I just ran up to the payphone up the street to try out the AudioBlog, it seems to sound great, and will prove a handy feature when I'm out and about.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Audio Blog
I just ran up to the payphone up the street to try out the AudioBlog, it seems to sound great, and will prove a handy feature when I'm out and about.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Social Engineering
Admitantly being a bit of a coward, as well as being cursed with a consience, I have little experience in this field; however I have a multitude of knowledge and have assisted others in the same. Social Engineering is not all that dissimilar to the skills of a Con artist; the obvious differences are that a social engineer is more prepared for situations thru research, and technical means. A social engineer would research his target(s) and have pages of information that could provide useful.
Section 1.1 – Research & Preparation
Social engineering begins simply with your target. You need to be organized to determine exactly what information you do need. First write down all questions that you need answers to and have an accurate organization of all you need to know, there is nothing more frustrating then to do a whole week of research and work only to end up having forgotten a question, there are ways to recover from this, but they can be sketchy, and unnecessary.
Once you have a clear view of your goals, the next step is to research your target. You need to determine what interests your target has, and what methods would prove most effective to derive your needed information. For example, if your target is a technical support representative, you could pose as a client/customer with technical difficulties, this is an easy role, however it may not give you much opportunity for information gathering, other then some technical data. Alternatively you could pose as an out of town co-worker (for large companies such as call centers), or as a supervisor or investor. These roles require far more research, yet can result in all or most of your information being answered in one go.
It is also be important not to go strait to the information that you need answered, there are few times when this may be appropriate, but in most cases it’s better to use jazzed up small talk, or other questions that may seem useless to you, but will make it seem more routine for your target, and in some occasions, you never know it may give you useful information you didn’t even know you needed.
The next thing you need to research is the roles you may need to portray. It is a good idea to research more then you feel you will need; you never know when it will come in handy. But focus on the task at hand. Have a wide base of information so you have ground to cover with small talk, know current events, keep in touch with the news, read newspapers for anything relevant to the position so you can be prepared with comments like “did you hear about the strike in…” if it is relative to the target’s job or your own, they are likely to know about it, and can end up telling you about it, or you them.
Section 1.2 - Making your first call
Once you have sufficiently researched your target, you may feel that you are ready to call your target and begin collecting information. It is a good idea to review your notes and make certain that you are prepared, but if you feel confident, go for it.
Placing your first call is not an easy task, for most people this will make you nervous, don’t worry, that’s natural, if your not nervous then you have either done this many times before, or you may be overconfident and arrogant. Be careful of overconfidence, if can destroy your call in seconds. Being nervous can destroy your call with the same ferocity, but nervousness is easier to deal with (your probably thinking “easy for you to say”), with nervousness you are alert and prepared, the difficult part is making sure you speak clearly and without stuttering. If you do make any mistakes, just correct them as if you were the person you are trying to portray, and act as you think they would. You can even pretend or envision yourself actually employed by the company you are claiming to be from, do always say something because you think it’s what your target expects, but more because it’s what someone in your position should say.
While you are making this call be sure to be taking or typing notes. Record even the details that you think are useless, the best idea if you want your hands to be free and to be less occupied to read your notes is to purchase a phone tap with an audio cassette recorder. This way you can record your call and take notes later, you can also filter out background noise, or even listen to what people in the background are saying. You can also copy their hold messages while you are on hold to simulate your own hold system if in the future you plan to pretend to be from the target’s company.
If you do tape the calls then make sure that you always have more tapes handy, and that you are using extra long tapes, stop in your local Radio Shack and pick up 120 minute tapes (441-8157). This way your conversation can go up to 1 hour. If your conversation goes on past this, keep an eye on the tape, if it’s about to finish, place your target on hold for a moment, or simply say “just a moment” and pretend to speak to a co- worker, or to answer someone else’s question, use it to simulate that you are in an actual work environment. Then all you need to do is flip over the tape, or if you have already done so, switch tapes.
If you find your conversations taking up more then one tape, or even if very often you are flipping tapes, this means your conversations are exceeding 1 hour, meaning you are either very good, or you are on hold for a long time. However it could mean that you are taking too long to get to your point. If an employee feels that you are too chatty, or that you are wasting their time, they may become agitated; this is a very bad thing. However, if they are the one who is chatty, this can make your task a whole lot easier. Also keep in mind that if you get the feeling that they are stalling you, you may want to invent a reason to leave suddenly, for they may be trying to trap/trace your call.
