one of the most interesting aspects of computer network security and most effective means of intrusion because the human element of computing will never go away. Someone must design the systems, implement, train, and ultimately use them. Even with the science-fiction horror stories of computer gone amuck we will always have humans at terminals somewhere, sometime; thus any computers information is vulnerable to a psychological attack. The gray goo scenario of Eric Drexler (famous for saying that 'smart, microscopic computers could take over the earth), though a possibility in the future, is not possible at this time because of the current limitations of technology. The author himself has stepped away from his landmark mid-80s theory as well, saying that he wishes he'd never made the statement because of the immense impact it has had on stifling new research into computer miniaturization.
             Social engineering is not a new intrusion technique. CERT/CC published an alert describing increased incidence of unauthorized entry attempts to computer systems in 1991. The explosion of the Internet amongst those former non-computer users made successful attempts all the more probable, a security issue that still occurs every day despite more than ten years of familiarity. Prior to the Internet, social engineering was evidenced in the cracking of the phone system with red and blue tone generator boxes, enabling the user to make calls to other locales (including across continents) while charging the costs to another extension. Sometimes the calls were charged to the phone company itself as a way of thumbing a nose at the establishment. The tone boxes themselves and their use did not require any personal contact since they could be built from plans that were freely accessible in cracker 'zines like 2600(named after the frequency of 2600HZ required to generate a call accept tone in early AT&T phone systems) and Phrack.
             The ori...