Now here's a gem in the rough :)
If you're savvy with the buzz-word "social engineering," then you may be able to associate this term with techniques that may allow an individual, such as yourself, to inspire another individual or groups of individuals into being influenced in some way. I'm not suggesting that you can already start to experience changes that feel new and exciting, inside, right now...but while we're here, let's go ahead and take a moment to picture it.
One of the more advanced techniques leveraged by a social engineer is known as "NLP." NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. Before we touch on some of the more powerful techniques found in NLP, let's simply begin by clearly defining how the words "Neuro," "Linguistic," and "Programming" should be framed for this exercise. What you may find when you internalize the words, "Neuro," "Linguistic," and "Programming" is a new way to effectively communicate with others on a very consistent and very deep level. More on that in a sec...
Before we even go there, it may be important to give ya a little taste of this communication style and some of the patterns found within. Are you ready?
"Okay, I'm going to share a secret with you. First of all, it's imperative that you don't trust anything the author of this post says. Highly imperative. Even if you ran across someone that knew the author, they'd probably say, "Don't trust that person." You may be asking yourself, "Why can't I trust the author? I can trust whomever I want and how dare you insinuate whom I should or should not trust!" Your choice either way...changing your mind is something I'm not suggesting I'm going to do, it may simply happen on its own.
For the second part of this secret, it's important to note that the author of this post has an underlying agenda. An underlying agenda to influence change. It's not to say that I'm not going to suggest that you continue to read further and further down this proverbial rabbit hole that you've found yourself looking down. What would happen if you peered a little further?
Notice how your conscious mind responds to each and every word as you start to focus on this post, similar to how guitar strings may look, sound, and/or feel when plucked to produce a favorite song. Notice how your conscious mind may start to respond by firing new thoughts in parallel, comparable to fireworks or maybe like handfuls of seeds thrown into rich soil. These seeds may grow to a point in which they can start to branch out and ultimately lead to changes that you can start to harvest and allow yourself to experience now. Of course, this is all in an effort to elicit new and positive changes in not only your own life but in others' lives as well. Notice how your conscious mind can slip in and out of unconsciousness like the deep beat of drums as you imagine the resonance of guitar strings slowly subside...
Once you can start to notice your own internal dialog or the conversation in your mind, you may decide to influence or change your own emotions by deciding what you want to think about - this is important to note, maybe one of the more important things to note. What you're currently feeling and experiencing inside may actually be a direct result of what you're reading, right now. These emotions and/or feelings could be so powerful that they elicit very subtle or even perhaps powerful physical responses that would have otherwise been avoided had the NLP pattern not been introduced. Ultimately, what you're thinking about, right now...may very likely be influencing what you feel inside, right now...which can start to elicit what you physically do, in this very moment. Pretty cool once you learn the algorithm, right? What could we all start to choose to change...
Let's go a little deeper, really take this opportunity to step outside of your everyday ordinary thought process and try to imagine that your own thoughts are scrolling across a TV screen. What would happen if you put yourself into a state where you can start to actually see your thoughts scroll across a TV screen...Inhale through your nose and exhale from your mouth. Notice how hot or cold the temperature of the screen is as you place your hand upon your thoughts. Turn up the volume on the TV with your other hand if you'd like, so that you can hear your thoughts loudly and clearly. Notice how crisp, bright, and big all of those vibrant, colorful thoughts feel as you remove your hand from the TV screen to get a better look. They should be as clear and pristine as the words you are reading now.
As you can start to see your thoughts scrolling across your TV screen, you may notice how an emergency broadcast message pops up stating, "This is a test of the emergency broadcasting system, be the change you want to see in the world...this is only a test. And now, back to the regularly scheduled program."
That was strange, but notice how your lips are gradually getting closer to your ears. Not suggesting that you're smiling or anything but that emergency broadcast was kind of weird and did I actually expect to smile right now? Huh. Not that smiling is a hard thing to do because how easy is it to smile when you start to experience a sensation of happiness, surprise, and/or an opportunity to learn about something that you may have never experienced before. As your smile slowly starts growing across your face, you may say to yourself, "this is all part of the process and this process may be contagious."
