Hacker News Reader

HNHacker News

Top New Best Ask Show Jobs

Comment by BurningFrog | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

BurningFrog·

I expect a lot of people would say no to that and report the attempt to company security.

Of course, if I'm China, I can try it with enough people to get several assets.

Also, of the offer includes "we won't kill your grandma", uptake might be higher.

View on HN

> I expect a lot of people would say no to that and report the attempt to company security.

Turning someone is rarely an upfront request.

You make friends with them and make small talk about politics to see if there are any sympathies to your cause.

Ask for a small favor and see if they'll do it, then progress slowly. You only ask them to break the law once they're already on your side.

Social engineering at its finest.

Also common spy recruitment tactic.

And if a little persuasion was needed, the folder with evidence of assets secrets that would turn their life upside down if revealed. Ideally real secrets, but these days made up ones are probably as effective.

Motives for spying are varied: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motives_for_spying

> MICE: Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego or Extortion (depending on source)

> RASCLS: Reciprocation, Authority, Scarcity, Commitment and Consistency, Liking, and Social Proof.

Oh boy, I’d encourage you to work in government for a year or two. I did IT for a government department that eventually wound up being investigated for letting the Taliban use their equipment (all I did was help them troubleshoot run of the mill PC issues FWIW). I personally know someone who had root access to a government land auction DB. Someone asked them to run “off the book” queries in exchange for looking the other way if said DBA wanted to run their own unaudited queries.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com