CAPEC-421: Influence Perception of Authority
Description
An adversary uses a social engineering technique to convey a sense of authority that motivates the target to reveal specific information or take specific action. There are various techniques for producing a sense of authority during ordinary modes of communication. One common method is impersonation. By impersonating someone with a position of power within an organization, an adversary may motivate the target individual to reveal some piece of sensitive information or perform an action that benefits the adversary.
- Likelihood of attack
- High
- Typical severity
- Low
- Abstraction
- DetailedA low-level, detailed pattern, often for a particular technology.
Mechanism of attack: Engage in Deceptive Interactions
Prerequisites
- The adversary must have the means and knowledge of how to communicate with the target in some manner.
Skills required
- LowThe adversary requires strong inter-personal and communication skills.
Consequences
- ConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
Other
Attacks that leverage the principle of scarcity can lead to the target performing an action that results in a variety of consequences that negatively affect the confidentiality, availability, and/or integrity of an application or system.
Mitigations
- An organization should provide regular, robust cybersecurity training to its employees to prevent social engineering attacks.
Related weaknesses (CWE)
CAPEC 3.9 links no CWE weakness to this pattern.