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+-- Forum: Hacking (https://sinister.li/Forum-Hacking)
+--- Forum: Social Engineering (https://sinister.li/Forum-Social-Engineering)
+--- Thread: My Method of SE (/Thread-My-Method-of-SE)
My Method of SE - Idyll - 05-04-2014
Hi people of HC,
The reason why I've decided to make a thread in Human Manipulation is because I believe that I have underestimated the power of social engineering. And because of this, I've thought up of my own method (this method may already exist, but I did think of it up myself) in attempting SE and would like to share it to those who browse this section and are interested.
So I'll just begin by explaining my method. A lot of people say that SE is about trying to break into one's mind. Well one way of doing this is to try to connect with them, or be in tune with your target. Don't think that you're 'breaking' into their mind, but try to put yourself into their shoes. I'll try to explain this later on...
So, for an example I will use Hitler (some say that the term came from the Nazis). Going back to what I said about underestimating the power of SE, the best example I can think of is that SE can start a World War. That may be a bit overdramatic, but Hitler used his skills in SE to get a whole nation to follow him.
Now to explain this method, Hitler could not have just pointed at the Jews and blamed them for everything. He could not have just simply got an entire nation to follow him. Why would anyone listen? He had to connect with them. He had to let them know that they were in the same boat. After coming out of World War I and The Great Depression, Germany was poor. He had to tell them that they all wanted the same thing which was more wealth and then he was able to point the finger at the Jews and then he could start an army. So my method is that you have to connect with your target in order for them to trust you or follow you. Let's move on to another example but on a smaller scale.
Let's say that you're trying to get someone to open up and tell you something. Here's a situation. You know that your target has some household or family issues (from another source) but you want to find out what it is exactly and this person isn't too sure about telling you. You could tell them some of your own household or family problems (you could just make it up). The point of this is to let your target know, or think, that they're not the only ones with these types of problems. Then this person may start to think that you could have an understanding with them and then there's the connection. Now, you would have a much higher chance of that person telling you.
This is not a: 'person A opens up, person B opens up'. Although the above example is similar, I'll give one more example to justify this.
Another example, this will show how a hacker can use this method online to get a person to click on a link that the hacker has control over (e.g. phishing, cookie stealing). Let's say that you're trying to get someone to click a particular link over the internet. Here's the situation. You start talking to this person and you find out that your target has an interest in Jazz music. You'd have to apply your basic SE skills to convince them that you also have an interest in Jazz music too. Now once you've applied the connection you could say something like 'omg dude, have you heard of the oscar peterson trio? this my favourite by them [link]. soooo good.'. And there you have it. If the link leads to something obviously dodgy, you could just make up an excuse such as 'woops wrong link'.
A simplified explanation:
Person A -- no connection -- Person B
no connection = no reason to tell them anything or do something that they want you to do
Person A -- established connection -- Person B
connection = can see reason to tell them a thing or two or do something for them or follow them
A simplified example:
Why would you vote for the Sport Political Party? Because you also have an interest in sport.
Voter -- no connection -- Policical Party
no connection = no reason to vote for that party
Voter -- established connection -- Political Party
connection = can see reason to vote for that party
So there you have it. I hope that this can give those who are or aren't interested in SE something to think about.
RE: My Method of SE - stephanekechi - 05-05-2014
it´s pretty sur right
RE: My Method of SE - TheDeceptionist - 05-05-2014
This "method" circles around the infinite power of "rapport".
RE: My Method of SE - Isaac - 05-06-2014
In my honest opinion this is nothing more than common sense. Social Engineering in general is nothing more than lying in clever ways. Though I don't think something like this requires a tutorial.
RE: My Method of SE - Idyll - 05-06-2014
(05-06-2014, 10:19 AM)XrpmX13 Wrote: In my honest opinion this is nothing more than common sense. Social Engineering in general is nothing more than lying in clever ways. Though I don't think something like this requires a tutorial.
@XrpmX13 I disagree, social engineering is not just 'lying in clever ways'. And also this is not a tutorial, its just an explanation of a method in SE. But thanks anyways.
RE: My Method of SE - TheBlindHatter - 05-08-2014
@Idyll
the tactic is called empathy... The same basis as all SE be it aggressive or empathetic humans have a general tendency to trust those who appear non threatening and open.
A good explanation however what we say is only 7% of the impression we leave on people. Keep in mind your body language, tone of voice, and other physical ques/responses make up the other 93% and these can be much more difficult to fake if you don't have the experience. Don't try to fake an emotion unless you know you can without a doubt or it can blow your entire SE and make you look fake (which you would be). I'll make a thread about the keys to physical deception in the near future.
Keep up the good work
