Max is a seasoned ethical hacker with a special interest in social engineering and a strong track record for hacking the human side of cyber security. Join him as he recounts tales of impersonating bosses, faking emails and ‘asking nicely’ to successfully hack some of the largest companies in the world. Particular focus will be put on an engagement targeting an international call centre in which Max used social engineering techniques to coerce call centre agents into breaking just about every protocol in the book.

Key Takeaways:
1) the human element is far easier to hack, and has been the preferred avenue for threat actors and red teamers alike for many years
2) it only takes some small talk, a little premeditation and confidence to get people do things that you (and in some cases the client!) think are entirely impossible
3) trust but verify. Whilst every procedure and protocol was sat in a book in front of the call centre agents it was shocking how many could be directed away from it with a small amount of effort. Do you have any way of validating that your call centre agents are truly sticking to their approved procedures?