Curiosity
In plain terms
A file, a link or a found object you just want to see the contents of. Looking seems harmless — and that “just looking” is all it takes.
Definition
Curiosity is the exploitation of the need to resolve an uncertainty: content whose nature is not known until it has been opened.
Why it works
Incomplete information creates a tension we want to resolve, and opening seems harmless because it seems reversible: you can always close it. That is false for a file that runs, a device that is plugged in or a link that is opened, where the action happens on opening. The technique is all the more effective because it needs no story: no urgency, no authority, no relationship — so none of the warning signs people have learned to spot.
What resists it
Treat “just looking” as an action, not an observation. A storage device you find is handed to the relevant department rather than examined; a link is opened after reading the domain, not before; an unexpected file is checked with its supposed sender, through another channel.
The question to ask yourself
“What does it cost me never to know what was inside?”
The 14 attacks that exploit it
Other levers · Last updated: 2026-09-02.