In a daring display of 21st-century chivalry, hackers have discovered that politeness pays off in the world of cybersecurity. By sweet-talking the c-ares DLL into executing their nefarious plans, they’re proving that you catch more flies with honey—and malware with a ‘please.’

Security experts were left scratching their heads when they realized the extent of the vulnerability. Despite years of training and experience, they’d overlooked the ultimate weakness: the inability of any system to say no to a well-mannered hacker. Turns out, you don’t need brute force when you’ve mastered the art of courteous criminality.

As security firms scramble to teach their systems the word ‘no,’ hackers are already moving forward, reportedly experimenting with other genteel approaches to malware deployment. Next on their list: saying ‘thank you’ to file encryptions and leaving polite post-its on compromised servers.