Deception in the Digital Age

Exploiting and Defending Human Targets through Computer-Mediated Communications

Cameron H. Malin, Terry Gudaitis, Thomas Holt, Max Kilger

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780124116399
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Cyber Security
• Index: Computer Science

Deception in the Digital Age: Exploiting and Defending Human Targets Through Computer-Mediated Communication guides readers through the fascinating history and principles of deception—and how these techniques and stratagems are now being effectively used by cyber attackers. Users will find an in-depth guide that provides valuable insights into the cognitive, sensory and narrative bases of misdirection, used to shape the targeted audience's perceptions and beliefs.

The text provides a detailed analysis of the psychological, sensory, sociological, and technical precepts that reveal predictors of attacks—and conversely postmortem insight about attackers—presenting a unique resource that empowers readers to observe, understand and protect against cyber deception tactics.

Written by information security experts with real-world investigative experience, the text is the most instructional book available on the subject, providing practical guidance to readers with rich literature references, diagrams and examples that enhance the learning process.

• Deeply examines the psychology of deception through the lens of misdirection and other techniques used by master magicians
• Explores cognitive vulnerabilities that cyber attackers use to exploit human targets
• Dissects the underpinnings and elements of deception narratives
• Examines group dynamics and deception factors in cyber attacker underground markets
• Provides deep coverage on how cyber attackers leverage psychological influence techniques in the trajectory of deception strategies
• Explores the deception strategies used in today's threat landscape—phishing, watering hole, scareware and ransomware attacks
• Gives unprecedented insight into deceptive Internet video communications
• Delves into the history and deception pathways of nation-state and cyber terrorism attackers
• Provides unique insight into honeypot technologies and strategies
• Explores the future of cyber deception

1

The Psychology of Deception

Abstract

The basis of deception is misdirection—shaping the perceptions and beliefs of the target audience. This chapter begins by exploring some of the traditional deception methods used by magicians and how these techniques can be similarly leveraged by cyber threat actors to circumvent human defenses. In particular, the first section of the chapter provides a rich discussion about passive and active misdirection principles used in conjuring to effectively disguise, distract, and control attention. The chapter then transitions toward other weapons of deception used by magicians to deceive spectators, such as forcing (choice manipulation); suggestion and implication; false objectives; disarming presentation; and Gestalt principles, among others. The final section in the chapter turns to other cognitive and neuropsychological principles and strategies that are used to deceive and exploit psychological vulnerabilities.

Keywords

Cognitive illusions; Conjuring; Inattentional blindness; Interpersonal deception theory; Magic; Misdirection; Neuropsychology; Nonverbal cues; Psychology

Chapter Outline

Misdirection and the Psychological Principles Behind Effective Magic

Active and Passive Misdirection: Factors Toward Influence by Suggestion

General, Particular, and Post Misdirection

Misdirection Through Disguise and Attention Control

Physical and Psychological Misdirection

Exploiting False Assumptions: Assumptive, One-Point, and Two-Point Misdirection

Misdirection Through Message Construction and Conveyance: Attitude, Transference, Repetition, Verbal/Nonverbal

Misdirection Through Distraction, Diversion, or Relaxation

Degrees of Misdirection

Magician’s Weapons of Deception

Direct Forcing

Indirect Forcing

Magic, Illusion, and the Prevalence of Deception

Neuropsychology of Magic and Deception

Early Attempts at Explaining Digital Deception

Traditional Deception Research via Verbal and Nonverbal Cues

Deception Detection Through the Analysis of Words and Images

Deception Through the Practice of Social Engineering

The Psychology of Deception

Summary

References

“Psychological principles of deception are much more important than the mechanics of physical deception because they are much more effective. They are subtle. They rely upon powerful principles. They are insidious, irresistible.”

–Dariel Fitzkee

“Psychology is the underlying fundamental of magic. Without psychology, there is no technique, naturalness, misdirection, timing, or appropriate patter.”

–Arturo Ascanio

Deception at a basic level is illusory information (visual, textual, audible, etc.) that manipulates and confounds perceptions so that the deceived (audience) believes the false information. Thus a vital lens in which through the psychology of deception can be examined is magic, or conjuring. For over 4000 years, magicians have artfully and successfully deceived audiences using a myriad of psychological and cognitive deceptions. This chapter begins by exploring some of the traditional deception methods used by conjurers and how these techniques can be similarly leveraged by cyber threat actors to circumvent human defenses. This chapter then turns to other psychological principles and strategies that are used to deceive and manipulate. As a whole, the chapter contains a lot of definitions and terminology, which sets the foundation for how the applied constructs of magic and conjuring are used in the contemporary world of cyber deception.

