Chris Hadnagy, of Social Engineer Inc., practices what he likes to call "ethical hacking."
His staff calls him the "chief human hacker" so good, in fact, that companies and government agencies hire him to break into their computer systems and put employees through a sort of hacker boot camp.
[WEB EXTRA: Dealing with Phishing or hacking: www.apwg.org, www.social-engineer.org or www.social-engineer.com ]
"There's never been a company yet that has completely stopped us when we were attempting to impersonate and break into their organization," Hadnagy says.
Local 6 sat in on a short classroom session in Orlando last week with staff from banks, security companies and the federal government.
The theme in this session was reading body language and facial expressions.
"What we focus on is the human part of corporations and networks in a professional white hat way," he says.
Hadnagy's demonstration of "Google Dorking offered solid evidence that as he suggests, "We are all at risk."
Within seconds Hadnagy was able to show us a live exterior view of the Pentagon.
With a single click every social media device within a 100 yard radius of the iconic building flashed across his computer screen .
Hadnagy says it's a perfect illustration of the vulnerability social media creates.
"Right now every attack we've seen in the last 12 to 18 months has involved some sort of social engineering."
The top weapons used by hackers include phishing (computer scams), Vishing (telephone scams) and impersonation--in one case he posed as an insect exterminator.
Hadnagy says the convenience of blue tooth and WIFI creates a doorway hackers exploit with surprising ease.
He admitted there is no high tech defense against hackers. In his view, it comes down to education and understanding the risks.
"We have coffee pots, refrigerators, stoves, our thermostats are all enabled on the Internet and their security protocols just don't work," he said.
For information on dealing with phishing or hacking, Hadnagy suggests: www.apwg.org, www.social-engineer.org or www.social-engineer.com.