What is Social Engineering?

In many instances, malicious cyber actors widely use social engineering to enhance malware attacks. In the context of information security, social engineering is defined as the psychological manipulation of computer users by taking advantage of security vulnerabilities and tricking them into installing malware or disclosing personal information. It is important to note that this is different from social engineering in the context of social sciences. Cyber security experts consider this a non-technical strategy employed by cyber-criminals who rely on human interaction to access user information. If this strategy is successful, it provides the attacker with authorised and legitimate access to confidential user data.