What is social engineering?

• A. Someone pretends to be someone they're not to get information
• B. Phishing emails that steal data
• C. A method for encrypting data
• D. Installing unauthorized hardware

Answer: (A)

Social engineering is about using psychological tricks to get people to reveal information or take actions they shouldn’t. It relies on manipulating trust, authority, urgency, or friendliness rather than breaking in with technical hacks. The best description here is: someone pretends to be someone they're not to obtain information. That captures the broad idea of tricking a person into compromising security.

Phishing emails are a specific way social engineers carry out their schemes, but they’re one example, not the whole concept. The other options refer to cryptography (encrypting data) or tampering with hardware (unauthorized devices), which are not about manipulating people to disclose information.