Social engineering (SE) is defined as any act that uses persuasion strategies to influence individuals to take an action that may or may not be in their best interests. Cyberadversaries are increasingly using SE in their attacks to develop trust relationships with potential targets and then deceive them into revealing sensitive information (passwords), obtain unauthorized access (to restricted areas, servers, etc.), or commit fraud (via phishing or spreading disinformation).
Learn more about our SE resources, workshops, and events:
Social Engineering Resources Page – a list of books, podcasts, videos, and websites relevant to social engineering.
Social Engineering Course Projects – a list of tried and tested social engineering course projects to try in your classroom, cybersecurity student clubs, organization training. FREE to download.
Social Engineering Educator Workshop (Fall and Spring) – open to educators at high school, undergraduate and graduate levels.
High school training program – open to high school students.
Summer SE competition – open to students at high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Note: the Collegiate SECTF – has now merged with Summer SE competition.
NICE Framework Success Story: Social Engineering Competitions! – This summary focuses on why and how the CARE Lab used the NICE Framework, emphasizing the variety of approaches and benefits, results, and lessons learned.