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Written by: 6/10/2011 12:59 PM
As technology has evolved, so have social engineers. Those ruthless pariahs of society who twirl their proverbial mustaches as they sneak peaks over your shoulder to snag passwords or pretend to be you while ruining your credit score and your life. The wring their hands with glee as you click the link in their phishing email that dumps all your personal information into their laps.
Yes, those social engineers are a class of villains unto themselves. Or are they?
A recent bill in Nashville, TN just passed, making it illegal to use another person's login information to access music services like Rhapsody or streaming video services like Netflix.
Wait! Does that mean every college student out there becomes a mustache-twirling, hand-wringing villain every time he or she tricks Netflix by logging in as Mom or Dad? Well, yes. In a way, this is the "little white lie" of social engineering.
In its strictest, social engineering is the process of fooling others—whether a company or individual—into believing you are someone or something you are not, in order to obtain something valuable. And so, by this strict definition, illegal music sharing and even using another's login info to catch up on reruns of Lost is social engineering.
But, it's not harmful, right? Is anyone really losing anything? I mean, those big companies have plenty of money, right? Well...
As outraged as the average citizen may be about this new bill, we should all have seen this coming. As technology grows, dishonest people have found infinitely creative ways to exploit it for personal gain. And inevitably, even the average honest man finds ways around the system. And, as companies strive to combat the evils of social engineering, it is no wonder that they intend to plug both the big leaks and the teensy ones. After all, money is money—however innocently it is pilfered.
Just something interesting to think about—especially for those of us who rant and rave about protecting against the threat of social engineering. We need to be sure we aren't speaking out of both sides of our mouths.
Read more: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110601/NEWS0201/110601029/Sharing-