Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [1]
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To my beautiful wife and my wonderful family; without you this would not have been possible. Mati, there are no words to describe the gratitude I feel for what you have done.
About the Author
Christopher Hadnagy is the lead developer of www.social-engineer.org, the world’s first social engineering framework. In more than 14 years of security and IT activity, he has partnered with the team at www.backtrack-linux.org and worked on a wide variety of security projects. He also serves as trainer and lead social engineer for Offensive Security’s penetration testing team.
About the Technical Editor
Jim O’Gorman is a professional penetration tester and social engineering auditor with more 14 years of experience working for companies ranging from small ISPs to Fortune 100 corporations. Jim is co-trainer of the Offensive Security Advanced Windows Exploitation class, one of the most difficult exploit development classes available. A founding member of www.social-engineer.org, Jim is an authority on educating the public about social engineering threats.
Credits
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Foreword
Security is a puzzle with two sides. From the inside, we look for a sense of comfort and assurance. From the outside, thieves, hackers, and vandals are looking for gaps. Most of us believe our homes are safe until one day, we find ourselves locked out. Suddenly, our perspective shifts and weaknesses are easily found.
To completely understand any kind of security it is essential to step outside of the fence, in essence locking ourselves out, and start looking for other ways in. The problem is that most of us are blinded to potential problems by our own confidence or our belief that strong locks, thick doors, a high-end security system, and a guard dog are more than enough to keep most people at bay.
I’m not most people. In the last ten years I have pulled more cons and scams than anyone in history. I’ve beaten casinos, faked sports events, fixed auctions, talked people out of their dearest possessions, and walked right past seemingly unbeatable levels of security.
I have made a living exposing the methods of thieves, liars, crooks, and con men on a hit TV show called The Real Hustle. If I’d been