The People Hacker

‘From an early age, locked doors, high fences and the secrets kept by businesses, buildings and people, fascinated me. I wanted to find out what they wanted to hide away.’

After being schooled in the art of breaking and entering by her family, Jenny became an expert social engineer using the ‘human element’ to manipulate, persuade and influence people to gain access to buildings, data and information. A burglar for hire, con-artist and expert in non-verbal communications, deception and physical infiltration, she was paid to subvert security measures, using psychology, stagecraft, illusion and charm rather than technical hacking techniques. People Hacker shows how she learnt her craft and the often crazy, funny or dangerous situations she found herself in along the way.

Her job took her from the back streets of Liverpool in the 1980s to the City of London’s Square Mile. Across rooftops, cellars and staircases in Europe to the mansions of gangsters in the Far East, Jenny risked it all to earn the title ‘People Hacker’. Eventually, she was signed up to work on the Channel Four series Hunted. More recently, having become rather too well known in security circles, she now spends most of her time travelling the world advising clients and speaking at high-profile events on the subjects of security.

People Hacker not only gives a remarkable insight into the reality of her world but also reveals the particular mindset required to make her one of the most sought-after social engineers in the world. It shines a light on the security mistakes we all tend to make - and explains how to avoid them. Told in her trademark colourful and anecdote-driven style, she shows how her working-class upbringing, northern humour and femininity in a male-dominated industry have all helped give her the edge.