Social Engineering

September 15, 2025

Any act that influences a person to take an action

“That´s a scary subtitle! You mean to tell me that you promote influencing and manipulation?” -asked anyone with a conscience- To which I answer: Why are you then trying to influence me to think the opposite? “Oh no, I would never do that!” Well, you just did!

We cannot escape from being influenced or influencing. What do you think every “influencer” out there is trying to do? Not trying to let you be and have your own opinion about everything that´s for sure. It is inescapable. When we agree with someone we are influencing them to carry on with what they are doing. When we disagree we are trying to influence them to stop. We all have to make a choice daily about staying on the course we are, going the opposite direction or simply tweaking our course a little. But to say we should not influence anyone because “bad” people do it is to ignore how communication works.

Now, anyone with any sense of morality will be careful to not misuse the power of influencing or in this case Social Engineering (SE) to take advantage of someone else. Unfortunately many do. This is why it is important to understand the enemy’s tactics to 1) not fall for it and 2) use it prudently and wisely ourselves.

This is a big subject and many have done a great job detailing the ins and outs of SE. One such person is Christopher Hadnagy. I recommend to at least go over his first and second editions of the book “Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking” and “Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking” (respectively). These are books intended for both the uninitiated and the experienced. Christopher H. will open your mind to the many tricks that ill-intended people and hackers use to get into your privacy, hack your information, defraud you, still your money and create overall chaos in your life. He will also help you use this in your favor, not with the intent for you to become the malicious actor, but to help you stay alert and help you tap into others emotions more easily -in an ethical way of course-.

A simple genuine smile taps into anyone´s brain. It opens the door for good negotiations, and good negotiations are the lifeblood of an economy. It is a great resource to:

  • Make you a better researcher (OSINT)

  • Understand how people communicate (probably not the way you like to communicate)

  • Put pre-texting to good use - The art of becoming anyone you want -Think: Mission Impossible

  • Rapport-building principles

  • Learning how to read the nonverbals - You say more than you think

  • and many more

If you’re a fan of James Bond or Jason Bourne like myself, you’re gonna like learning more about these techniques.

I also recommend looking into a couple more fellas. One of them is Chase Hughes, ex-Navy sailor, founder and CEO of Applied Behavior Research. Chase is a behavior expert that teaches persuasion, influence, behavior profiling, elicitation (one of my favorite tactics) and more. Check out this short YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZgUTX3VNQ4

Or if you don´t trust the link (you can, don´t worry, but trust little when web surfing) go to YouTube and search with keywords:

“Elicitation: CIA’s Technique to Make People Talk Without Them Realizing”

or simply “Chase Hughes Elicitation”.

It is a less than 7 minute video that explains the power of getting more information without asking questions. Our brains get on the defensive when asked questions according to Chase, makes sense. But when someone makes a statement, especially if it´s not true, we have an intense need to correct the person and set the record straight. This makes us then give more information than what we were asked for. It makes us feel we´re talking to a friend, and that´s where the magic happens.

The other and last person I will recommend here is Chris Voss. Yes, the former FBI hostage negotiator and CEO of The Black Swan Group Ltd. Chris is the author of best-seller book: “Never Split the Difference”. The tips Chris offers have proven invaluable in my life. Here´s a few of them:

  • Mirroring - Repeating the last 2-3 words someone just said.

  • Labeling - “It feels/sounds/looks like what you are saying is…”. Makes people feel heard much more than when you tell them “I understand what you´re saying”.

  • No-oriented questions - “Would you be opposed to…”, “is it a bad idea if…”, “is it impossible if..”. See how if you get a “no” response you are getting a yes.

  • Late-night DJ voice - Always talk slow, calm, deep voice. People tend to trust less someone with a high-pitched voice.

  • Smile - The power of a smile, even when talking over the phone, taps right into our brains and puts even the hardest ones to crack at ease.

I like how Chris tells many stories of him getting big and small discounts, all the way from his insurance company to Starbucks. Click here to watch a short clip of Chris explaining how he does it: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Dgg-lh9I0aU or search for “Chris Voss How to get discounts on your bills”. Sounds like what a cheap person would do, right?! Maybe, but his point is that you should practice, practice, practice. Waiting to “try” some of this at an important event is a recipe for trouble, so the key is to get comfortable when it doesn´t matter too much. I’ve done this, gotten the discount and then said “just kidding, charge me whatever the cost is”. I’ve also used the discount, not gonna lie. Then when dealing with more important matters it comes much more natural.

So, practice all the time. It’s quite fun in fact.

Give it a try. I’m confident you will get a thing or two out of these experts. If you don´t, send me an email, I’d like to hear why you don’t think some or any of these wouldn’t work. Maybe you should be making a video or writing a book about it who knows.

God bless!

JESUS IS LORD!

Ramon Gonzalez R.