A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When it come down to it, the weakest link in security is often men itself.

This was recently experienced by ABN Amro bank in Antwerp's diamond quarter where a thief has evaded one of the world's most expensive hi-tech security systems, and made off with €21m (£14.5m) worth of diamonds - thanks to a secret weapon rarely used on bank staff: personal charm.

The phenomenon in question is commonly known as Social Engineering and this example out of many shows that human behaviour often understate the threat in order to satisfy their own safety needs. However, often falsely. One example is purchasing an expensive pick-proof lock at your home door, and thereby feeling comfortable that you have made the home safer for your family and yourself. However, the windows are still just as easy to break through.

In this case it was not only a pick-proof lock, but a security system costing more than €1m. The lesson, he [Philip Claes, spokesman for the Diamond High Council in Antwerp] said, was that "despite all the efforts one makes in investing in security, when a human error is made nothing can help".

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