[Mr. Moe]

I remember having a conversation with a friend explaining how this guy is a "hacker" because he knows how to ISP dox Comcast. My friend said "hey! that's not hacking, it's just making skype calls & knowing comcast programs!" I explained to him that SE'ing is a form of hacking because its gaining private information with malicious intent.

We're still arguing till today, who's right?

[Faith Connors]

You are right. It's important to be able to SE in an actual pentesting contract environment

[Umaru]

You're definitely right without a doubt.

Tell your friend to look up the book:

"Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking"

[Brill]

SE is considering fraud, but yes it is essential to know if you're getting into hacking.

[Umaru]

SE is considering fraud, but yes it is essential to know if you're getting into hacking.

Depending on what you are SEing yes it is anything from fraud to mail fraud so keep that in mind its not exactly hacking depending on what you're doing

[Brill]

Depending on what you are SEing yes it is anything from fraud to mail fraud so keep that in mind its not exactly hacking depending on what you're doing

it's human manipulation/exploitation on vulnerable people. definitely not hacking as it's essential to know going into business, etc., as well.

[Larceny]

It's not hacking. It's important to know if you are hacking, yes, but it in itself is by no means hacking.

It's like asking if reading is history. No, but knowing how to read is important when it comes to learning history.

[pomwtin]

I explained to him that SE'ing is a form of hacking because its gaining private information with malicious intent.

We're still arguing till today, who's right?

You are right, SE is kind of hacking, but your definition of hacking could not be more wrong.

Hacking itself has nothing at all to do with "malicious things". It is more like finding a way to use some system in a way not intended, or make that system do something that was not forseen for it to do.

System being pc, network, person, some other machine, etc..

But it is common to link hacking with nalicious things, mostly thanks to press

[๖ۣۜCriminal]

SE is mostly required in most types of hacks, the only real ways you can hack something remotely without user interaction is exploiting networking protocols or web application exploitation things like that outside of those 2 domains of hacking SE/user interaction is a must, theres a reason most of these APT groups blast out emails to companies, it's kind of impossible to get on a companies LAN without SE unless you find something like a GPRS protocol exploit which allowed a bud of mine to get on a few decent sized phone carrier LANS and access to very nice data because GPRS is a phone carrier exclusive protocol mainly.Another important type of hack that SE is also required in would be file format exploitation which you would still need to send a file so at the end of day SE should be a tactic on your hacker tool belt.

[Mr. Moe]

You are right, SE is kind of hacking, but your definition of hacking could not be more wrong.

Hacking itself has nothing at all to do with "malicious things". It is more like finding a way to use some system in a way not intended, or make that system do something that was not forseen for it to do.

System being pc, network, person, some other machine, etc..

But it is common to link hacking with nalicious things, mostly thanks to press

I didnt mean to offend any hackers, especially not on this forum xD

[Pronouncer]

I remember having a conversation with a friend explaining how this guy is a "hacker" because he knows how to ISP dox Comcast. My friend said "hey! that's not hacking, it's just making skype calls & knowing comcast programs!" I explained to him that SE'ing is a form of hacking because its gaining private information with malicious intent.

We're still arguing till today, who's right?

Se is a very vital part of hacking.
Anyone who denirs this is wrong.
Isp doing is part of hacking.
When you try to hack companies, a good hacker will always start of by Se'ing information. (Not talking about running round shelling sites)

So yes, human manipulation is a form a hacking.
Hacking is gaining unauthorized access to data or a system, and that is what your doing wether it bring a logical or physical system