Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [91]
The following sections outline important points about building rapport and how to use rapport in social engineering.
Be Genuine about Wanting to Get to Know People
How important are people to you? Do you enjoy meeting new people? It is a mindset about life, not something that can be taught. The prerequisite to building rapport is liking people. People can see through a fake interest.
To be a good social engineer and to be able to use rapport, people need to be important to you. You must like people and enjoy interacting with them. You have to want to learn about people. People can see through fake smiles and fake interest. Developing a genuine interest in your target can go a long way toward building rapport.
Take Care with Your Appearance
You cannot change some things that may affect your interaction with others. Unfortunately, people can still hold your skin color, gender, or age against you before you facilitate any interaction. You can’t control those things, but you can control aspects of your appearance such as clothing, body odor, and cleanliness, as well as your eye contact, body movements, and facial expressions. I read a statement once that I have seen proven true too many times to ignore: “If a person is not comfortable with himself, others will not be comfortable with him either.”
Be aware of your pretext and your target. If your pretext is the janitor, make sure your demeanor, dress, attitude, and words reflect someone in that position. If your pretext is a manager of a business, then make sure you act and dress appropriately. This takes research but nothing kills rapport easier than not looking the part. Your goal in some instances is to keep people in the autopilot mode that will let them not question you. Having your dress, grooming, or demeanor out of place removes the target from autopilot and hurts your chances at success.
Be a Good Listener
See the earlier section for more details. The importance of good listening can’t be overstated.
Whether you are trying to make a friend or make a social engineering move, listening is a skill you need to master.
Be Aware of How You Affect People
One time I saw an older woman drop an item as she left a grocery store. I picked it up and followed her out to the parking lot. By the time I caught up with her she had her trunk open and was loading groceries into her car. I came up behind this short, little elderly woman and with all 6’ 3” of me looming over her said, “Excuse me, ma’am.” I was obviously too close for her comfort and when she turned around she screamed out, “Help! He’s trying to mug me. Help!”
I obviously needed to think about how my presence might affect this woman during my interaction with her. I should have realized that an elderly woman all alone in a parking lot who was not expecting a huge man to walk up behind her might freak out. I should have come around and approached her from a different angle.
Be aware of how your appearance and other personal aspects might affect those you will be in contact with. Do you need a breath mint? Make sure no food is on your face or in your teeth. Try to be relatively sure that nothing is glaring in your personal appearance that will turn the person off.
UCLA Professor of Psychology Albert Mehrabian is known for the 7-38-55 Rule, which states that statistics show that only 7% of normal communication is the words we say, whereas much more lies in the body language and vocal tones. Try to be aware of yourself, but also pay attention to the first few seconds of interaction with a person. His or her reaction to your approach can tell you whether you possibly missed something, or whether you need to change something to be more effective.
As a social engineer, be aware of how you affect people. If your end goal is all that is on your mind you will affect the people you come into contact with negatively. Think about