Section 1.3 – Reviewing your notes/tapes
The hard part is over, but the work is not yet done. Quite often what someone said can be equally as important as how they said it. Also when you review tapes you can also pick up on things you didn’t notice or didn’t get the first time. Quite often you should listen to the tape more then once. With tapes you also can listen to what you said in the third person, and learn how to better yourself next time.
You can make your notes this time while you listen to the tapes, it is better to keep all your records as notes, rather then keeping the tapes, if you have the calls on tape then you have legal records against you if something should go wrong. However your notes would be less accusing to you, as well as being more thought out and easier to destroy. You can keep your notes on paper in a filing cabinet or accordion file. An increasingly popular way (and my favorite) is to type your notes and keep them on a computer or disk. This way you can encrypt them if you wish, or you can more quickly and efficiently destroy them. (Keep in mind, deleted files are not really deleted, you need hacker-like software such as a scrambler to properly delete a file so no one can recover it).
When writing your notes be sure to date them, and organize them in detailed point form as well as descriptions. You may have to rewrite your notes a few times, but this is the best way to make sure you know what you needed to know. Plus this way you have record in case you ever need to return, saving you have to do this all again.
Section 1.4 - Closure
Once you have your information, what you do with it is up to you. But be careful not to give yourself away, you will need to fight the urge to brag about how you pulled the wool over their eyes, or how you fooled them, but if you don’t give anything away then you have the power to do it again unsuspected, as well it makes your information more useful. And always remember one last thing, a computer hacker who never get's cought isn't always free because he's a good hacker, quite often they are smart enough to follow one simple rule that makes them very difficult to find. Do no damage, and no one is willing to spend the money to catch you. For example, if you were a computer hacker, and you write some virus that crash's a workplace server and they lose money, they want to investigate and catch you quickly. However, if they merely detect a break in, and there is no damage done, nothing missing, nothing harmed, chances are they can't justify the time and cost involved in hunting you down. This applies here as well. Do no damage, and it's less likely that they will find you.
Section 1.1 – Research & Preparation
Social engineering begins simply with your target. You need to be organized to determine exactly what information you do need. First write down all questions that you need answers to and have an accurate organization of all you need to know, there is nothing more frustrating then to do a whole week of research and work only to end up having forgotten a question, there are ways to recover from this, but they can be sketchy, and unnecessary.
Once you have a clear view of your goals, the next step is to research your target. You need to determine what interests your target has, and what methods would prove most effective to derive your needed information. For example, if your target is a technical support representative, you could pose as a client/customer with technical difficulties, this is an easy role, however it may not give you much opportunity for information gathering, other then some technical data. Alternatively you could pose as an out of town co-worker (for large companies such as call centers), or as a supervisor or investor. These roles require far more research, yet can result in all or most of your information being answered in one go.
It is also be important not to go strait to the information that you need answered, there are few times when this may be appropriate, but in most cases it’s better to use jazzed up small talk, or other questions that may seem useless to you, but will make it seem more routine for your target, and in some occasions, you never know it may give you useful information you didn’t even know you needed.
The next thing you need to research is the roles you may need to portray. It is a good idea to research more then you feel you will need; you never know when it will come in handy. But focus on the task at hand. Have a wide base of information so you have ground to cover with small talk, know current events, keep in touch with the news, read newspapers for anything relevant to the position so you can be prepared with comments like “did you hear about the strike in…” if it is relative to the target’s job or your own, they are likely to know about it, and can end up telling you about it, or you them.
Section 1.2 - Making your first call
Once you have sufficiently researched your target, you may feel that you are ready to call your target and begin collecting information. It is a good idea to review your notes and make certain that you are prepared, but if you feel confident, go for it.
