What does social engineering typically involve?

Social engineering typically involves manipulating users to obtain confidential information. This approach relies on psychological tactics to exploit human behavior rather than technical vulnerabilities in systems. Attackers often pose as trusted individuals or authority figures to deceive victims into divulging sensitive details, such as passwords, personal identification numbers, or other confidential data.

By leveraging social trust and human psychology, social engineers can bypass technical security mechanisms and directly gain access to information that could lead to unauthorized access or data breaches. This method highlights the importance of user awareness and training to recognize and resist such manipulative tactics.

In contrast to the correct answer, physical theft of devices relates more to tangible security risks; exploiting software vulnerabilities focuses on technical flaws in systems, while implementing physical security measures pertains to safeguarding the physical environment rather than targeting human behavior directly. Thus, option B accurately captures the essence of social engineering by emphasizing the role of deception and manipulation in information gathering.