Decode Social Engineering
What can we learn about ourselves by facing the threat of social engineering? In this extremely powerful episode of The Science of Superpowers, Tonya Dawn Recla and Mary D’Angelo dive deep into the darkness to shine light on some of the toughest issues facing humanity. Mary is a dark web and cyber threat intelligence expert using her superpowers to combat atrocities like child trafficking. She was one of only five practitioners invited to a prestigious Dagstuhl Think Tank in Warden, Germany, to collaborate on threats related to social engineering and the dark web. Mary and Tonya decode the connections between facing our greatest threats and uncovering our greatest fears. Don’t miss this eye-opening episode guaranteed to heighten your awareness and reignite your intrinsic power.
Tonya Dawn Recla
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Science of Superpowers. I am so glad that you are joining us. We have an amazing guest today. I’m gonna let Mary D’Angelo say hello to you all. Hi, Mary.
Mary D’Angelo
Hey, everyone, my name is Mary D’Angelo, and I’m super excited to be here.
Tonya Dawn Recla
I’ve been where we are, well, I was gonna say, Well, we are really and that was a whole lot of consonants there, we’re really excited to have you here. And today’s conversation is deep folks, we’re gonna, we’re gonna go deeply into a conversation. And we’re going to be with you the whole time, right, we’re gonna, we’re gonna pull us out, we’re gonna paint the big picture.Â
Tonya Dawn Recla
And, and we’re going to talk about some things that we don’t often think about. And I don’t know that most people would ever think about them in terms of superpowers, or personal development or any anything along those lines. But we’re going to be talking about social engineering, specifically, we’re going to decode social engineering here today. And what we mean by that is that that’s an area where, where those who are involved in intelligence are very, very familiar with and and the concern is, is that people are able to get information out of us, that without us knowing it, right. And that often happens in interpersonal kind of interactions. And that type of thing, where Mary’s expertise is, is really in working in cyber threats and Dark Web Intelligence type work. And we’re going to tie all of those elements together. And I think I can make a pretty significant argument for the fact that they are interconnected, right? This, this awareness of self that at the depths of our fears of who we are and what we’re capable of with each other. Social engineering is a tool of manipulating each other, and then the tech behind it. All right, how we go about making that happen on mass levels. I think we can draw connection here, folks. So I think if you stick with us today, we’re going to weave those threads together and you’re gonna see this bigger picture that truly does impact not just each one of us, not just our interpersonal relationships, but actually how we choose to move forward as a humanity. So I think these are big issues worth thinking about. With that in mind, we’re gonna have Mary joining us just want to talk a little bit about Mary because she’s pretty freakin phenomenal. Like, like, I get a lot of accolades for my background and how good I look on paper. But she’s got some impressive things here, folks, she was only one of five practitioners invited to a prestigious think tank Germany to collaborate on threats related to social engineering and the dark web. So like, let’s think about this a little bit, folks, five practitioners into things that a lot of us never even get to touch into. And so think about that, when you’re, when you’re considering what it is you want to get, you know, contribute to in the world, where does it you think you can have a profession, and what careers actually exist, right? There are some amazing, fascinating ways to contribute to humanity that you wouldn’t necessarily think of and that to me is what Mary represents here today. So Mary, with all of that being said, thank you again for joining us today. And we’re going to ask you our pivotal question, what are your superpowers and how are you using them for good
Mary D’Angelo
Awesome, thank you again. So I think for me the superpower that I hold is positivity. So I like to I like to look at the world in you know, always try to see the silver lining to certain things. And so for me when I’m dealing with you know, bad situations, or if I if I’m coming into a room, I try my best to bring in positive energy right and so I don’t know how I use that for good though, is mostly with my work because I work with darker for intelligence. So the really deep, dark ugly parts of the Internet where there’s you know, written with crime, and it could be very, you know, very depressing, extremely negative to dwell on that. But I try to you know, come into it with as much of a good energy positivity so that we can actually use the intelligence for real good.
Tonya Dawn Recla
That’s powerful, especially, folks, if you if you know, is you may know, or may not know, Mary actually dedicates a lot of her time to an organization specifically design you heard my interview with Chris had naggy with his organization you’re still working with them right I don’t want to use him for fabulous the innocent lives foundation right stopping child predators online right? This is what she’s she’s working with. And she comes to the show going on my superpowers actually positivity, right not necessarily what we would expect from a career and a profession in some of those reaches and I love the juxtaposition that you’re able to hold that and see the importance of holding that as you engage in this work not just for yourself and your own health and well being and sanity. I’ve I’ve walked that walk. I remember that kind of came into my awareness and I was still an agent and I remember at times in meetings it was like I was I was almost like split personalities. I had this one going like like humming tunes in my head and be like No, no, it’s like Get, take deep breaths take deep breaths and the other one engaging in the energetics of the room, right and the and the the density of the room and the paranoia that, that sometimes these things kind of inculcated in us. And so, so I love that that juxtaposed reality and you wouldn’t necessarily expect it. But but it makes sense. And we appreciate that it benefits not just you, but also the fact that when when people are working in these spaces, we want them to have a high degree of self management and awareness and maintenance and an ability to hold a space that may be different than what they’re looking at. Right, that allows you probably to be a really keen analyst of what you’re seeing, as opposed to being swayed by what you’re seeing. Right?Â
Mary D’Angelo
Definitely.
Tonya Dawn Recla
So today’s conversation is a big one, right? In terms of how we’re wanting to tie all these things together, because, you know, you work with, with sort of the underworld, right, which isn’t necessarily social engineering, but but they’re all interconnected, right, we have these social engineering techniques and tactics which have, and then the, and then the tech behind it. And it’s back in the news in a really big way, not coincidentally, here recently, in terms of hacking and information that’s being disseminated and used and all of the various ways that our lives can be infiltrated, if you will, and disrupted because of this advanced tech that we’ve now introduced to our society, in ways that perhaps we could have thought a little bit more about longitudinal situations, and perhaps, there was an inevitability that this was going to happen. So as you are scouring the dark web and stuff, describe it a day in the life like what is what is it that you’re, you’re doing what is it your what would you say your purpose is in getting involved in in these, this type of profession.
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