Cheatsheet: What is pretexting? – Valleywag.
In case you didn’t know, Wikipedia says: "Pretexting is the act of pretending to be someone who you are not by telling an untruth, or creating deception. The practice of pretexting typically involves tricking a telecom carrier into disclosing personal information of a customer, with the scammer pretending to be the customer."
According to Valleywag: "This isn’t the last scandal we’ll hear. The president of one security company says that heads of Fortune 500 Companies hire "fly-by-night organizations" to do their dirty investigative work all the time. Now that a pretexting scandal is front-page news, expect investigative journalists to hunt down similar stories."
And if the practice is so prevalent amongst US CEOs, what about UK chief execs?
Pretexting = social engineering. It’s been around as long as valves. Kevin Mitnick’s ‘The Art of Deception’ is an excellent guide for companies who want to try and stop it happening.