Christopher J Hadnagy

Orlando, Florida

Expert in Social Engineering & Child Exploitation

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Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

General Specialties:

Cybersecurity and Fraud

Keywords/Search Terms:

hacking, social engineering, scams, romance scams, sexplotation, phishing, vishing, body language , facial expressions, smishing, impersonation, csam, child porn, trafficking

Education:

OSCP, Offensive Security; OSWP, Offensive Security

Years in Practice:

20

Number of Times Deposed/Testified in Last 4 Yrs:

1

Additional Information

Christopher Hadnagy is a globally recognized expert in social engineering, human behavior, and cybersecurity, with over two decades of experience working alongside law enforcement, government, and military agencies around the world. As the founder and CEO of Social-Engineer, LLC, Chris has developed pioneering methodologies in human-based attack vectors, insider threat detection, nonverbal communication analysis, and psychological manipulation—especially as they relate to cybercrime and crimes against children. Chris has served as an expert witness in high-stakes criminal and civil cases, offering testimony and analysis in matters involving phishing, cyber-enabled fraud, insider threats, nonverbal deception detection, and the exploitation of minors. His behavioral insights are frequently used to decode grooming tactics, psychological coercion, and deception patterns in both digital and real-world environments. He has spoken at the Pentagon on the topic of social engineering and has trained elite teams including U.S. SOCOM, the U.S. Military, FBI, United States Secret Service, MI5, MI6, and other global law enforcement agencies. His work supports investigations and security programs worldwide, often focusing on the intersection of human behavior and digital threats. Chris is the author of five best-selling books on social engineering, including Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking, widely adopted in university and professional training programs. He also founded the Innocent Lives Foundation, a nonprofit that partners with law enforcement to identify and unmask online child predators using open-source intelligence (OSINT). Featured in Forbes, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, among others, Christopher Hadnagy is one of the world’s foremost authorities on behavioral cybersecurity, social engineering, and protecting children from online exploitation.