For the last couple months we have had a survey on the website that asked our visitors to tell us if they think they believe someone can be influenced without the use of deception. This question is no as simple as it seems.
Just a couple months ago we asked a similar question, “Does Social Engineering Always Involve Deception?“, and the answer was a resounding YES. Over 60% of the people felt that social engineering and deception go hand in hand. It didn’t end there… Our resident jokster, Dave Kennedy a.k.a Rel1k, decided to argue with us about how he feels that deception is not needed in social engineering.
While he has continually lost that battle, he decided to join forces with Johnny Long and DualCore in making an argument at Shmoo Con that changes the question quite a bit. They presented the question, “Is it possible to influence someone to take an action not with in their best interest with out the use of deception?”
