CAPEC-422: Influence Perception of Commitment and Consistency
Description
An adversary uses social engineering to convince the target to do minor tasks as opposed to larger actions. After complying with a request, individuals are more likely to agree to subsequent requests that are similar in type and required effort.
- 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.
- Individuals should avoid complying with suspicious requests.
Related weaknesses (CWE)
CAPEC 3.9 links no CWE weakness to this pattern.