Facial Recognition Software and Cats

I thought this was an interesting use of facial recognition software, especially given the current state of affairs surrounding privacy. It's a work of art by Shinseungback Kimyonghun called Cat or Human: Human faces recognized as a cat face by a cat face-detection algorithm. Cat faces recognized as a human face by a human face-detection algorithm. The facial recognition (human and cat) was done using open source software. (Kittydar and OpenCV). … [Read more...]

Blind Obedience to Authority… Isn’t

Stanley Milgram's shock experiment is one of the more well known demonstrations of the power of authority.  In the original experiment Milgram had test subjects apply electric shocks in increasing intensity to a participant who was located in another room. Despite cries of pain from the other participant, the test subjects continued to apply electric shocks at the direction of the experimenter. In reality there were no electric shocks, and the participant in the other room was a confederate … [Read more...]

Summer Reading for Social Engineers

It's summer time... Which means warm weather, margaritas, and lazy summer afternoons.  To help fill in the gaps, here is a list of classic readings for every social engineer. Nonverbal Communication Everyone agrees that nonverbal communication plays a huge role in social engineering.  Here are some of the original texts that changed the field of nonverbal communication. Silent Messages By: Dr. Albert Mehrabian Chances are you've probably heard someone say something like "words are only … [Read more...]

Facial Action Coding System FAQs

The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is an incredibly useful tool when it comes to dealing with the face.  Despite its utility, FACS is widely misunderstood.   This post answers some of the common questions about FACS. What is the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)? The Facial Action Coding System is a scientific system designed to measure facial behaviors.  Facial behaviors include individual facial movements such as pulling the eyebrows up, as well as more general facial activities like … [Read more...]

How DMARC Combats Phishing

Interesting infographic from the Marketing Tech Blog about how DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) approaches phishing. … [Read more...]