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Security Operations · Foundational

Social Engineering Principles

The psychological levers attackers use to persuade victims, such as authority, urgency, scarcity, trust and consensus.

Definition

Commonly cited principles include authority (impersonating someone in charge), intimidation, consensus or social proof (everyone else did it), scarcity, familiarity or liking, trust, and urgency. Recognizing these cues helps users identify manipulation. Exams often ask which principle a scenario exploits.

Example

An email claiming "the CEO needs these gift cards in the next 30 minutes" uses authority and urgency.

Exam tip

Read the scenario for the dominant pressure - a deadline is urgency, a fake executive is authority.

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