Christopher Hadnagy

Christopher J. Hadnagy
General Keith Alexander (left) offers Chris Hadnagy the NSA Director's challenge coin at DEF CON 20[1]
Born
Christopher James Hadnagy
OccupationsInformation technology consultant, author
Organization(s)Innocent Lives Foundation, Social-Engineer, LLC
Websitewww.social-engineer.com

Christopher James Hadnagy is an American author and information security consultant. He specializes in social engineering and founded a company that provides related services and training. He has also taught classes and written books on the topic. He established the Innocent Lives Foundation, which aims to protect children by identifying online predators and providing information about them to law enforcement agencies. He coordinated educational events at DEF CON about social engineering for several years. In 2022, the DEF CON organizers banned him from the conference based on reports of code of conduct violations.[2][3] He denied wrongdoing and in 2022 sued the organizers for defamation;[3][4] the suit was dismissed with prejudice in 2025.[4][5]

Career

Hadnagy is the founder and CEO of Social-Engineer LLC,[6] a company that provides consulting and training related to social engineering.[7] The company's services include penetration testing using social engineering techniques.[8][9] He established Social-Engineer.Org, an IT security education website.[10] Hadnagy has developed a social engineering framework, published a newsletter, and hosted a podcast focused on the subject.[9][11] In 2021–2022, he was an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona College of Applied Science and Technology.[12]

He was previously the operations manager at a security training company, Offensive Security.[13] Before that, he worked in sales consulting, sales training, and technology services.[14][15][16][17]

Charitable foundation

In 2017, Hadnagy founded the Innocent Lives Foundation (ILF), which has a goal of protecting children from online predators by identifying people who produce or trade child sexual abuse material.[18][19] Staff and volunteers use open-source intelligence to gather information, and give it to law enforcement agencies in the United States.[19][20] Hadnagy said in 2018 that the work had led to two arrests.[21] In 2021, Vice reported that the Innocent Lives Foundation sold a set of Network Investigative Techniques, hacking tools for identifying anonymous individuals, to the FBI for $250,000.[22][23][24] ILF also works to educate parents and guardians about preventing grooming and abuse of children.[25][26][27]

Conferences

Hadnagy contributed to DEF CON by helping create a social engineering capture the flag competition in 2009.[28] He ran this competition and coordinated other social engineering education activities at the annual conference for several years.[29][1] In 2021, he presented at Security BSides in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on the topic of cancel culture.[30][31]

DEF CON ban and lawsuit

The organizers of DEF CON permanently banned Hadnagy in February 2022 for code of conduct violations, a decision he publicly disputed.[3][32][12][31] Hadnagy was previously a member of the review board for the Black Hat conference, and he left or was removed from the board after DEF CON published its ban.[33] In June 2022, Security BSides in Cleveland, Ohio, featured Hadnagy as an unlisted speaker.[30][34][12] Controversy surrounding his participation led to several other speakers withdrawing from the event, and the event organizer apologized and resigned.[30][34][12][3]

Hadnagy sued DEF CON in August 2022 for harm to his reputation.[35][3][36][37] In the course of litigation, specific details of the alleged misconduct were made public, including allegations from over a dozen people claiming a pattern of verbal abuse, outbursts of anger, and sexual harassment of female coworkers.[2][5] In 2025 the judge in the case dismissed Hadnagy's suit with prejudice because he could not prove that the statements made about him had been false.[4][5][38]

Books

  • Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking (2010, Wiley Publishing, Inc.) ISBN 978-0-470-63953-5[31]
    • Second edition: Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking (2018, John Wiley & Sons Inc.) ISBN 978-1-119-43338-5[6][39]
  • Unmasking the Social Engineer: The Human Element of Security (2014, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) ISBN 978-1-118-60857-9
  • Phishing Dark Waters: The Offensive and Defensive Sides of Malicious E-mails (2015, John Wiley & Sons Inc.), co-authored with Michele Fincher ISBN 978-1-118-95847-6[40]
  • Human Hacking: Win Friends, Influence People, and Leave Them Better Off for Having Met You (2021, Harper Business) ISBN 978-0-063-00178-7

