Recently several employees were victims of a phishing email that appeared to originate from the company president. The email claimed the employees would be disciplined if they did not click on a malicious link in the message.
Which of the following principles of social engineering made this attack successful?
A. Authority
B. Spamming
C. Social proof
D. Scarcity
The key word in the question here is “disciplined”. Meaning, using power to persuade the victim of the phishing email to click on the link. The email is using higher authority power.