Final answer:
Social engineering is the manipulation of people to obtain confidential information and the best definition is 'Using people skills to obtain proprietary information'. It relies more on psychological manipulation than on technical hacking skills.Option C is the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
Social engineering is a term used to describe a range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. It involves tricking people into breaking normal security procedures to gain unauthorized access to systems, networks, or physical locations, or for financial gain. Hackers use various methods of social engineering, capitalizing on human psychology rather than technical hacking techniques to gain access to confidential information.
The most accurate definition of social engineering within the provided options is C. Using people skills to obtain proprietary information. This can involve a variety of tactics such as pretexting, baiting, phishing, and more. Each method involves some form of psychological manipulation, persuading the victim to divulge confidential information or to take actions that would compromise security.
For example, in a phishing attack, hackers may send emails that appear to be from reputable sources to get people to click on malicious links or to provide sensitive information such as passwords. Another common social engineering technique is pretexting, where the attacker invents a scenario to engage a targeted victim in a manner that increases the chance of the victim divulging information.