Social Engineering
Realistic simulations and targeted training against psychological manipulation
The Social Engineering service offered by ISGroup is an essential component of your security assessment program. This service is designed to evaluate your company's resilience against social engineering threats through realistic simulated attacks, followed by targeted training to address identified gaps. Social engineering techniques exploit psychological manipulation to gain access to sensitive information or compromise corporate security, making it essential for employees to recognize and counter these attempts.
The goal of the Social Engineering service is twofold: on one hand, to test the organization's resilience against social engineering attacks through realistic simulations; on the other, to train staff to increase awareness and reduce the risk of successful attacks in the future.
Our approach to Social Engineering begins with an in-depth analysis of the history of social engineering attacks that the company has faced. This includes:
This phase identifies the threat scenarios relevant to the company and focuses the assessment on the departments and risks to be examined.
The simulated attack phase is the core of our Social Engineering service and aims to test your company's resilience against social engineering threats, focusing on the most critical departments and business functions. The attacks are designed to test the responsiveness and readiness of employees in sectors most susceptible to such threats, with the possibility of adapting simulations to specific company needs, such as the Logistics department or other strategic functions.
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Executive and Management Executives and management members are often the primary targets of social engineering attacks due to their access to critical information and their ability to authorize financial and strategic decisions. Our simulated attacks include scenarios such as spear phishing, whaling attempts, and targeted vishing to test the executives' ability to recognize and repel these attempts. |
Administration The administrative department handles sensitive data, including financial and personal documents, and is often subject to phishing and pretexting attempts. Through simulated attacks, we test the readiness of administrative staff to identify and prevent unauthorized access to confidential information. |
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Procurement/Purchasing The purchasing department is particularly vulnerable to social engineering scams, such as Business Email Compromise (BEC), where attackers attempt to manipulate the payment or supply process. We simulate scenarios where employees are contacted by fake suppliers or receive fraudulent payment requests, to assess their ability to validate the authenticity of requests. |
IT (Information Technology) The IT department is a key target, as it is responsible for managing the technical infrastructure and security systems. Simulated attacks on this department include phishing and vishing attempts aimed at gaining access to system credentials or inducing IT technicians to perform harmful actions, such as installing malicious software or modifying security configurations. |
The simulations use various social engineering techniques, targeting departments based on their function and the data they handle. Each department is tested against the most relevant threats. The attacks are conducted under real conditions, and the results provide a clear understanding of the organization's ability to protect itself from internal and external threats.
After completing the simulated attack phase, we move on to the training phase, where the results obtained are used to improve corporate security. This phase includes:
The training aims to increase employee awareness, improving the entire organization's ability to defend against future attacks.
The final phase of our service is dedicated to reviewing and improving business processes and internal policies to make the company more resilient against social engineering threats. This phase includes:
This final phase aims to strengthen the company's resilience not only through training and awareness but also by integrating preventive and corrective measures at the policy and process level.
The ISGroup team combines historical attack analysis, simulated attacks, customized training, and reviews of business processes and policies. These activities identify weaknesses and show how to strengthen defenses against social engineering.
The service produces evidence and recommendations that can support information security processes and ISO/IEC 27001 programmes.
You will receive three documents covering results and recommended actions.
A non-technical document intended for Management that provides an overview of the results of the simulated attacks, the main vulnerabilities identified, and strategic recommendations to improve security against social engineering threats. This report offers an overview of corporate resilience, facilitating informed decision-making at the managerial level.
A detailed report of the simulated attacks conducted, with an analysis of employee performance in various departments. The document includes identified vulnerabilities, comparison with industry best practices, and specific suggestions on how to improve operational readiness. This report serves as a basis for understanding critical areas and planning corrective interventions.
An integrated plan combining employee training with improvements to business policies and processes. It explains how to develop staff awareness, strengthen defenses against social engineering and integrate preventive measures into the Information Security Management System (ISMS).
ISGroup's Social Engineering service combines analysis of the history of attacks and the sector, simulated attacks, training, and a review of processes and policies according to the agreed scope. Scenarios and the departments involved are adapted to the organisation's objectives. For e-mail and text message campaigns the dedicated service is Phishing & Smishing.
The Social Engineering service can involve management, administration, procurement, IT and other agreed functions. Techniques are selected according to the role, the data handled and the scenarios defined with the customer.
After the simulated attack, the Social Engineering service can include a debriefing, tailored training and workshops based on the results.
The Social Engineering service does not make the company ISO/IEC 27001 compliant. Its activities can support processes and policies related to information security, but they do not guarantee compliance or certification. Objectives and evidence are defined in the proposal.
Cost depends on the number of departments and participants, the scenarios to simulate, and subsequent training. The service may include targeted attacks involving management, administration, procurement, and IT, followed by debriefing, tailored training, and workshops.
Shape your security priorities into a tailored proposal