Reclaiming Social Engineering for Good
“Social engineering” sounds like something out of a conspiracy thriller, charged with totalitarian control and fringe paranoia. More mundanely, it’s come to be associated with phishing and other scams, in which fraudsters manipulate people into disclosing personal information. Yet the concept is older and more benign: it is the deliberate shaping of human behavior, often at scale. It predates silicon—and became pervasive, and ungoverned, especially once its practitioners lear
The term "social engineering" historically referred to the deliberate shaping of human behavior, originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with proponents like Jacques van Marken and William H. Tolman, who advocated for its application in business and industry. However, the concept was later co-opted and distorted by authoritarian regimes in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, who used similar principles for repression and mass control, leading to the term becoming associated with negative and manipulative practices.
In the post-war era, the practice continued under different guises such as "human factors" and "urban planning," and later evolved with the advent of computing into terms like "customer journey mapping" and "user experience." This evolution has made the underlying techniques of influencing behavior more pervasive but less visible, often used by corporations and scammers.
Understanding the historical evolution and varied applications of social engineering is crucial for recognizing and defending against its manipulative uses in the digital age.
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