Scientists and researchers have closely studied magicians’ creative use of misdirection, deception, and cognitive illusion. The resulting corpus of findings provides new insight into the cognitive and visual sciences behind magic and illusion. However, long before this deeper examination of the psychological elements of conjuring, magicians were practicing (and enchanted spectators documented) their deceptive craft. The earliest known magical performance is captured in the ancient Westcar papyrus (now at the State Museum in East Berlin), which details several wonderful stories of early Egyptian conjuring (Christopher, 1973). The hieroglyphics describe, among other feats, how ritualist Weba-āner metamorphosed a wax model of a crocodile into a live crocodile, an occasion when priest Jajamānekh recovered a lost hair ornament in a lake by splitting the body of water in two and stacking one half on top of the other, and magician, Dedi, who bemused Cheops by reanimating numerous animals from seeming decapitation (Christopher, 1973).

Contemporaneous to, and centuries following these feats, conjurers in Egypt, India, China, Babylonia, and other countries performed for audiences, mystifying them with a wide variety of slight-of-hand tricks. Spectators then began to document these fantastical performances in drawings, paintings and books (Fig. 1.1).¹ Enchanting illusions, such as The Indian Rope Trick, The Automaton Chess Player, Cup-and-Balls, Basket Trick, and the countless others that have entertained and confounded audiences up until the present day, were accomplished through misdirection.

Figure 1.1 “The Conjurer,” oil on panel painting by Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450–1516) and workshop.

Misdirection and the Psychological Principles Behind Effective Magic

Misdirection is the foundation of successful magic and illusion; a skillful conjurer can artfully cause a spectator’s attention to focus on what the conjurer wants, resulting in the spectator witnessing a magic effect but not the method used to create the effect. Thus misdirection is intended to shape the spectator’s perceptions (processing and interpreting of sensory information) and beliefs (confidence that the sensory information perceived is reality). The shaping of perceptions and beliefs are also major components of digital deception as well.

Despite being the essential factor behind effective conjuring, misdirection is challenging to define. However, a generally accepted definition is “the art of attracting the audience’s gaze and attention to an unsuspicious and interesting point, while a secret action is taking place elsewhere, in such a way that this action is undetected and unsuspected” (Ascanio & Etcheverry, 2005). Another challenge is deconstructing and describing the elements used toward misdirection. Indeed, many magicians and, more recently, academic researchers (some of whom are also magicians) have endeavored to elucidate the components and processes that lead to successful misdirection. In this section the deception and misdirection philosophies and frameworks that explore these concepts, theories, and practices are examined.

Active and Passive Misdirection: Factors Toward Influence by Suggestion

Renowned magician Sam H. Sharpe (more commonly known as S.H. Sharpe) defined misdirection as “intentional deflection of attention for the purpose of disguise” (Sharpe, 1988, p. 47). Misdirection, posited Sharpe, was part of large set of five classifications that a magician used to influence his audience. These classifications are:

1. creating atmosphere

2. inducing imaginary impressions

3. influencing emotions (showmanship)

4. influencing choice (forcing)

5. misdirection

Notably, Sharpe bifurcated misdirection into two types: Active and Passive. Active Misdirection (Fig. 1.2) describes methods that are dependent upon some type of change in movement or sound. Conversely, Passive Misdirection (Figs. 1.3 and 1.4) stealthily goes unnoticed by the spectator due to the magician’s ability to manipulate static stimuli, engineering how the spectator’s mind processes and reacts. Sharpe further distilled these types of misdirection by categorizing the means by which misdirection was accomplished, either through Disguise (to avoid attention by altering appearance in some way) or Distraction (to draw attention away by introducing a more powerful stimuli to act as a decoy) (Sharpe, 1988). Thus through the lens of Sharpe’s model, a conjurer may deceive a spectator through the use of disguise or distraction as defined below:

●Active Misdirection to Disguise: This misdirection describes the actions the magician takes to influence the audience (e.g., authority; natural, uniform, and appropriate actions; use of inference; repetition or recapitulation; audacity) and/or to cause concealment (e.g., feigning; ruse/covering procedure; timing; removal of evidence; substitution of evidence; varied procedure; inspection), effectively hiding the “Trick Zone,” or area that the method is being actuated.

In today’s digital environment, malicious online actors often use the disguise of authority to misdirect individuals into desired actions. Posing as representatives of official government entities such as government taxing organizations (e.g., the Internal Revenue Service), federal law enforcement agents from agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or legal representatives from court systems, these online malicious actors or groups disguise their attempts to extract information or funds from their victims through color of authority. This disguise technique is commonly seen in phishing emails and phone scams.

●Active Misdirection to Distract Attention: A conjurer may use external stimuli to div...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Cyberanthropology of Deception
• 1. The Psychology of Deception
• 2. Virtual Myths: Internet Urban Legend, Chain Letters, and Warnings
• 3. Viral Influence: Deceptive Computing Attacks Through Persuasion
• 4. Social Dynamics of Deception: Cyber Underground Markets and Cultures
• 5. Phishing, Watering Holes, and Scareware
• 6. Seeing is Not Believing: Deceptive Internet Video Communications
• 7. Cyber Jihad and Deception: Virtual Enhancement and Shaping of the Terrorist Narrative
• 8. Asymmetric Warfare and Psyops: Nation State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks
• 9. Sweet Deception: Honeypots
• 10. Looking Forward: Deception in the Future
• Index