Social Engineering Task 4

My task was to get several players to connect with me on a social networking site. I sent invitations to four players and two accepted.  I was able to accomplish this task by explaining that, being a remote participant in the class, it is difficult for me to get peer support and that I am looking to connect with some classmates.  This is actually true and I am thankful to have been assigned this task and that two people accepted my invitation :)

Social networking is a fantastic way to connect with others and, especially with sites like LinkedIn, further your career.  In a real life situation, a person could view another's LinkedIn profile and invite a connection based on similar interests or work history, as most people post their resume and set it to public so that potential employers can find them. 

An unethical situation would be if a person makes a false profile and invites others to connect to gather information on potential targets, which is especially dangerous with LinkedIn given the amount of information people post.  A person who has targeted a specific company could target their employees profiles, gather personal information, and then attempt to impersonate them.  For example, he or she can request a network password reset to use valid credentials to gain access to the network.