Placing your first call is not an easy task, for most people this will make you nervous, don’t worry, that’s natural, if your not nervous then you have either done this many times before, or you may be overconfident and arrogant. Be careful of overconfidence, if can destroy your call in seconds. Being nervous can destroy your call with the same ferocity, but nervousness is easier to deal with (your probably thinking “easy for you to say”), with nervousness you are alert and prepared, the difficult part is making sure you speak clearly and without stuttering. If you do make any mistakes, just correct them as if you were the person you are trying to portray, and act as you think they would. You can even pretend or envision yourself actually employed by the company you are claiming to be from, do always say something because you think it’s what your target expects, but more because it’s what someone in your position should say.
While you are making this call be sure to be taking or typing notes. Record even the details that you think are useless, the best idea if you want your hands to be free and to be less occupied to read your notes is to purchase a phone tap with an audio cassette recorder. This way you can record your call and take notes later, you can also filter out background noise, or even listen to what people in the background are saying. You can also copy their hold messages while you are on hold to simulate your own hold system if in the future you plan to pretend to be from the target’s company.
If you do tape the calls then make sure that you always have more tapes handy, and that you are using extra long tapes, stop in your local Radio Shack and pick up 120 minute tapes (441-8157). This way your conversation can go up to 1 hour. If your conversation goes on past this, keep an eye on the tape, if it’s about to finish, place your target on hold for a moment, or simply say “just a moment” and pretend to speak to a co- worker, or to answer someone else’s question, use it to simulate that you are in an actual work environment. Then all you need to do is flip over the tape, or if you have already done so, switch tapes.
If you find your conversations taking up more then one tape, or even if very often you are flipping tapes, this means your conversations are exceeding 1 hour, meaning you are either very good, or you are on hold for a long time. However it could mean that you are taking too long to get to your point. If an employee feels that you are too chatty, or that you are wasting their time, they may become agitated; this is a very bad thing. However, if they are the one who is chatty, this can make your task a whole lot easier. Also keep in mind that if you get the feeling that they are stalling you, you may want to invent a reason to leave suddenly, for they may be trying to trap/trace your call.
Section 1.3 – Reviewing your notes/tapes
The hard part is over, but the work is not yet done. Quite often what someone said can be equally as important as how they said it. Also when you review tapes you can also pick up on things you didn’t notice or didn’t get the first time. Quite often you should listen to the tape more then once. With tapes you also can listen to what you said in the third person, and learn how to better yourself next time.
You can make your notes this time while you listen to the tapes, it is better to keep all your records as notes, rather then keeping the tapes, if you have the calls on tape then you have legal records against you if something should go wrong. However your notes would be less accusing to you, as well as being more thought out and easier to destroy. You can keep your notes on paper in a filing cabinet or accordion file. An increasingly popular way (and my favorite) is to type your notes and keep them on a computer or disk. This way you can encrypt them if you wish, or you can more quickly and efficiently destroy them. (Keep in mind, deleted files are not really deleted, you need hacker-like software such as a scrambler to properly delete a file so no one can recover it).
When writing your notes be sure to date them, and organize them in detailed point form as well as descriptions. You may have to rewrite your notes a few times, but this is the best way to make sure you know what you needed to know. Plus this way you have record in case you ever need to return, saving you have to do this all again.
Section 1.4 - Closure
Once you have your information, what you do with it is up to you. But be careful not to give yourself away, you will need to fight the urge to brag about how you pulled the wool over their eyes, or how you fooled them, but if you don’t give anything away then you have the power to do it again unsuspected, as well it makes your information more useful. And always remember one last thing, a computer hacker who never get's cought isn't always free because he's a good hacker, quite often they are smart enough to follow one simple rule that makes them very difficult to find. Do no damage, and no one is willing to spend the money to catch you. For example, if you were a computer hacker, and you write some virus that crash's a workplace server and they lose money, they want to investigate and catch you quickly. However, if they merely detect a break in, and there is no damage done, nothing missing, nothing harmed, chances are they can't justify the time and cost involved in hunting you down. This applies here as well. Do no damage, and it's less likely that they will find you.
Friday, June 25, 2004
People
In the world of reality, we have one simple truth, and that is that truth is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has their own unique perspective on truth, what the truth is, what happened, and what is going to be the result of it. That does not mean that everyone is nessicerally wrong, albeit many people lie for many different reasons, but quite often a different in people's versions of the truth, are a result in their different perspectives. A quote that I always fealt best depicts this is from a Sci-fi show called Babylon 5. "Reality is always a three edged sword, Your side, Their side, and the truth".
