Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [131]
Just being in close proximity of two people conversing and overhearing a question will cause your mind to formulate an answer. The answer can be an image or sound in your mind. If a target overhears two people talking about what someone looks like his mind will form a mental picture. If you hear two people telling a joke about a chicken crossing the road, you may picture the chicken, the road, or the whole scene.
This type of manipulation is just the beginning of what you can do. Another manipulation tactic is that of conditioning.
People can be conditioned to connect certain sounds or actions with feelings and emotions. If every time something positive is mentioned a person hears a pen click, after a short time the target can be conditioned to associate a positive feeling with this sound.
One of the most classic examples of conditioning was Ivan Pavlov and what we call Pavlov’s dog, which was discussed in Chapter 5. The question then becomes whether you can use this type of conditioning on people. Although making targets salivate is not on most social engineers’ priority list (although it would be humorous), are there ways to condition a target to react to certain sets of input the way you want them to react?
To find the answer, read the following sections, which provide a few examples of manipulation in business and marketing to set a foundation for discussion and an analysis of how to use manipulation on a personal level.
To Recall or Not To Recall
In May 2010 The Washington Post reported an interesting story (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/27/AR2010052705484.html). The maker of children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec, among other liquid over-the-counter medicines, discovered a defective batch of Motrin and didn’t want to perform a recall due to the costs of such an action. What was the company’s answer?
It used manipulation. The company hired a slew of contractors to go from store to store and buy back all the Motrin in the store, which would then be destroyed. Unfortunately, its plans were foiled when a contractor dropped a paper in one store that outlined the plot, which was then reported to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
On a side note, the FDA did make that company recall 136 million bottles in just one out of four recalls. Unfortunately, it was too late because 775 cases were reported of children and infants who had adverse reactions to this tainted batch, with 37 ending in death. The reports are not conclusive whether the deaths were a result of the bad Motrin or a reaction to the Motrin. That is not the focus here.
This is a very dark example of manipulation, or at least attempted manipulation. To protect this company’s image it was willing to forgo the proper procedures and the safety of children all over the world. It attempted to manipulate the system and in the process people lost their lives. The documentation that was dropped in the store discussed how the contractors were under orders to buy the product back and not mention “recall” at any point in time.
When the company was caught it deployed many interesting manipulation tactics. It deflected the situation by saying the reason for the action was its experts didn’t think a significant risk existed to children.
It followed this statement by a formal apology and the firing of six top executives. Then the real manipulation came in. While being questioned, the company stated that they were not trying to do a “phantom recall,” as it was being called. The company was testing the alleged damaged batch by having the contractors buy it back to be tested. If it was found faulty the company would have taken the proper procedures. This company attempted to use a manipulation technique called diversion, to divert attention from what they were really doing to make it seem better than it was. In addition, it used a cover-up technique to manipulate the thinking of those who disagreed with their actions by issuing statements that the company was trying to do testing to determine