Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking

by Christopher Hadnagy

Christopher Hadnagy's Social Engineering explores the full spectrum of human manipulation techniques used in security testing and real-world attacks. The second edition covers the psychological principles behind influence, pretexting, elicitation, phishing, vishing (voice phishing), and physical social engineering. Hadnagy draws on research in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics to explain why social engineering works at a fundamental level, then provides practical frameworks for both conducting social engineering assessments and defending against them. The book covers microexpressions, rapport building, nonverbal communication, and the neuroscience of trust and decision-making. Each technique is illustrated with real-world case studies from Hadnagy's consulting work. The defensive chapters help organizations build human-layer security programs that go beyond annual phishing simulations.