Counter Elicitation: Identifying Elicitation Attempts

Having just concluded another iteration of the Elicitation Toolbox Training course, I felt compelled to share insights on a topic that is equally critical yet often less highlighted: counter elicitation.

This blog post aims to delve into one such technique of counter elicitation, to identify when someone is attempting to extract sensitive information via elicitation.

Introduction to Elicitation

Imagine walking through a bustling city street, amidst the noise, the people, and the chaos, someone asks you for directions. A simple exchange, right? Now, picture this interaction slightly altered - the person isn't just asking for directions. Unbeknownst to you, they're subtly probing for more: your place of work, your routines, maybe even bits of personal information you didn't intend to share. This, in its essence, is elicitation: the art of extracting information without raising suspicion, often without the target even realizing they're giving away more than they intended. In the realm of intelligence and corporate espionage, elicitation is not just about idle chatter; it's a skilled technique used to gather valuable information. It’s a method that blends into the innocuous fabric of everyday conversations, making it both potent and, frankly, quite intriguing.

Elicitation is not simply asking a series of questions, but instead capitalizing on human behavior to get someone to expose sensitive information, often without asking questions and without the subject realizing they have just divulged something they shouldn’t have. An example of how elicitation works could be:

     Sarah: I don’t know how you live in this town, the crime here is terrible

     Tom: Its really not that bad

     Sarah: You’re dressed really nicely and you don’t see crime, I assume that’s because you live in the nicest part of town which obviously doesn’t see crime

     Tom: I live in XXX part of town, which obviously isn’t the super nice part.

     Sarah: Come on, I looked into moving to XXX when i first moved here and couldn’t because I only make $35k and the medium income of that part of town is $150k according to the internet.

     Tom: That can’t be true, I only make $70k and actually make more than either of my neighbors who have been living there for years.

Looking at the above example, which in real life may have continued for much longer, Sarah never asks a question but still gets Tom to divulge things he probably wouldn’t have if she had simply directly asked. Further, if the above was sandwiched within a larger conversation of idle small talk, Tom likely wouldn’t even realize he had given up personal things.

Elicitation is a winding process and not a direct question, which makes countering it tricky, because at what point do you realize whats going on?

Introduction to Counter Elicitation

But what happens when the tables turn, and you sense that seemingly benign conversation veering into the territory of elicitation? Here, we introduce the concept of counter elicitation - the strategic art of recognizing and deflecting these probing attempts to safeguard sensitive information. Counter elicitation isn't about clamming up or becoming paranoid of every conversational thread (though this would suffice to hinder elicitation) but about being aware and tactically steering interactions in a way that protects your information without alerting the inquirer.

Recognizing Persistent Probing

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