I am a glorified office administrator who understands server hardware why am I the only person in this company who gets what social engineering is?
Total stranger on the phone who weāve never spoken to before: I have power of attorney over the CEO of this corporation and we are a customer of yours. Please change the administrator password on the server to XXXXX
My boss, putting on white grease paint and a red wig: Oh, of course! Letās do it quickly so that youāll want to keep working with us since youāre going to be making business decisions!
Me: I would sell you to satan for one corn chip and Iām allergic to corn but before you do this maybe you should call someone who is actually on our contact list for our customer and see if theyāve ever heard of this stranger.
My boss, looking through a selection of shoes that honk when you walk: Oh, but she said that it was very important that none of the employees know what was happening because theyāre making staffing changes.
Me: As your lawyer I recommend that you just call a single one of our contacts and see if theyāve ever heard of her name.
My boss, shoving all of our technicians into a VW beetle: Youāre not my lawyer.
Me: HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW? I COULD BE! YOU SHOULD MAYBE CHECK ON THAT.
TIL everyoneās employee ID at my company is the last five of their SSN.
Boss: On the bright side, itās only the last five
Me: YOU CAN COMMIT FRAUD WITH FOUR
Security firms that are hired to check the security of banks will often use the following tactic: They will walk up to the teller in a suit with their ID badge and a clipboard and go:
āHello I am [name] from [security firm] weāve been hired to verify the security of the facility I need to see your computers.ā
āErmā¦Iāll have to verify that with my managers.ā
āCongratulations, you have just passed the security verification.ā [Scribbles on clipboard] āBut in all seriousness I do need to verify your security so I need to see your computers.ā
āOh okay.ā AND LETS THEM IN.
āSocial engineeringā is a way too fancy word for what it is. I know a guy (not personally) who broke several people out of prison by essentially writing āGreetings, please release this person, signed, whoever the judge isā on a piece of paper and faxing it there. Because no one would have a fax machine in their own house I guess.
not to derail, but holy shit that praxis
Iāve had clerks just give out a whole ass SSN when I asked.
An inspection in 2014 found the password for the Louvreās surveillance camera system was ālouvre.ā


























