Any fans of social engineering here?

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Does anyone here take an interest in social engineering? For those that don't know, social engineering is the science of manipulating and predicting human behaviour. Kind of like a practical use for anthropology. I have several books on the topic and find getting people to tell me or do anything quite easy after you get used to microexpressions and have the right know how. Anyone else here have an interest in, not normal but, practical social skills? Furthermore anyone care to share exploits?

I think I tend to view people by their behavioral patterns so I can predict how they'll act in certain situations. It helps me to figure them out and attempt to get along with them a little better than I probably would if I just did my own thing.

Yeah, I suppose that's along the right lines. I first got into SE because I didn't understand people. It breaks social interaction down into quantifiable science. And along the way I naturally picked up a few tips, tricks and habits that help with said social interaction.

I have an interest in social engineering from a different perspective. My job involves working with trainees in a virtual call center, and I have to find ways to stop the phishers from getting customers' info out of those trainees. It's frightening how easily they give stuff away sometimes.

Wrong.

Vituð ér enn, eða hvat?

I know what you're talking about, I know how much damage even a little information, coupled with an understanding of human nature and a little timing, can do. I'm guessing you work as an infiltration tester or something similar, you get hired to tell people what other people can do with what they know so they don't go letting black hats into sensitive data right?

Actually, I coach them during the transition from the training environment into actual production, so phishing is just one of the things I have to teach them about, but it's the one thing with the potential to do the most damage.

I'm the person who has to hold the new agent's (virtual) hand as they get their first call and immediately forget everything they know

answer: yes very interested... but... no never knew the term...

thats been true of me for a while though... for example I thought I invented algebra as well as exponents until I went to class and they explained what I figured out was already defined.

however, I LOOOOOOVE any engineering especially abstract engineering: Industrial, Corporate, Social, etc... however I think things lilke signal, audio, and even some physical machines and stuff are great too I just haven't focused on them as much...

Actually this topic makes me realize... there is a center to my interests! its engineering!! !! w00t!

ok so back on topic...

as a kid, being both bullied and being an outcast I stared to study why the kids around me were popular or not popular... I picked apart specific behaviors and actions and figured what what was causing the rest of the herd to accept or reject peers... as I got older the scope grew and I paid attention to how adults reacted with young people, as I became an adult myself I paid attention to the teacher/learner relationship which broke me down... I remember having the hugest breakdown at about 20 years old as a result... I wont go in depth about it...

Then throughout my 20's the scope has become exponentially bigger. Now I understand the dynamics of relationships, young people, business attitudes, diversity, social interacction... sooo many things... (these things and INTERESTS are actually what I am questioning my ASness lol)

A social engineer could be very helpful for a lot of areas of life, although I would (unassumingly) never define myself as one specifically I would say I get it

Reading this something comes to mind. I read in a book that a lot of people wear a victim T-shirt. People suffer problems but sometimes people dwell on their problems for a long time. It's their right to do so but sometimes a person isn't a victim as much as they think, they are wearing the T-shirt too much.

By never believing the worst in yourself until it's been proven as true I think you can socially engineer success. A lot of people never get too much success because they think uncomplimentary things about themselves. It's important to balance out this optimism with realism. We can all achieve great things but not all the same things. We all also see things differently.

We all suffer setbacks. The challenge is to learn which unpleasant things that have happened were due to our mistakes and which were due to other people's. If it's your own you need to take responsibility but not let it stop you being successful. If it's someone else's mistake you need to try to understand why they made it, first trying to see the best in them, and if they would continue to make the mistake and aren't sorry, avoid them or only talk to them as little as you have to.

I would think a beautiful example of social engineering could be the corporate culture of modern businesses like google & zappos.

These are both companies that through the study of the culture of the corporate world and what things are happening in the up-and-coming generation have carved out unique experiences and bright workplace social environments.

google is known for its celebration of creative success... they mandate that employees are supposed to spend time doing something creative for the company and not spend too much time on their normal work... They are injecting things into the social networks that create an environment that fits the innovation of the business... This is a great example of big scale social engineering

zappos is a shoe company headquarted in las vegas that hires young people (and the young at heart) and serves drinks at company parties... One of their values is being a little weird... as a result they have a bright and friendly feeling, it seems modern and special when you interact with customer service reps. and they have an innovative concept of customer experience... This is a great example of making social engineering into something that feeds directly to the customer.

I should read books on the topic I bet they are fun!

May I take your comments, dude? Is that how they speak? Clever stuff.

Sure

I don't think its quite how they speak, but it is a part of how they control the social structures of their workplaces. They re-design the rules of etiquette in order to open up some otherwise closed paths to success and it fascinates the heck out of me.

These two examples you've given are quite apt, but that leans more towards the heinous and sinful field of sociology; young people like other young people etc. Social engineering is about interpreting peoples behaviour, predicting their actions and reactions and making good use of the data you can harvest through this. This is generally why many people who are good at social engineering(the textbook example is Kevin Mitnick) tend to turn black hat and start stealing. I, as an aspie, find social engineering interesting because people are confusing and using the skills I've learnt I have a quantifiable way of measuring and predicting human response(and a collection of profiling spreadsheets on everyone I know for that matter) which is one of the more white hat applications I've come across.

I'm actually surprised that only a few people seem to have heard of SE here, as I find it such a useful skill. Perhaps someone should spread it around more, after all, if we can't have normal social skills, we might as well have useful ones.

Social engineering is one of the primary tools used to spread computer viruses.

Tools have many uses, A hammer can be used to pin up a banner as much as it can be used to pin up a person.

I wouldn't call it sinful, I think its building a culture to specifications based on past knowledge and experimentation.

A more sinful example would be a sales force who is kept excited but unaware fully of the unethical part of the product they sell.

I love paying attention the to dynamics of social behavior, its why I cope so well and how I manage to fit in without masking my behavior so much. By understanding the motives behind people as well as the fact that people are not inherently good or bad yet simply wired to survive you can find ways to interact with them that while perhaps slightly manipulative ends up accomplishing the best result for all parties.

The tough part comes in to play when you want to maintain sincerity and integrity while using the things that you can learn from people. I think, like you mention, that a lot of people who understand motives and behaviors think that it is a way to take advantage. Unfortunately for them they don't understand that its possible to be more effective if you use that level of understanding and research to make interaction more effective...

Of course... if I could manipulate people to shut the heck up and stop trying to put small talk in the middle of my productive conversations then I would truly be effective!