Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking

It's way too full of filler. A good editor could cut out at least 50% of this book.

At the risk of redundancy...make it shorter!

computer like voice.

No. It was really too much "fluff" as it is.

If you are really interested in the topic, you will probably make it through this book...but if you aren't really interested, I'll bet $10 you won't make it all the way through. It's a tough slog at times.

I wanted an introductory book into social engineering, and this book does this job perfectly. There is an explanation of all the sides of the art, and direction for further info if you're interested to dive deeper into anything in particular.
Many examples / real stories makes this listen even easier to follow. Would recommend this audio to anyone.
Additionally, I've discovered that like most people, I was stupid enough to have the same password / user-name on many sites. And how easy it is for anyone (unfriendly, or just bored) to mess up my life. Well, not anymore... or at least not that easy. That alone definitely worth a "credit".

Very solid story and illustrative explanations on Social Engineering. I would rate this a 9 out of 10 on explanation of the subject matter. Voice acting was pleasant and continued well throughout the audio book.

No real characters as this was more of a manual of methods than a true story, but it did have small stories to illustrate Social Engineering points.

The stories of the 10 million dollar bank heist.

Yes, it was that good. Unfortunately, life gets in the way.

Would like a British female voice as an option to listen to this book. There is just something sexy about that and it compliments the subject.

Nice title too bad the book wasn't about Social Engineering. I felt that the author didn't know what the term Social Engineering was, he decided it was whatever he was talking about at the time. I won't get the time I wasted back and didn't bother finishing it.

offered a refund.

disappointment

avoid.

Social Engineering is written no better than a giant hacker text that can readily be found over the Internet for free. The author obviously still mixes with hacker circles and appears to have written the book as a way to claim he "literally wrote the book on social engineering."

Chandler drops names like Paul Ekman to show he has taken time to explore research in the field of influence and persuasion. He dedicates a large part of a chapter to Ekman's Facial Action Coding System, but since he has no credentials whatsoever, the reader is expected to take his word that he has developed a proficiency in using it.

He assumes that dropping terms like neurolinguistic programming and microexpressions makes the book somehow all-inclusive, but he does not appear to know of other leading social scientists in the field such as Daniel Kahneman and Robert Cialdini.

Lastly, Chandler repeatedly cites Wikipedia as if it is a valid source for a book. Wikipedia may work for hacker texts but not for professional books. In sum, Chandler provides nothing original whatsoever in the book, cites a few credible sources as if that gives him the credentials, and repeatedly cites Wikipedia.

If you are one of the author's hacker buddies, go read this book. Otherwise, stick to real sources and leave this one alone.

Disappointment

Book should have been more concise - as it is the book is way to repetitive to be enjoyable.

No sure

Maybe. If I really wanted to hear the story. But he certainly is not one of my favourite narrators based on this book. But than again he didn't have much to work with.

Each chapter could have been cut by 50-60%

Useful info but poorly written. Enldlessly mentions repeated page quotes in a painful manner. Unfortunately narators voice does not help (boring monotone)

must read now

Very informative about real problems that social engineering and how they do what they do best. Makes me fear for those who are more worried about what the stories were about instead of what he was trying to teach you.

Not bad did a pretty good job

Yes, I did - i laughed at how ignorant people (including myself) are in some of the situations.

This book has more to it that trying to teach you to be a social engineer... if you want to defeat your enemy, you need to know your enemy, and that is exactly what I got from this book! If you dont like the book because of the stories I doubt your thinking... I mean seriously read the title of the book.

Yes, Great book on Social Engineering, Mr Hadnagy go indepth and reviews the techniques used by social engineers to penetrate businesses with some great case studies at the end, esp how the IRS was hacked.. If your into ITSEC, great book to read/listen

The case studies, and the tools and methods explained

Keeps you interested

No, who has the time

I was hoping for a book that discusses the science and practice of social engineering. This manual details step by step instructions about how to attack a company or person.

Sin taxes, public health campaigns and 401k opt out plans are all examples of how default human behavior can be used to increase government revenue, change risky behaviors and help people save for their retirement. The current administration believes strongly in these measures so I was hoping for a book that discussed them.

However, the author is only interested in detailing how to plan an episode of corporate espionage or identity theft. After an overly long introduction--he spends 75 minutes telling you what he's going to tell you--he lays out the various steps of planning an attack. He litters the trite, cliche-ridden text with phrases like "this would be a good way to get a malicious file on a secretary's computer" or "here's how to trick people into clicking a link that will download a virus."

He tries to deflect criticism by saying he wants people to read the book to understand how they might be vulnerable, but that is clearly not the intent and the book has a sleazy feel to it.