Social Engineering Challenge 1: Lending a Hand

The Thistle's task for this week was to get another player to lend me money. I didn't think it was creative enough to just waltz right up to one of you and ask for a dollar for the vending machine, and besides then my true identity would be uncovered. Instead I took to email. I knew the possibilities of getting a PayPal loan were slim to none, so I had to come up with an alternate plan. I am kind of surprised that my mission this week failed and will return stronger next week. Here are the details:

I decided to use the term money loosely and just decided to get one of you to SAY that you would lend me money. I tried to do this by saying I needed help with a investment project for another class and sent out an email/note to the fellow players. The email/note stated that I was looking for input on a business plan, and asked which business, if you were an investor, would lend me money to open. When I would receive a reply stating that you would lend me this said money to open a business, it would have been as good as gold. You would have lent me money. Also, the note contained three very different types of businesses, so the reader would have to choose a business of personal interest. By doing this, I was hoping to get more insight on the other players and their interests for future social engineering missions.

The morals at stake were the fact that I was being deceitful with my true intentions. Also, that I was trying to manipulate the other players and gain personal information. I believe morally, this was wrong and would have not been appreciated by the players or anyone else. I attempted to prey on the willingness to help others and lend a hand to a fellow player/student. I was planning on using their information against them and to target them, much like many phishing scams or ad targeting. Once I had the inside scoop, the players would have become more vulnerable.

I felt very hopeful during this mission and thought it would definitely work. I learned to never underestimate other players or targets. Another skill I learned is to always have a back up plan in the future, just in case the targets prove to be tougher than expected.

Although I thought this idea was genius, I am very surprised it failed. It was not as effective as I thought. I thought that I would be killing two birds with one stone, however, I did not. Now that I know just how guarded you all are, you have forced me to become even sneakier and manipulative. Game on. Til next week fellow players!

-Admiral Thistle