I have been browsing some of the other blogs on this service and have found quite a few interesting ones, for example one person claims to be Andy Kaufmann who has been in hiding faking his own death for 20 years. As you can well imagine there is no shortage of comments claiming that he is lieing, and several more congradulating him. Although I am not sure weather I beleive it myself, one thing kept nagging me in the back of my mind. Quite often people will try to disprove a story like that by saying something along the lines of "On line 3, paragraph 6 of such and such post, you claimed that so and so said such and such in 1973 when it actually happened ni 1974". In defence of this I would like to point out that if he is real, and this story is true, then we need to keep in mind that unlike someone posing as him, who has done research, probably has all the dates and quotes on a web page where they look it up, and know everything very accuratly, the real person wouldn't be researhing their own life before they post, they would use their own memory, and we all have gotten dates wrong from time to time. I myself have misquoted years or dates that things happened to me, and who's to say that Andy Kaufmann wouldn't do the same. I probably should be posting this as a comment on that blog, but I think it plays very much into this blog's topic, so I've included it here instead.
Although in the real world I don't meet very many people, however online I meet several intersing people from around the world. One person I would like to mention is starlitecosmos, I met her on hotornot.com and her profile listed her blog on here (starlitecosmos.blogspot.com) and I read a lot of the blogs she had posted, she was facing an issue where....well...if you want the story, it's best to go there and read it yourself, but regardless she was faced with an issue where a friend was doing something degrading and embarrasing, in public, and when she confronted her friend, her words - intended for private - were broadcasted to all her other friends as a form of retaliation. In a proper debate or argument, this is not only a breach of interest, it's childish. When you write someone a private e-mail, especially in hopes to help them realise a problem, you don't expect it broadcasted, it's not only rude, it's stupid, it proves to most people that YOU have a problem, and will most likely end up hurting you as much, if not more than the other person.
That's all for now, Keep on Bloggin.
I have been browsing some of the other blogs on this service and have found quite a few interesting ones, for example one person claims to be Andy Kaufmann who has been in hiding faking his own death for 20 years. As you can well imagine there is no shortage of comments claiming that he is lieing, and several more congradulating him. Although I am not sure weather I beleive it myself, one thing kept nagging me in the back of my mind. Quite often people will try to disprove a story like that by saying something along the lines of "On line 3, paragraph 6 of such and such post, you claimed that so and so said such and such in 1973 when it actually happened ni 1974". In defence of this I would like to point out that if he is real, and this story is true, then we need to keep in mind that unlike someone posing as him, who has done research, probably has all the dates and quotes on a web page where they look it up, and know everything very accuratly, the real person wouldn't be researhing their own life before they post, they would use their own memory, and we all have gotten dates wrong from time to time. I myself have misquoted years or dates that things happened to me, and who's to say that Andy Kaufmann wouldn't do the same. I probably should be posting this as a comment on that blog, but I think it plays very much into this blog's topic, so I've included it here instead.
Although in the real world I don't meet very many people, however online I meet several intersing people from around the world. One person I would like to mention is starlitecosmos, I met her on hotornot.com and her profile listed her blog on here (starlitecosmos.blogspot.com) and I read a lot of the blogs she had posted, she was facing an issue where....well...if you want the story, it's best to go there and read it yourself, but regardless she was faced with an issue where a friend was doing something degrading and embarrasing, in public, and when she confronted her friend, her words - intended for private - were broadcasted to all her other friends as a form of retaliation. In a proper debate or argument, this is not only a breach of interest, it's childish. When you write someone a private e-mail, especially in hopes to help them realise a problem, you don't expect it broadcasted, it's not only rude, it's stupid, it proves to most people that YOU have a problem, and will most likely end up hurting you as much, if not more than the other person.
That's all for now, Keep on Bloggin.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Multi-Dimensional Reality, As it applies to god.
Of all the things I've ever lost I miss my mind the most, and a Mind is a terrable thing to waste, but My mind is over matter, and the most important matter is that I stop this insane ranting and get on with it.
