Social engineering
Manipulating people rather than systems: tricking someone into revealing a password, opening a file or sending money by exploiting trust, curiosity or urgency. Phishing emails and calls impersonating IT support or an executive are common forms. The most effective control is process: require that any sensitive request be confirmed through a separately known channel, and train staff on the scripts attackers actually use.
Further reading: csrc.nist.gov
Advisories that mention this term
US broker DriveWealth breached via social engineering; data of Revolut, Stake and other platform customers exposed
According to TNW, DriveWealth, the US broker behind US stock trading in Revolut and other apps, said an unauthorized party entered its network on September 4 and 5 through social engineering, and platforms such as Stake and Hatch have notified customers .
US cardiac monitoring firm iRhythm hit by social engineering and extortion; data of over 8.18 million exposed
According to CyberInsider, data was downloaded without authorization from cardiac monitoring firm iRhythm's third-party-hosted business applications between June 3 and 8, 2026; its June 15 SEC filing says access came through social engineering and an attacker demanded payment on June 9 .
Cruise operator Carnival breached after employee falls for social engineering; ID numbers of nearly 6 million stolen
According to BleepingComputer, Carnival began notifying 5,995,277 people that attackers used social engineering in April to deceive an employee, accessed part of its IT systems and stole personal data, which the company confirmed was copied on April 22 .
US bakery chain Panera Bread data dumped after failed extortion, about 5.1 million accounts affected
According to CyberInsider, Panera Bread suffered a breach in January 2026 exposing 14 million customer records containing 5.