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Pretexting

Pretexting is a social engineering technique in which an attacker fabricates a believable story to gain a target's trust and manipulate them into revealing information or taking a harmful action. It is a foundational tactic in cybersecurity threats and is often combined with other deception methods such as impersonation.

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About this video

Pretexting is a social engineering technique in which an attacker invents a detailed, believable story to gain a target's trust before attempting to extract information, access, or compliance. The fabricated scenario functions as a cover, giving the target an apparently logical reason to cooperate. Unlike a blunt request, a well-constructed pretext lowers the target's guard by appealing to empathy, authority, or urgency — making the interaction feel routine or even helpful rather than suspicious. In cybersecurity contexts, pretexting is rarely used in isolation. It is commonly layered with impersonation, where the attacker assumes a credible role such as IT support, a vendor representative, or a colleague. A typical example might involve a caller claiming to be from the help desk, explaining that several accounts have been flagged for unusual spam activity and that they are contacting affected users to resolve the issue. The story provides a plausible reason for the outreach and creates a sense of legitimacy that encourages the target to comply without questioning the request. Defending against pretexting requires awareness that an elaborate or unsolicited explanation can itself be a warning sign. Attackers invest in detail precisely because detail builds credibility. Verifying the identity of anyone requesting sensitive information or system access — through official channels, not contact information provided by the caller — is the primary control against this type of manipulation. Organizations should train employees to treat unexpected requests skeptically regardless of how reasonable the accompanying story may sound.

What you'll learn

Define pretexting and explain how fictitious narratives are used in social engineering attacks to gain trust and manipulate targets
Identify how pretexting is combined with other social engineering techniques, such as impersonation, to increase attack effectiveness

What's covered

Pretexting

Definition
- False reason given
- Hides true intentions
- Fictitious plausible story
Real-World Example
- Stranded family story
- Requests money for gas
- Possible scam
Goals of Pretexting
- Extract money
- Gain valuable information
- Trick into actions
Coupled Techniques
- Impersonation
- IT support scenario
  - Fake spam issue story
  - Builds false trust

Key terms

Social Engineering: A manipulation technique that exploits human psychology to trick individuals into revealing confidential information.
Pretexting: A social engineering technique in which an attacker fabricates a convincing scenario — such as impersonating IT support, a vendor, or an authority figure — to manipulate a target into performing an action or disclosing sensitive information.
Impersonation: A social engineering tactic in which an adversary poses as a trusted individual or authority figure to gain a victim's confidence and compliance.

Topics

Pretexting Social Engineering Impersonation Human Manipulation Cybersecurity Threats

Transcript

Pretexting

One way to trick somebody is by giving them extra detail around why it is you're calling, why it is that you need certain information, why it is — well, fill in the blank. We call this pretexting.

I was walking out of a store once, and somebody approached me and told me this big long story about how his wife and kids were stranded somewhere and he needed to go and rescue them. He had a car to go rescue him, but he didn't have gas for the car and needed money for gas, and so he was asking me for money. Now, I don't know if he was telling the truth or not. It could very well be that that was a truthful story, but a lot of people start out with that elaborate story to get you to feel sorry for them, or get you to empathize with their situation, so that way you're more likely to hand over money.

In this particular case, I don't typically actually give out money, because I'm a little leery about somebody's intentions. But in this case, I had just won $10 from a lottery ticket that I cashed in, and I figured, well, maybe this is a sign that I should be turning over this money to this person. So I gave him the $10 for gas to go and rescue his family. This is the type of thing, though, that we need to make sure that people understand: that this could be a scam, that they might be using that money for something completely different.

Pretext and pretexting

We call this pretext. Pretext is a false reason given to hide the true intentions. When it comes to cyber security, we have this term called pretexting: telling a fictitious, plausible story to gain trust. I kind of like to think of pretexting as being pretending — pretending about some elaborate story to extract money or valuable information, or gain access into a system, or trick somebody into doing something they normally wouldn't do.

Coupling pretexting with impersonation

Pretexting can often be coupled with other techniques, such as impersonation. So for instance, maybe I call up and say, "Hey, this is IT support. We're actually experiencing, with several of our users, a high volume of spamming in their email. We've recognized that you're one of them that has a lot of spam in there, and so we're going around and calling everybody who has a lot of these spam messages in their inbox. We're calling them to fix the issue." This is an elaborate story that I'm developing in order to gain some trust, and the reason why it is reaching out to this particular user.

In this case right here, I'm using a storybook to represent pretexting, because what are you doing? You're telling this long story in order to trick a victim into divulging information or doing something. Telling a fictitious or plausible story to gain trust, and develop some sort of reason why you're calling or reaching out to them, or whatever it is that you're doing.

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