I chose to contemplate existance in this blog, it will contain my thoughts, rants, ideas, and insights into that which we call existance. For example, how you ever considered why we are here, at first it may seem a noble question, the search for purpose when one has lost all other. Or perhaps simply to find meaning for one's own exstance. When you really break it down from a scientific perspective, the question "Why are we here" becomes a lot less philisophical and a lot more serious. We are not here with some grand purpose, or with some master plan (religeon aside), we are here, simply to procreate and continue the survival of our species.
This all makes logical sence, but then if that is true, humanity simply exists as a process of materials and nothing more. That view would state that we can't help but exist, since the initial formation of the cosmos, there were formed the basic atomic structures, and matter became reality. Eventually certain formations found other formations, and begin a process, that formed, and developed, like a math equation, simply getting more complex as it expands to compensate for effects, or grows to take in new factors. Certain structures of atoms combine, and begin to function together, as an organic structure and we have the beginnings of life. Eventually this process evolved untill it became cellular organisms, and on to animals, and on to humanoids. Then the only real intelligent question left in this case is... What's next?
But this doesn't sit right with me, not simply because it leaves me feeling empty and without purpose, but moreso that the unending paradox of "Where did it all come from". If we take time back to the "Big Bang" and the formation of the cosmos, we see an amazing explosion of matter, which brings to mind the question of, Whhere did that explosion come from? What Caused it? What Fueled it? Assuming space goes on in every direction for eternety, are there any more of them? have they happened earlier, or not even yet? Is our universe the result of a previous universe that collapsed in upon itself, and then exploded? or perhaps a gigantic star, exploding. Whatever be the case it requires that something had been there before that, and something before that, and something before that. Because one constant of a universe without god, is that you cannot create something from nothing. Which brings me to the next point.
God Must Exist. Science's own principles prove it, as there must be an eternety of time in the direction of the past, and the matter had to come from somewhere, there must be a higher plane of existance, or perhaps a higher dimension, and understanding that, something that lives above us in such an existance, could literally manipulate our existance however it may see fit. God may very well be nothing more (or less) then a severely advanced form of life. Picture this, imagine a life form as simple as an Ant, now make that ant 2 dimensional (not by crushing it, but assume it can exist this way). Now you can see all it can, you can see all of it's lenth, and width, but you can see something it cannot, you can see above and below it, It doesn't even understand above and below, it can't comprehend them, it may not even know they exist. So what then? you are a God to this ant, not yet.
So you understand things it cannot begin to fathom. But god not only understnds what we do not, he also has limitless effect on our reality. Taking this ant into consiteration, and the entire 2 dimensional universe he exists in, now imagine that you were more then just three dimensional, let's say you were 5 Dimensional, what I mean by this, is simply that you exist at all points in time, and in the 3 dimensinoal universe, everywhere, all at the same time. Furthering that, you can there for see objects as huge as our universe, and as tiny as an atom. because you exist everywhere, all the time, and similarly, you can manipulate anything. Now we have two factors, you are omnipotent, can do anything in our universe, and the ant is in a smaller form of understanding, the 2 dimensional universe, and since you can effect the 3-dimensional universe, and our ant's 2-dimensional universe exists within ours, you can effect it just as well. The ant perceives you as a god, and you not only effect his world limitlessly, are more intelligent then him, but also exist in a universe beyond his.
This is how I beleive god to exist, I beleive god is a being, that is extremely beyond our understanding, as we are flattened within our understanding of space and time, he may have several properties beyond that which are second nature to him, but far beyond us. Even our very concept of life and death may not apply to him, simply because his existance is different, everything we understand becomes rewritten the way his universe works. Even simple physics, are completly different there. Thus the beleife that when we die we go to heaven, would require a look into the human soal, it's perhaps a portion of our being that exists in this upper reality, that we do not yet fulyl understand, we are born with it under god's design, and it grows with us untill we die, and when we die, it seperates from our bodies, and carries our consiousness to god's realm. This scientific theory is the only sound one I can come up with that still allows for all of the bible's contents to be true, while not disagreeing with any of einstein's theories.
Keeping in mind that this is simply all my opinion, and is based on my limited understandings. I, as is everyone else, am constantly learning, and will probably one day expand on this idea, or possably disprove it and scrap it. However, as for now, I stand that it's the best idea I have.
