“Social engineering is using deception, manipulation and influence to convince a human who has access to a computer system to do something, like click on an attachment in an e-mail.”

American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker

Kevin Mitnick was an American computer security consultant and author, known as a convicted hacker. He was arrested in 1995 for computer and communications-related crimes, and later spent five years in prison after being convicted of fraud and illegally intercepting communications. His arrest, trial, and sentence drew controversy, along with the coverage that followed. After leaving prison, he worked in computer security, running Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC and taking part in other security businesses.