Social engineering involves using deception against human targets in order to gain information about a system. Some common social engineering techniques include attackers misrepresenting themselves as employees of a firm in order to elicit information from a help desk, receptionist, HR department, and so forth. Attackers can also pose as customers, business partners, sales people, service providers, auditors, government agents, or any other role calculated to install trust in the victim. Social engineering can occur face-to-face, over the phone, online, on social media, or via any personal communications channel involving a human end point.