I chose to contemplate existance in this blog, it will contain my thoughts, rants, ideas, and insights into that which we call existance. For example, how you ever considered why we are here, at first it may seem a noble question, the search for purpose when one has lost all other. Or perhaps simply to find meaning for one's own exstance. When you really break it down from a scientific perspective, the question "Why are we here" becomes a lot less philisophical and a lot more serious. We are not here with some grand purpose, or with some master plan (religeon aside), we are here, simply to procreate and continue the survival of our species.
This all makes logical sence, but then if that is true, humanity simply exists as a process of materials and nothing more. That view would state that we can't help but exist, since the initial formation of the cosmos, there were formed the basic atomic structures, and matter became reality. Eventually certain formations found other formations, and begin a process, that formed, and developed, like a math equation, simply getting more complex as it expands to compensate for effects, or grows to take in new factors. Certain structures of atoms combine, and begin to function together, as an organic structure and we have the beginnings of life. Eventually this process evolved untill it became cellular organisms, and on to animals, and on to humanoids. Then the only real intelligent question left in this case is... What's next?
But this doesn't sit right with me, not simply because it leaves me feeling empty and without purpose, but moreso that the unending paradox of "Where did it all come from". If we take time back to the "Big Bang" and the formation of the cosmos, we see an amazing explosion of matter, which brings to mind the question of, Whhere did that explosion come from? What Caused it? What Fueled it? Assuming space goes on in every direction for eternety, are there any more of them? have they happened earlier, or not even yet? Is our universe the result of a previous universe that collapsed in upon itself, and then exploded? or perhaps a gigantic star, exploding. Whatever be the case it requires that something had been there before that, and something before that, and something before that. Because one constant of a universe without god, is that you cannot create something from nothing. Which brings me to the next point.
God Must Exist. Science's own principles prove it, as there must be an eternety of time in the direction of the past, and the matter had to come from somewhere, there must be a higher plane of existance, or perhaps a higher dimension, and understanding that, something that lives above us in such an existance, could literally manipulate our existance however it may see fit. God may very well be nothing more (or less) then a severely advanced form of life. Picture this, imagine a life form as simple as an Ant, now make that ant 2 dimensional (not by crushing it, but assume it can exist this way). Now you can see all it can, you can see all of it's lenth, and width, but you can see something it cannot, you can see above and below it, It doesn't even understand above and below, it can't comprehend them, it may not even know they exist. So what then? you are a God to this ant, not yet.
So you understand things it cannot begin to fathom. But god not only understnds what we do not, he also has limitless effect on our reality. Taking this ant into consiteration, and the entire 2 dimensional universe he exists in, now imagine that you were more then just three dimensional, let's say you were 5 Dimensional, what I mean by this, is simply that you exist at all points in time, and in the 3 dimensinoal universe, everywhere, all at the same time. Furthering that, you can there for see objects as huge as our universe, and as tiny as an atom. because you exist everywhere, all the time, and similarly, you can manipulate anything. Now we have two factors, you are omnipotent, can do anything in our universe, and the ant is in a smaller form of understanding, the 2 dimensional universe, and since you can effect the 3-dimensional universe, and our ant's 2-dimensional universe exists within ours, you can effect it just as well. The ant perceives you as a god, and you not only effect his world limitlessly, are more intelligent then him, but also exist in a universe beyond his.
This is how I beleive god to exist, I beleive god is a being, that is extremely beyond our understanding, as we are flattened within our understanding of space and time, he may have several properties beyond that which are second nature to him, but far beyond us. Even our very concept of life and death may not apply to him, simply because his existance is different, everything we understand becomes rewritten the way his universe works. Even simple physics, are completly different there. Thus the beleife that when we die we go to heaven, would require a look into the human soal, it's perhaps a portion of our being that exists in this upper reality, that we do not yet fulyl understand, we are born with it under god's design, and it grows with us untill we die, and when we die, it seperates from our bodies, and carries our consiousness to god's realm. This scientific theory is the only sound one I can come up with that still allows for all of the bible's contents to be true, while not disagreeing with any of einstein's theories.
Keeping in mind that this is simply all my opinion, and is based on my limited understandings. I, as is everyone else, am constantly learning, and will probably one day expand on this idea, or possably disprove it and scrap it. However, as for now, I stand that it's the best idea I have.
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