social engineering & your information security

There are many ways to gain access to others' devices and digital information.  Some practices are known to information security experts as "social engineering."  Social engineering, in the context of information security, refers to psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. (Source: Wikipedia)

For example: A person may ask to insert a USB into your device, or send an email to download a file to your device.  Performing these tasks can insert malware that can do all sorts of harm.

This sort of thing can even happen to adult professionals in the information business; read THIS ARTICLE for a recent example. (Thanks, BoingBoing!)