her online saying he was interviewing high school drop outs, she met him for an interview over dinner, she gave him pretty much all of her information she shouldn’t have, and now her credit is wrecked.
Extremely intensive social engineering campaigns occurred in countries with authoritarian governments. In the 1920s, the government of the Soviet Union embarked on a campaign to fundamentally alter the behavior and ideals of Soviet citizens, to replace the old social frameworks of Tsarist Russia with a new Soviet culture, to create the New Soviet man. The Soviets used newspapers, books, film, mass relocations, and even architectural design tactics to serve as "social condenser" and change personal values and private relationships. Similar examples are the Chinese "Great Leap Forward" and "Cultural Revolution" program and the Khmer Rouge's plan of deurbanization of Cambodia. In Singapore, the government's housing policies attempt to promote a mix of all races within each subsidized housing district in order to foster social cohesion and national loyalty while providing citizens with affordable housing.[citation needed] In Tanzania in the 1970s, the government pursued a policy of enforced villagisation under Operation Vijiji in order to promote collective farming.[4]
Non-authoritarian regimes tend to rely on more sustained social engineering campaigns that create more gradual, but ultimately far-reaching, change. Examples include the "War on Drugs" in the United States, the increasing reach of intellectual property rights and copyright, and the promotion of elections as a political tool. The campaign for promoting elections, which is by far the most successful of the three examples, has been in place for over two centuries. Social theorists of the Frankfurt School in Weimar Germany like Theodor Adorno had also observed the new phenomenon of mass culture and commented on its new manipulative power, when the rise of the Nazis drove them out of the country around 1930. The Nazis themselves were no strangers to the idea of influencing political attitudes and redefining personal relationships. The Nazi propaganda machine under Joseph Goebbels was a synchronized, sophisticated and effective tool for creating public opinion
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(security)