Systematic Review on Social Engineering: Hacking by Manipulating Humans

Despite the availability of advanced security software and hardware mechanisms available, still, there has been a breach in the defence system of an organization or individual. Social engineering mostly targets the weakest link in the security system i.e. “Humans” for gaining access to sensitive information by manipulating human psychology. Social engineering attacks are arduous to defend as such attacks are not easily detected by available security software or hardware. This article surveys recent studies on social engineering attacks with discussion on the social engineering phases and categorizing the various attacks into two groups. The main aim of this survey is to examine the various social engineering attacks on individuals and countermeasures against social engineering attacks are also discussed.