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Comment by aortega | Hacker News Reader

Wow she was beautiful, no wonder she was good at social engineering.

That's what everyone looks like in California. Don't think it does much good over the phone though.

Her superpower was her voice, not her looks. Listen carefully to how she talks with that honey-like lilt to her voice. She sounds like the last person in the world who would compromise a system.

Holy shit, Geraldo's hair and mustache are beautiful too. 80s, you had your moments.

To be honest, you are right. I believe the word is 'fabulous'.

I was thinking 'glorious', like a latino Barry Gibb.

I don't think looks are even remotely the most important attribute to social engineering, but I bet there are situations where it can help.

Looks are critical to account for in engineering a physical con. Not that one necessarily needs to be gorgeous, but one needs to be fit to the scene, in a way that minimizes the chances of someone undesirably thinking twice about your actions.

Exactly, you need to be credible and non-threatening. There is an history of a Japanese pentester that was always allowed to get into the datacenter because everybody trust a Japanese engineer.

Looks are critical to account for in engineering a physical con... in a way that minimizes the chances of someone undesirably thinking twice about your actions.

I don't know. Charisma and looks are pretty much orthogonal, at least for some people. The canonical example is Hitler, somebody whom you'd think people would instinctively avoid at work or the neighborhood bar, yet who somehow ended up running Germany.

It never hurts to be hot or handsome -- would a young Donald Trump who looked and sounded like Hitler have gotten very far in life? -- but it clearly isn't an absolute requirement.

> It never hurts to be [gorgeous]

I disagree. For example, if you're made up gorgeous and this leads a security checkpoint guard to notice you, and then they're checking you out and realize that your shoes are unusually fashionable, and then they notice that your badge lanyard is the wrong color and your badge looks a bit crinkly, now your cover is blown — all because you drew their eye.

That's not to say that there is no value in attractiveness — it's just not a guaranteed upside that can be taken for granted as harmless. This also shows up in spycraft, where "unmemorable" can be a very strong asset.

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