The Origins of Social Engineering

One would be hard pressed today to read a news article or book about computer security without coming across the term social engineering more than once. The term phishing was coined by hackers. It derives from fishing because this social engineering technique lures its victims (phish) into disclosing their user names, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information. Whether it's called social engineering, trickery, confidence tricks, cognitive biases, or scams, the concept of exploiting a person's naivety and trust is as prevalent today as it has been since the dawn of time.