CAPEC-420: Influence Perception of Scarcity
The adversary leverages a perception of scarcity to persuade the target to perform an action or divulge information that is advantageous to the adversary. By conveying a perception of scarcity, or a situation of limited supply, the adversary aims to create a sense of urgency in the context of a target's decision-making process.
Last updated
Overview
CAPEC-420 (Influence Perception of Scarcity) is a detailed-level attack pattern catalogued by MITRE in the Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC). It describes a recurring method attackers use to exploit software weaknesses.
What the attacker needs
Prerequisites
- The adversary must have the means and knowledge of how to communicate with the target in some manner.
Skills required
- Low skill: The adversary requires strong inter-personal and communication skills.
Resources required
- None: No specialized resources are required to execute this type of attack.
Consequences
What a successful CAPEC-420 attack can achieve.
Other
Affects: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
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.
How to mitigate it
Defenses that reduce the risk of CAPEC-420.
- An organization should provide regular, robust cybersecurity training to its employees to prevent social engineering attacks.
Examples
An adversary sends an email to a target about a limited-time opportunity to claim a considerable monetary reward. The email contains a link to a site which the adversary says is only active for a short time and to the first person to claim it. By convincing the user of the scarcity of the monetary reward, the adversary aims to persuade them to click on the malicious link in the email.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CAPEC-420.
- What is CAPEC-420?
- The adversary leverages a perception of scarcity to persuade the target to perform an action or divulge information that is advantageous to the adversary. By conveying a perception of scarcity, or a situation of limited supply, the adversary aims to create a sense of urgency in the context of a target's decision-making process.
- How do you prevent CAPEC-420?
- An organization should provide regular, robust cybersecurity training to its employees to prevent social engineering attacks.
- How severe is CAPEC-420?
- MITRE rates CAPEC-420 as Low severity with high likelihood of attack.
References
Attack-pattern data is sourced from the MITRE CAPEC catalog (v3.9). Weakness associations link to the corresponding CWE entries on RadicalNotion.AI.
Defend against CAPEC-420
Track the CVEs and weaknesses attackers exploit with this technique, with AI-written analysis and remediation guidance.