Security Through Education

A free learning resource from Social-Engineer, Inc

  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Social-Engineer, LLC
  • The Human Hacking Conference
  • The Human Hacking Book
Home
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Framework
  • More
    • Social Engineer Village (SEVillage) at DEF CON
    • SEVillage at DerbyCon
    • The Human Hacking Conference
    • What is Social Engineering?
    • Newsletter
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Framework
  • EVENTS
    • Social Engineer Village (SEVillage) at DEF CON
    • SEVillage at DerbyCon
    • The Human Hacking Conference
  • Resources
  • YouTube
  • Linked In
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

by Social-Engineer.Org • February 19, 2013

A Good Lesson on Reading Nonverbals with David Kennedy

David Kennedy from Trusted Sec had the privilege of going on CNN today to discuss China’s hacking attacks against the US Government and corporations. He did a superb job and really came off intelligent and well spoken.

But we can’t pass up the opportunity to use a piece like this to look deep into human nature and see if the face tells us something else.

First off, the video was online but is no longer available, so lets take a closer look at a few things.

Dave’s interview starts at about 1:35 in the video and we see a really good expression.  At 1:48 Dave shows a true smile:

Nonverbals with David Kennedy

We can see it is a real smile because of the eyes being involved, the wrinkles on the side of the eyes and the whole face being engaged.  This kind of smile automatically puts people at ease and makes them feel sure of the what the person is about to say.  Good Job Dave.

Then he is asked a question, which Dave does a masterful job at answering.  But right after, and understandably so, he must have felt the nerves kick in and he shows a sign of high discomfort at 2:39:
239PursingLicking

Anytime we see someone pursing their lips or licking them we know this to be a sign of discomfort.  This reaction makes sense, being on CNN would make anyone nervous.  Plus he just said his first opinion and the normal doubts may kick in to cause fear and discomfort.

Using this as a baseline though we see something very interesting.  The newscaster starts talking about Obama’s new Cyber Security laws.  Anyone who listens to the Social-Engineer Podcast knows that Dave is not the biggest fan of the President’s laws.  What do we notice at 3:35?

335pursinglickingpostobama

 

If you think this is a copy of the above image its not, take a look at 3:35 and you will see.  He does a few things very quickly but first we see the signs of high discomfort kick in.  Dave is probably thinking, “I’m not on the podcast, I gotta watch what I say!”

338LipPuckerDisagree

 

3 seconds later at 3:38 we see Dave still contemplating how to answer and he now gives us a big old lip pucker movement.  This is not a kiss, no, instead lip puckering is a sign of disagreement.  This is his reaction to the newscaster mentioning Obama’s laws to help cyber attacks.  Notice also the slight look of anger in the eyes and forehead which is followed by this very subtle signs at 3:44

344Contempt

 

This is the facial movement that makes up contempt.  Contempt is made up when one side of our face raises and there can be slight lip furling.  Dave, why did you feel so much contempt?  No comment here 🙂

Dave finishes with another great real smile leaving the news caster and the audience on a high note.

Overall great job Dave and thanks for giving us something to analyze here.

Good work

Filed Under: General Social Engineer Blog Like it? Share it!

PREV POSTReal Life and the Application of Social Engineering Part IV
NEXT POSTThe Beat of Social Media Engineering

Trackbacks

  1. Social-Engineer Newsletter – Vol 05 Issue 58 - Security Through Education says:
    September 2, 2014 at 9:36 pm

    […] if you could predict someone’s level of risk-taking simply by observing their nonverbal behavior? What if you could accurately calculate how much exposure to harm or loss a person is willing to […]

  2. What comes after the huffing and puffing? - Security Through Education says:
    April 20, 2015 at 2:49 pm

    […] on how to spot such tactics in the wild and what to do when you see them. Now, we’ve already spent no small amount of type going over various ways to identify social engineering when you see it. In […]

  3. What comes after the huffing and puffing? - Systerity says:
    April 22, 2015 at 10:08 am

    […] on how to spot such tactics in the wild and what to do when you see them. Now, we’ve already spent no small amount of type going over various ways to identify social engineering when you see it. In […]

  4. Victory Nonverbal - Security Through Education says:
    February 19, 2016 at 4:32 pm

    […] engineers and psychologists may specialize in recognizing nonverbal cues but they have never won a Super Bowl with their skills. Richard Sherman and the Seattle Seahawks […]

  5. Social-Engineer Newsletter – Vol 05 Issue 58 - Security Through Education says:
    January 7, 2019 at 7:16 am

    […] if you could predict someone’s level of risk-taking simply by observing their non-verbal behavior? What if you could accurately calculate how much exposure to harm or loss a person is willing to […]

Become a Newsletter Subscriber

Upcoming Events

human hacking conference image

Need S.E. Training?

pro-services

What’s Going On…

  • Ep. 144 – Adaptive Problem Solving with Ashley Rose
  • Ep. 143- Empathetic Hugs with Ida Ngambeki
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Security

Need a speaker for your event?

Looking for a good book?

The newest book from Chris Hadnagy:

Or any of his older books:

  

Find Posts by Topic

Find Posts by Month

Our Valued Sponsors & Partners

Print EFF
Back To Top Copyright © 2021 Social Engineer, Inc • All Rights Reserved • Site design by Emily White Designs