{"meta":{"database":"Global Social Engineering Impact Database","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app","license":"CC BY 4.0 — attribute to Netarx Social Engineering Incident Database","generated":"2026-08-29T09:22:05.258Z","total":1,"returned":1,"limit":50,"offset":0,"next":null,"note":"Read loss_kind before summing loss_usd: only direct_loss and ransom_paid are comparable. Entries with entry_type \"benchmark\" are aggregate agency statistics and overlap with everything else by construction."},"results":[{"title":"HP boardroom pretexting scandal: investigators impersonate directors to phone carriers","date":"2006-10-04","date_precision":"day","victim_org":"Hewlett-Packard directors, journalists and their family members","sector":"Technology","country":"United States","primary_vector":"Physical Pretexting","secondary_vectors":["Vishing (Voice Phishing)"],"ai_involvement":"No AI reported","ai_notes":"No AI involvement.","outcomes":["Data Breach","Identity Theft"],"loss_usd":null,"loss_note":"No direct theft; the consequences were criminal charges, executive resignations and reputational damage.","records_affected":13,"threat_actor":"Security Outsourcing Solutions and Action Research Group investigators retained by HP","summary":"California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed criminal charges on 4 October 2006 against former HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn, former HP ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker and three outside investigators. To identify the source of boardroom leaks to the press, investigators obtained the private telephone billing records of 12 people by impersonating them to phone carriers. Personal identifying information for 13 board members, journalists and family members was obtained and used unlawfully. Each defendant faced four felony counts.","how_it_worked":"Investigators working for HP called telephone carriers and posed as the account holders, supplying names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers to satisfy the carriers' identity checks and unlock the account. Carrier call center agents, whose job incentives favored resolving customer problems quickly, released detailed billing and call-detail records. Those records were then correlated to link directors and reporters and identify the leak. The lever was ordinary customer service helpfulness combined with weak caller verification, and the extracted action was disclosure of confidential subscriber records.","lessons":"Carriers needed possession-based caller verification such as a callback to the number of record or an account PIN rather than knowledge of publicly obtainable identifiers; the case directly prompted federal pretexting legislation for phone records.","confidence":"Confirmed","sources":[{"title":"Attorney General Lockyer Files Criminal Charges Against Former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman, Others","url":"https://www.oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-lockyer-files-criminal-charges-against-former-hewlett-packard","publisher":"California Office of the Attorney General"}],"entry_type":"incident","slug":"2006-hp-boardroom-pretexting-scandal-investigators-impersonate-directors-to-p","year":2006,"loss_kind":null,"url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2006-hp-boardroom-pretexting-scandal-investigators-impersonate-directors-to-p"}]}