this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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Social Engineering is hacking cmv.
Social engineering has always been a form of hacking.
No, because I agree.
It was hacking according to Kevin Mitnick (RIP) so, it's probably safe to say that your view doesn't need to be changed.
There's usually an element of that with cracking passwords. Even if you just try and pick a good wordlist for a target you're already engaging in a way. The more you know about them the shorter the wordlist. And if you spend enough time getting to know shit about them you can reduce the wordlist to one entry because they told you the password. In a way. It's not necessarily a completely different process is my point.
You can argue it's a classic ID-10T error in your workflow.
But nobody has discovered a security vulnerability within the system architecture. This is the system operating as designed, abet with the wrong person standing in front of the terminal.
That's called a PICNIC - Problem In Chair Not In Computer.
PEBKAC
That's cracking, not hacking. If you're going to be pedantic, be correct.
However you want to phrase it, they're very different problems with different solutions.
"Someone picked the lock on my door and got into my house" is meaningfully distinct from "Someone stole my keys".