I'm not suggesting that there may be some initial resistance - but notice how you've already started to rationalize how someone, particularly the author, may influence and change your thought patterns dramatically, in a way that ultimately drives the feelings you are experiencing now. If that's the case, could they also be influencing your behavior or even your actions?
If you're really keen, you may even start to notice how the internalization of the words "trust," "happiness," "change," or even "interesting" can influence what you think about now, what you can imagine, what you can hear, how you can feel, and how your body reacts...it's perfectly okay - it's all part of the process. Notice how comfortable you are - regardless of how you arrived into a state of comfort where you've not only smiled, but started to notice how your thoughts on your TV screen can start to influence every one of your moments...even right now. Based on that realization, it may be safe to say that the only thing we can change is our current moment and it starts with what we think about and what we choose for others to think about as well. Let's pick a good TV channel.
Stepping back at a birds-eye view, you may be asking yourself whether reading this post has planted a seed deep enough into your unconscious mind to provide more clarity, resonance, and perhaps a closer feeling to one's self and others in your life...a seed deep enough that you can start to remember, as long as you live...perhaps. A man smarter than Myself once said, "When in doubt, always defer to your emergency broadcast message." In our case I guess that could be summed up as, "be the change you want to see in the world." Now, you have the power to make it happen.
Interesting stuff...what's the communication process in which we can start to influence changes in ourselves and others? Perhaps NLP...perhaps, indeed."
Alright, enough with the frontal lobe lobotomy, let's talk about NLP for a second and then I'll refer you to some good sources that contain a wealth of information. There has been debate around the meaning of NLP, so let's break it down a bit.
The word "neuro," refers to having to do with the mind, nerves, and/or nervous system. The word, "linuguistic," is a word representing a process of dealing with language. Finally, "programming" could be interpreted as a repeatable series of steps to be carried out to accomplish a given goal.
If we put all of these definitions together, stating that NLP is simply "the process in which a series of steps (known as a pattern) are carried out through language and interaction with representational systems with the intent of influencing the mind, nerves, and/or nervous system to elicit a fairly repeatable response" should suffice as an acceptable and sufficiently accurate definition.
NLP is an amazing art of communication and has beneficial applications in both hacking and life in general. After all, humans are simply biological computers. Our 6+ senses or our representational systems provide our input from the world, our conscious/subconscious thoughts are taken from memory, internal dialogs/conversations aide as the proverbial processor, and our emotions/actions are the output. And like any computer, each person has varying levels of security controls that protect it from various threats. You may even start to think, "Jedi Mind Trick?" Maybe...that's a decision you will make for yourself either now or as the weeks progress with your new found skillz ;)
It's important as security professionals to understand these techniques in an effort to identify NLP abuse. I challenge you to catch this train because this is a fun ride that even your target may enjoy ;)
Some key components within NLP are:
- Covert Hypnosis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwRqiccQ97Q
- Understanding Maps and Representational Systems:
http://searchwarp.com/swa291892.htm
- Pacing, Leading, and/or Modeling Others' Behavior in an Effort to Gain Rapport (Security guards, anyone?) A very basic example can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zAgYNKej2g
- Note: It's also CRITICAL to notice and understand your own internal dialog and how the conversation in your head can influence your own emotions. This is useful for understanding how to determine where someone else is in their own internal dialog and how they currently feel. Feelings may lead to physical responses such as those found in
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
.
- Observing the changes that are elicited in others through your own language by observing the target's body language, tonality, the direction the eyes move, changes in breathing pattern, etc.
- Anchors are very cool. Check out:
http://www.abundancetapestry.com/17-examples-of-classic-and-everyday-nlp-anchors/
- Extended quotes can be a beautiful thing and story telling is an important skill to develop. More on this at:
http://www.georgehutton.net/wordpress/2010/08/conversational-hypnosis-with-the-milton-model-extended-quotes/
- Understanding how to change your own approach in order to achieve the outcome you want.
References:
Hacking the Human
What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People
Persuade...In a Minute
The Secret
Conversations with Richard Bandler: Two NLP Masters Reveal the Secrets to Successful Living
The Secret of Creating Your Future
Frogs into Princes : Neuro Linguistic Programming
Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., Vol. 2
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