social engineering
n. Term used among
crackers and
samurai for cracking techniques that rely on weaknesses in
wetware rather than software; the aim is to trick people into
revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target
system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has
the required information and posing as a field service tech or a
fellow employee with an urgent access problem. See also the
tiger team story in the
patch entry.
