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 To Write Phishing Emails That Get Clicked
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If you're doing physical penetration tests or testing the human component of security, it's inevitable that you'll come across the need to write some phishing emails. Here are five elements to get a better click-through-ratio (CTR). 1. The Subject is the Headline One of the first things that people see in pretty much any email software is the subject line. This means that the subject line fulfills the same role as the headline in advertising: it pulls the reader in. Here are some things … [Read more...]
Five Tips for Reading Facial Expressions
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Have you ever tried to figure out what it means when someone gives you "the look"? Maybe they angry at something you did, or at something you didn't do. Reading facial expressions is tricky, so here are 5 simple tips to make you a better "face reader". 1. Focus on emotions, specifically the basic emotions Quiz question: what is the facial expression of a liar? It's a trick question because there is no facial expression for "I'm lying to you". This highlights a classic beginner's … [Read more...]
What Are Facial Expressions?
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Facial expressions are a vital part of communication. What's funny is that most people talk about facial expressions, but they don't really know what they are. This post examines what facial expressions are in the context of nonverbal communication. Facial Movements Before we can even get into what facial expressions are, we have to understand the idea of "facial movements". A facial movement is the movement of one or more facial muscles. For example the zygomatic major muscles contract to … [Read more...]
The Facial Action Coding System Explained
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The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is a scientific system designed to measure human facial movements. FACS is an anatomically-based comprehensive system. This means FACS can be used to describe any possible set of facial movements. Originally developed by Dr. Paul Ekman, Dr. Wallace Friesen, and Dr. Joseph Hager, the latest version of the FACS manual can be purchased online at face and emotion. Facial Action Coding System Fundamentals The basic unit of measurement in FACS is the action … [Read more...]
The Truth About Microexpressions
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There has been a lot of talk lately about the idea of microexpressions. TV shows like Lie to Me and Psych include elements based on the concept of micro expressions. The problem is that a lot of the material out there is wrong. I wrote this post to help explain what microexpressions really are, and to help separate some of the fact from fiction that is floating around the web. What are microexpressions? First of all let's get a proper understanding of what constitutes a micro expression. A … [Read more...]
Practical Examples of Deception Detection
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Deception detection is one of those things that requires a lot of practice. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of misinformation floating around the web. Perhaps the classic is "eye accessing cues" which supposedly tell you if someone is lying by the direction they are looking. (note: this isn't true) The reality is that there is no single "way" to tell if someone is being deceptive or not. If you're interested in what deception detection is like in the real world, the June edition of the FBI … [Read more...]
What is Social Engineering?
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When I tell people what I do I get a lot of mixed reactions. I've heard everything from "that's cool" to "that's creepy". This is probably because there are a lot of different definitions of social engineering out there. A lot of these definitions come close to the point, but they usually miss a few key items. Here is the definition I use when people ask me "what is social engineering?" Social engineering is the attempt to manipulate human behavior There are three key parts to this … [Read more...]
10 Principles for Successful Social Engineering
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Do you know what makes a social engineering attempt successful? Much of the current literature focuses on various tools and tactics such as NLP, framing, weapons of influence, trust etc. However what makes a person comply isn’t a particular method or approach, but how effectively you use specific principles. The power of a social engineering tactic stems from the fact that these principles are (often) built into the tactic itself. So if you want to succeed at social engineering, you need … [Read more...]
