Social engineering - what's that? How is it possible to abuse human weakness with carefully crafted lies?

1. Social Engineering – what’s that?
22. Deutscher Perl & Raku Workshop 2020 in Erlangen
Sören Laird Sörries @ Frankfurt.pm

2. Two motivation hypotheses
●
People act exclusively to maximise their self-
interest. Even when it looks as if they
support others, that is still an extension of
acting in their own interest.
●
People act to maximise the good of their fellow
humans. They do that with more effort when
they are being asked to do so. They understand
feelings and needs of their fellow humans, and
are thus motivated to support others.

3. Two motivation hypotheses
●
People act exclusively to maximise their self-
interest. Even when it looks as if they
support others, that is still an extension of
acting in their own interest.
●
People act to maximise the good of their fellow
humans. They do that with more effort when
they are being asked to do so. They understand
feelings and needs of their fellow humans, and
are thus motivated to support others.

4. Hacking
Learn about a System to the extend of…
●
spotting shortcuts whithin
●
And use them
==> be more effektive than inside the system

5. Motivation Recap
●
People want to help their fellow human beings.
●
Even more so, when they are being asked to do
so.
●
And again more so, when they understand the
feelings and needs of other people.

6. People have Operation Modes
●
Even the smartest and most alert people
are not smart and alert all of the time.
●
People make mistakes.
●
...

7. People make more mistakes when
they...
●
Have recently eaten, and try to be active
●
Haven’t had a good night’s sleep or not slept
enough
●
Are under the influence of medication or other
drugs

8. People make more mistakes when
they...
●
Worry about money
●
Grieve, have strong feelings or are distracted
by emotional pressure
●
Are being distracted by noise, sudden
movements or alarm signals in their vicinity

9. People have Operation Times
●
People are smart and strong-willed at day time.
(for a given measure of smart and strong-
willed)
●
But not at night time.
●
There are even variations throughout the day

10. But it’s Elementary, Watson!
●
People want to help their fellow humans
●
People may be clever and strong-willed...
●
Depending on inside and outside conditions,
they aren’t

11. Action Plan
●
Explain your need for help with audacity, in a
convincing tone and manner
●
Exploit moments of low cleverness and low will
power
●
Use or create outside conditions that benefit
quick and shallow decisions

12. Live Demo
●
Live Demo

13. ●
Linux (1991...), Perl (1998…)
●
German Perl Workshops (2000...)
●
Frankfurt.pm (~2001…), 3 kids, and 2 cats.
●
Communication, Clean Power Professional
●
Cloud Architect, Cybersecurity Consultant
●
Data Science, Certified FinTech Professional
●
Unified Communications & Collaboration Consultant
Sören Laird Sörries