Social Engineering Task #6 - "Give Me A Ride"

This task was that I was to "Get Someone To Give Me A Ride" but the instructions did now say whom I should obtain this ride from, nor what kind of ride, the point of origination, nor the destination, merely that it was to be a "ride".

OK, it is not an overly difficult task, but due to the vagueness of the instruction, it could be interpreted in any number of ways.

Next, between people I know at school, my family/social circle, and my professional connections I have a quite large pool of candidates I would tap into to obtain such a "ride". I could use either utter honesty to creative deceptions. But, as the task does not require deception to accomplish the goal, I made a choice not to lie or deceive/misrepresent my needs in order to get a ride. This was a moral choice, and I opted to accomplish this task without the use of deception, misdirection, or manipulation.

There are several students that I friends who I could have asked, family, etc.

I settled on asking another student of the school (my grand-daughter) as she had her driven her motorcycle on campus Wen. morning, and she and I drive over to the Havard Square area to get an early breakfast. The only "social engineering" is that I asked her is she would like to go to breakfast this morning, and asked her is she could pick me up at the Emergency Room Exit at Mass General at 6 AM, so we could eat and then she could drop me off at the ER on her way back to school.
We drove from MGH, around the rotary, and followed the river to the Boathouse at Havard, and then she dropped me off at the restaurant, and parked two blocks away. We ate, I paid for breakfast, she got money from me to pay for parking, retrieved my motorcycle, and she transported me back to the ER, dropped me off, and then went to school.

It would have been possible for me to ask one of a number of people I know at school to "give me a ride" but I did not need to do this.

While the "social engineering" was limited to an offer to pay for food and parking, the offer was a form of manipulation. Although, she would have given me a ride either way, and would have been happy to "go Dutch" on the food, and pay for the parking herself.

Sometimes the best way to "social engineer" is to not engage in deception, and rather to merely rely on socially accepted ties or social/family obligations. Members of our family give rides to other family members, and when we cross paths at school, or work, meals or coffee breaks are shared.

By utilizing ALL the resources at your disposal, and deliberately opting NOT to use deception due to having access to these resources is a stronger form of social engineering than the constant use of deception or covert means.

To put it another way, the spy who looks you in the eye, who talks to you, who tells you the truth, and whom you trust, and drastically more dangerous than the spy to is covert, who sneaks around behind your back, who you never see, never suspect, and never hear.

Optionally, I could have asked a fellow student in class for a ride and likely they would have countered with some form of manipulation, refused, or been fearful of a manipulation.

I could have asked student(s) in other classes for a ride, as we have carpooled together before, others have had me shoot modeling portfolios for them, or I got them Red Sox tickets, or premium Bruins tickets, or performed good deeds for them, and they would perform a favor for me, and would not push for details.

Oh, by the way, my granddaughter was driving a Harley-Davidson, Screaming Eagle Fat Boy, and she did not get any speeding tickets this morning, and she did not drive recklessly (which is rare for her).

I felt good about the assignment, as I got to spend some quality time with me at an early breakfast, and I always love spending time with my kids and grand-kids.