Computer term; What is "social engineering"?

What is "social engineering"? Uh ... actually, I do not have exact answer, but it is about conducts that someone hacks into the computers to get a inportant information, such as passwords and security information, which are useful for companies. It is not forcible but the social way to elicit information with artful words, and therefore, it is called social engineering. In most cases, such secret information is leaked out by managerial stuffs of computers or general workers in companies because of low consciousness of the protection of classified information.


To make sure the meaning, I looked at the dictionary, and it says...
Social Engineering is the term used for cracking techniques that rely on weakness in wetware rather than software; the aim is to trick people into revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the required information and posing as a field service tech or fellow employee with an urgent access problem.

The difinition was cited from hyper dictionary.


In Japan, many big companies leaked information, such as address or telephon numbers. As the first step to avoid such cases, companies should make a firm rule and make workers understand it completely.