Social Engineering and Crime Prevention in Cyberspace

This paper highlights methods of syntactic and semantic social engineering attacks (human-based and computer-based) that are currently prevalent in the cyber community. It will also discuss emerging trends and, the likely future direction cyber-crime will take with respect to social engineering. The risks of deception in the on-line environment appear to be increasing and with the rapid growth of internet access a large pool of people are likely to be exposed to manipulation. The legal response to on-line forms of deception or social engineering remains fragmented and inadequate failing to recognise the increased potential of organized criminal activity.