What is social engineering?

A question not often asked, I must say. Social Engineering is an art, a tactic, a strategy, a state of mind, a practice. Social Engineering is an accomplishment, legal, illegal, difficult and easy. Social engineering is an act, a play, a show, a drama. Social Engineering can gain you access to very private information or to public events. Social Engineering is a skill, a technique, a hobby, and a profession.

All of the above can be used to describe this gift we call Social Engineering. Each and every one of them can be true or untrue. The natural knack to engineer a situation and to manipulate your surroundings and those surrounding you at the same time can be described as Social Engineering. The use of words, movement, thought provocation for a singular or multiple objectives is the act. So lets delve a little deeper into that rabbit hole, shall we?

The idea of Social Engineering can be seen in absolutely every secret agent movie ever made. One of the best Social Engineering movies made actually came out quite recently, Catch Me If You Can. Social Engineering is an art form, so lets study it.

Manipulation, objectification, and control are the fundamentals of Social Engineering. You must have developed some form of gross manipulation in order to effectively engineer a situation. The players (manipulated) must all be encouraged to play their roles (verbal, psychological) for the situation to be properly coaxed into the reality desired. Every aspect, including the radical of independent thought, must be accounted for and controlled. Provocation, whether passive or direct, has to be enacted upon all of the players independently and collectively.

The understanding that people only know what you tell them is key. What person sees can be manipulated, therefore eye witness accounts weigh light in police investigations. A person can think they saw something, and the reality can be totally different. The basics of Social Engineering start with the word social. Proper attire when playing a role in the engineering of a situation can be extremely useful. A bum off the street will have a hard time passing himself off as a doctor when he smells like urine and looks weathered. Although not necessarily required, the proper attire does aid greatly.

The mysteries of the human mind have been locked away for centuries, but its manipulation has not. The mind can mold thoughts and ideas as well as control the medium in which responses are created. Understanding that the human mind is a tool, and usually poorly equipped, is necessary to complete tasks when Social Engineering.

For all of the human brains intricacies we as humans have yet to uncover its true powers. This is a beneficial idea to understand when considering how simple it is to overpower a mind through thought and senses. The mind follows very distinct paths when humans develop thoughts and responses, we call these paths memory. Humans memorize and enact these paths in order to make their lives easier on a daily basis. Whether it is answering a telephone call or writing a patient chart, this is all accomplished through memory and memorization. This is the basic fault of man which allows for the use of Social Engineering.

To manipulate ones thoughts, one must first understand the paths that the thoughts take in response to certain stimuli. Whether it is verbal or physical, these thought paths must be determined and understood in order to be changed, or manipulated. Knowing what your prey is thinking, has thought, or has been taught to think and respond will aid you in changing their perception and rolling along in the proper direction. Understanding that the unknown often brings fear, comfort and discomfort and the ability to create those emotions is absolutely key when engineering a situation.

Body language can communicate to the Social Engineer the paths that a human mind is taking. This is more visible and easily understood when one plays the game of Poker. A bluff has a signal, a tell, and it is from the body that this weakness is shown. The body will give to the engineer all of the required information through the course of the manipulation. It may be a good idea to play some poker and read about psychological recognition through physical response. If your not a natural, you must learn somewhere.

Nerves, scratching, rubbing, twisting hair, tapping, moving, clicking and twitching are all indicators of indecision or thought. Recognizing these indicators and sending the mind down another path is manipulation. Knowing that a person is in indecision and offering the solution with provocation is the act of manipulation in a social situation. Your body will speak for itself when communicating to others as well. One of the very best places to learn about body languages is on something you most likely watch everyday. Your Television. Turn off the volume and watch the news, you will see the nerves. Watch the eyebrows and the face, watch the hands, focus on the shoulders and watch the whole body, know that there is a tick in there. New reporters are especially useful when uncovering body language secrets. Did you ever wonder why when you are taken in a relationship, others attract to you more? Body language. Speak it, do it, take it.

You can be anyone, anytime, anywhere. The only person that can truly doubt you and your abilities is you! The best criminals can convince themselves of anything and pass lie detector tests like they were the creators of the universe. The ability to lie to yourself is very useful when getting into your "role". Know that all of those who doubt you may be trampled through your "truth".

Be who you want, believe that is you, and do what you must. It is not lying until you get caught. As horrible as it sounds, that is the basic principle behind Social Engineering. Your show, your act, your personality, it is all a lie, a show, and an act. Know that the majority of our population is submissive and will bend to your might if you choose to flex it and its believable. Most people are afraid to doubt or confront each other, they live on hope. The hope that the world is as it seems is more a less a blind that has been pulled over the windows of the soul.

"Social Engineering can be performed directly to a single person or to an entire crowd. This massive Social Engineering feat can be seen whenever anyone makes a speech worth listening to. You may find yourself in a room full of strangers and controlling them all. The world serves the Social Engineer, to the end. It is up to the engineer to understand how to speak with body and mouth, how to control thoughts and invoke thoughts, how to change the human perception.

The Social Engineer is not cocky, he is invisible. The art of misconception lies with remaining undetected during obvious deception. The Social Engineer will be below the radar and above it. Don't follow the crowd, hide in it, control it. You are a person, unique, individual, remain that way. The Social Engineer can obtain the most delicately hidden information. The Social Engineer does no real harm to what lay under his thumb. Thus is the path of the Social Engineer." -Nicholas Vela 2004 BlogSpot

Therefore, Social Engineering is manipulation. Usually you have a goal or objective that requires the manipulation. Social Engineering is based on knowledge and awareness of the mind and body. People are not toys, be nice =)