References

  1. ^ a b Uchill, Joe (August 3, 2015). "Chris Hadnagy on the Def Con hackers posing as your coworkers". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Jones, Connor (March 25, 2025) [2025-02-25]. "Harassment allegations against DEF CON veteran detailed in court filing". The Register. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e Faife, Corin (August 18, 2022). "Def Con banned a social engineering star — now he's suing". The Verge. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Volokh, Eugene (May 13, 2025). "Defamation Lawsuit Against Def Con Cybersecurity Conference Dismissed". Reason. Retrieved May 16, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Jones, Connor (May 16, 2025). "Defamation case against DEF CON terminated with prejudice". The Register. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Hughey, Aaron W. (March 17, 2019). "Book pushes readiness for evolving challenges". The Park City Daily News. pp. C14. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  7. ^ Soderlin, Barbara (December 12, 2014). "Don't open door to 'social' scammers". Omaha World-Herald. p. 23. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  8. ^ McAlaney, John; Hills, Peter J.; Cole, Terri (March 11, 2024). "Social engineering". Forensic Perspectives on Cybercrime: Human Behaviour and Cybersecurity. Taylor & Francis. doi:10.4324/9781003300359-2. ISBN 978-1-003-85062-5.
  9. ^ a b Yadron, Danny (April 20, 2015). "The Man Who Hacks Your Employees". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  10. ^ Goodchild, Joan (October 17, 2011). "New social engineering poll reveals which scam works better". CSO Online. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  11. ^ Steinmetz, Kevin F.; Pimentel, Alexandra; Goe, W. Richard (December 1, 2020). "Decrypting Social Engineering: An Analysis of Conceptual Ambiguity". Critical Criminology. 28 (4): 631–650. doi:10.1007/s10612-019-09461-9. ISSN 1572-9877.
  12. ^ a b c d Brean, Henry (August 28, 2022). "U of A prof sues over lifetime ban from Las Vegas hacker convention". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
  13. ^ McMillan, Robert (July 30, 2010). "FBI sought data on Defcon 'social engineering' contest". Computerworld. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
  14. ^ "Business Briefs". Times Leader. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. May 27, 2004. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
  15. ^ "Business - People in Motion". The Times-Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. April 20, 2003. pp. C7. Retrieved October 4, 2025.
  16. ^ Calpin, Fran (April 29, 2001). "Small business owners discover unique challenges, advantages". The Times-Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. pp. 116–117. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  17. ^ "Business Briefs: Seminar to focus on marketing strategies". Centre Daily Times. March 13, 2005. p. 52. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  18. ^ Hiltner, Stephen (September 24, 2018). "When Reporting on Defcon, Avoid Stereotypes and A.T.M.s". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Hacker creates organization to unmask child predators". FOX8. CNN Wire. August 17, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
  20. ^ Walcher, Mike (December 19, 2024). "A group of citizens fights back against online child predators". WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  21. ^ Holfeld, Mike (March 15, 2018). "Adults using Snapchat, Twitter and other apps to lure children: 'Human Hacker' says many victims end up on the darknet". WKMG. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  22. ^ Cox, Joseph (March 25, 2021). "FBI Paid Anti-Child Predator Charity $250,000 for Hacking Tools". Vice. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  23. ^ Cox, Joseph (June 23, 2021). "FBI Hacking and Tech Contracts Are Vanishing from the Web". Vice. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  24. ^ Riley, Tonya; Schaffer, Aaron (March 26, 2021). "The Cybersecurity 202: NSA director says intelligence has a big blind spot: domestic Internet activity". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  25. ^ Flack, Eric (August 14, 2020). "How COVID-19 quarantines could be enabling child predators". WUSA9. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  26. ^ Menino, Holly (July 17, 2020). "Ethical hacker shares tips to keep kids safe online". KOMO News. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  27. ^ "Child predators visiting homework sites and games with two-way chat during COVID-19". TMJ4 News. October 5, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  28. ^ "DefCon contest to spotlight social engineering". CSO Online. July 6, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  29. ^ Eddy, Max (November 8, 2013). "Women Utterly Destroy Men in Social Engineering Competition". PC Magazine. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
  30. ^ a b c Jones, Connor (June 21, 2022). "Security BSides commits to greater conference diversity after speaker backlash". IT PRO. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  31. ^ a b c Mauro, Aaron (September 5, 2024). "Automatic Anxiety". The Language of Cyber Attacks: A Rhetoric of Deception. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-35470-8.
  32. ^ Nichols, Shaun (February 10, 2022). "DEF CON bans social engineering expert Chris Hadnagy". TechTarget. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  33. ^ Wright, Rob (January 16, 2023). "Judge dismisses Chris Hadnagy lawsuit against DEF CON". TechTarget. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  34. ^ a b Nichols, Shaun (June 20, 2022). "Cleveland BSides takes heat for Chris Hadnagy appearance". TechTarget. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
  35. ^ Hetzner, Christiaan (August 19, 2022). "Star social engineer dubbed the 'human hacker' sues Def Con after receiving permanent ban". Fortune. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  36. ^ Nichols, Shaun (August 18, 2022). "Shunned researcher Hadnagy sues DEF CON over ban". TechTarget. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  37. ^ "Decision: Hadnagy v. Moss - Case Digest Summary". Law.com. January 30, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  38. ^ Todd, Ross (May 16, 2025). "Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs". Law.com. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  39. ^ Chukkath, Meghna (September 1, 2024). "Book review: Christopher Hadnagy, Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking". Indian Journal of Public Administration. 70 (3): 652–654. doi:10.1177/00195561241257404. ISSN 0019-5561.
  40. ^ Prandini, Maria Patricia (March 27, 2016). "Book Review: Phishing Dark Waters". ISACA. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
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