CAPEC-428: Influence via Modes of Thinking

Description
The adversary tailors their communication to the language and thought patterns of the target thereby weakening barriers or reluctance to communication. This method is a way of building rapport with a target by matching their speech patterns and the primary ways or dominant senses with which they make abstractions. This technique can be used to make the target more receptive to sharing information because the adversary has adapted their communication forms to match those of the target. When skillfully employed, the target is likely to be unaware that they are being manipulated.
Extended Description

Pretexting can also be used to impersonate people in certain jobs and roles that they never themselves have done. In simple form, these attacks can be leveraged to learn information about a target. More complicated iterations may seek to solicit a target to perform some action that assists the adversary in exploiting organizational weaknesses or obtaining access to secure facilities or systems. Pretexting is not a one-size fits all solution. Good information gathering techniques can make or break a good pretext. A solid pretext is an essential part of building trust. If an adversary’s alias, story, or identity has holes or lacks credibility or even the perception of credibility the target will most likely catch on.

Severity :

Low

Possibility :

Type :

Detailed
Relationships with other CAPECs

This table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern.

Skills required

This table shows the other attack patterns and high level categories that are related to this attack pattern.

Taxonomy mappings

Mappings to ATT&CK, OWASP and other frameworks.

Related CWE

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