Mechanics of Digital Deception

This unit introduces how human and artificial social intelligence are used to persuade, manipulate, and commit crimes online. Students examine historical and contemporary examples of social engineering, advertising, propaganda, and bot-driven campaigns to prepare for threat modeling and defensive techniques in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze historical and contemporary techniques of social engineering, advertising, propaganda, and bot-driven campaigns to identify common deception patterns and actor motivations
• Apply principles of psychology and (artificial) social intelligence to deconstruct simulated phishing, influence, and persuasion scenarios and identify indicators of compromise
• Evaluate ethical, legal, and security implications of weaponized social intelligence and automated influence tools, including risks posed by bots and synthetic personas
• Demonstrate foundational mitigation strategies by proposing actionable recommendations to reduce exposure to social-engineering attacks, deceptive advertising, and propaganda in realistic case studies