Elecitation and pretexting - Essay Example

Elicitation and pretexting Introduction Elicitation refers to the process of extracting as well as gathering informationfrom someone through the use of technology. This takes place during a very normal and innocent communication when social engineers seek to obtain some information. The engineers use their conversational skills as well as tactics so as to encourage the targeted people to provide in-depth information. The tactics include assumptive questions, volunteering information, expression of mutual interest as well as appealing to the ego of their target.

On the other hand, pretexting is the practice of an individual presenting themselves to be someone else so that they can obtain some private information. It is the use of publicly available information to in order to creates ones new identity and using it to acquire information needed to convince their target to take a specific action. Positive attributes of elicitation and pretextingThe tools of social engineering can be used to detect criminal activities by tracing the conversations of the suspects before they engage in attacks.

Elicitation has aided in the fight against global challenges such as terrorism through the tracking of conversations using modern communication gadgets. It can be used to get some vital information that may lead to the hideouts of criminals. The tool is used by politicians and other leaders to make inroads into the camps of opponents for safeguarding the nation. Pretexting can be used to gain vital information on the operations of illegal business ventures and bringing them to the public for legal measures to be undertaken.

Intelligence services adopt the use of elicitation to track down hackers who use similar techniques in propagating criminal activities (Hadnagy, 56-109). Work CitedHadnagy, Christopher. Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking. , 2011. Print.