Enacting social engineering: the emotional experience of information security deception

This study situates social engineering in past criminological work on fraud and analyzes qualitative interviews with social engineers to elucidate the emotional experiences of perpetrating such frauds. The results of this analysis indicate that social engineering interactions are characterized by an emotional experience of situational tension and the subsequent resolution of that tension. The analysis then turns to factors that modulate the quality and intensity of the emotional experience of social engineering perpetration. These factors include the social distance between the social engineer and the mark, the social engineer ’s framing the mark, and both perceived and actual efficacy in utilizing skills involved in management of self and situation. This study suggests that the emotional experience of social engineering parallels that of other frauds and is revelatory of the motivations behind the experiences.

Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - October 7, 2021 Category: Criminology Source Type: research