Social Engineering

The running theme of all these things is that your expression of liking must be genuine. My good friend Robin Dreeke accomplishes this by looking at each person as his or her own reality TV show. He doesn't have to like your life, or the things you do, but he has enough interest to want to find out the plot and how it unfolds. That desire to find o

In other words, if the sympathy or assistance request is handled properly, the person being asked will have a strong emotional connection to that request. That connection can make it next to impossible for the person to refuse to help.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word concede as follows: “Admit or agree that something is true after first denying or resisting it.” Remember, the very definition of influence is that if a person feels ownership of an idea, then that person most likely thinks it's a great idea! Concession will help the target make it “their idea” to take

A time constraint is simply a constraint on your time during any engagement with another person. Adding the word artificial to it just means you are making up that time constraint—in truth, there is no constraint related to time. Why is this important to you as a social engineer? Think about the fourth question you need to answer for your targets:

Another chemical that our brains produce is dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced by the brain and released during moments of pleasure, happiness, and stimulation. Blend oxytocin with dopamine, and you have a social engineering brain cocktail that can open any door you want. Dopamine and oxytocin are released in our brains during intima

My point is that your pretext should be based on facts, emotions, and knowledge that you already possess or can easily fake.

Take time to read this chapter over a few times and pick one principle at a time to work on. Try using that principle at the office or with your family in a benign way. As you master its use, it will become part of your communication arsenal—another arrow in the quiver to make you an even better social engineer.

If you open the door for someone as they walk toward an entryway that has two sets doors to pass through, what will they almost always do? Hold the second door open for you. This is reciprocal altruism. How can you apply this to social engineering? If you give something of value to a person, he or she will feel indebted and want to repay that gift.

Another factor in the successful application of this principle is having some knowledge about the topic and the ability to ask good questions.