
Social Engineering
by Christopher Hadnagy · first published 2011
10mentions
6recommended by
8HN commenters
2014–2024first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% critical
Why HN recommends it
A practical overview of social engineering and how people are manipulated into giving up information. It serves as an engaging introduction for security staff and anyone interested in human-factor attacks.
Common criticism: Some find it thin or dated; one reader rated it only mediocre.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Examines what social engineering is, the methods used by hackers to gather information, and ways to prevent social engineering threats.
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I was reading Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking [0] a few years ago and it was really fascinating to see how easy it is to get the user to give us data versus unlocking an AES256 encrypted value on a computer I'm not allowed…
on “1971 Social Engineering Attack” ↗I just want to point you out to a book. It is a good read, I promise. http://www.amazon.com/Social-Engineering-The-Human-Hacking/d... It looks like you genuinely believe that two people talking face to face would not be subjected to exploitation. The book exactly talks about how exploitation in this context…
on “Linux kernel: multiple x86_64 vulnerabilities” ↗This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race https://www.amazon.com/dp/1635576059/ Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking https://www.amazon.com/dp/111943338X/ PTFM: Purple Team Field Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LJV1QCD/ I issue these to all new cyber hires in a senior infosec role.…
on “Ask HN: Cyber Security Books, Links and Videos” ↗"Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking" by Hadnagy.
on “What are the best social engineering books you have read?” ↗…Hunting by Peter Yaworski. Web security 101. Good read, and fairly useful. * Advanced Penetration Testing by Wil Allsop. Outdated, but interesting. You will never use flash again after reading this. * Social Engineering, The Science of Human Hacking by Christopher Hadnagy. This is a very interesting read. Also, one of the few that can't go out of date. ... This should be enough to get you started. There's a couple…
on “Hackers hide credit card stealing script in favicon metadata” ↗…Stuart McClure Countdown to Zero Day by Kim Zetter Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick Spam Nation by Brian Krebs Practical Malware Analysis by Michael Sikorski Threat Modeling by Adam Shostack Social Engineering by Christopher Hadnagy The Hacker Playbook 3 by Peter Kim The Practice of Network Security Monitoring by Richard Bejtlich Dark Territory by Fred Kaplan The Code Book by Simon Singh Hacked Again…
on “Show HN: A compilation of cybersecurity book recommendations from 25 articles” ↗…Hunting by Peter Yaworski. Web security 101. Good read, and fairly useful. * Advanced Penetration Testing by Wil Allsop. Outdated, but interesting. You will never use flash again after reading this. * Social Engineering, The Science of Human Hacking by Christopher Hadnagy. This is a very interesting read. Also, one of the few that can't go out of date. ... This should be enough to get you started. There's a couple…
on “Thinking of a Cybersecurity Career?” ↗…Hunting by Peter Yaworski. Web security 101. Good read, and fairly useful. * Advanced Penetration Testing by Wil Allsop. Outdated, but interesting. You will never use flash again after reading this. * Social Engineering, The Science of Human Hacking by Christopher Hadnagy. This is a very interesting read. Also, one of the few that can't go out of date. ... This should be enough to get you started. There's a couple…
on “Kali Linux 2020.3” ↗…want to make cryptography a career, you'll need more; this is still the first book basically anyone should pick up to understand a wide breadth of modern crypto. _________________ You Can Skip: 1. Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking - It was okay. I am biased against books that don't have a great deal of technical depth. You can learn a lot of this book by reading online resources and by honestly having…
on “Cybersecurity Humble Book Bundle” ↗So my recent reads have included: Determined: the science of life without free will by Robert Salpolsky. I rate it 4/5 The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick. I give it a 3/5 Social Engineering: The science of Human Hacking by Chris Hadnagy. I rate it 2.5/5 Influence: The psychology of persuasion by Robert Cialdini. I rate it 5/5 I’m in the midst of reading… Thinking fast and slow, by Daniel…
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading?” ↗