Social Engineering

"媽媽, 我長大要念機械工程 (Mechanical Engineering)"
"乖!"

"媽媽, 我長大要念化學工程 (Chemical Engineering)"
"乖~"

"媽媽, 我長大要念社會工程 (Social Engineering)"
"…"

社會工程 (Social Engineering) 是什麼? 我們先來看一下wikipedia的解釋:

Social engineering is the practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulation of legitimate users. A social engineer will commonly use the telephone or Internet to trick people into revealing sensitive information or getting them to do something that is against typical policies. By this method, social engineers exploit the natural tendency of a person to trust his or her word, rather than exploiting computer security holes. It is generally agreed upon that “users are the weak link” in security and this principle is what makes social engineering possible.

雖然社會工程這個詞原本是在影射政治家使用手段對大眾的一些manipulation, 但漸漸的已經有了所謂"詐騙集團"或是"金光黨"的意思了. 這些"社會工程師" (好帥的名稱阿~) 利用電話或網路來詐取無知民眾的機密資料, 使其 (民眾) 受到財務或是其他方面的損失. 這些人跟"駭客"又有所區隔. 與其利用科技上的漏洞, 這些社會工程師是利用人心的弱點來達成他們的目的. 我個人是覺得很有趣, 在唸了四年的"工程"之後才發現原來還有這種"工程師"阿!

所以各位要當爸媽或是剛當上父母的人, 以後小孩如果跟你說他要當Social Engineer, 別天真的以為是你想像中的Engineer!