Client Profile
A gobal technology company handling sensitive intellectual property, customer data, and financial records wanted to evaluate its employees’ awareness and susceptibility to social engineering attacks. With the rise in phishing, vishing, impersonation, and pretexting attacks, the company sought to test its workforce against real-world social engineering threats and improve its security culture.
Challenges Faced
Before undergoing Social Engineering Testing, the company identified several concerns:
- Increased phishing attempts targeting employees and executives.
- Weak employee awareness, leading to clicking on malicious links and sharing credentials.
- High-risk executives (C-suite & finance teams) targeted by business email compromise (BEC) scams.
- Insufficient security training, leaving employees vulnerable to pretexting and vishing attacks.
- Lack of reporting culture, where employees failed to report suspicious interactions.
- Weak verification processes, allowing attackers to manipulate employees into granting unauthorized access.
Our Approach
To assess the company’s human security vulnerabilities, we conducted a comprehensive Social Engineering Engagement, using real-world attack simulation techniques.
Scoping & Threat Modeling
We collaborated with the client to define:
- Target groups – Identifying employees, executives, IT teams, and customer service representatives.
- Attack scenarios based on real-world tactics, including phishing, vishing, pretexting, baiting, and physical impersonation.
- Rules of engagement, ensuring a realistic but controlled testing environment.
- Compliance considerations, aligning with ISO 27001, GDPR, PCI DSS, and internal security policies.
Execution of Social Engineering Attacks
Using techniques inspired by MITRE ATT&CK and real-world adversarial tactics, we conducted:
- Phishing Campaigns – Sending targeted spear-phishing emails to test employees’ responses.
- Vishing Attacks – Conducting phone-based attacks to manipulate employees into sharing sensitive data.
- Pretexting Attacks – Impersonating vendors, executives, or IT personnel to gain unauthorized access.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC) Simulation – Testing if employees would fall for CEO fraud or fake wire transfer requests.
- Baiting Attacks – Planting malicious USB drives and tracking employee curiosity.
- Tailgating & Physical Impersonation – Attempting to gain unauthorized physical access to secure areas.
- Smishing (SMS Phishing) Attacks – Sending fraudulent SMS messages to employees’ devices.
- Social Media Exploitation – Testing how much sensitive data employees inadvertently share online.
Findings & Risk Assessment
After completing the Social Engineering Testing, we provided a detailed security report, including:
- Attack success rates, showing how many employees fell for social engineering attempts.
- High-risk individuals, identifying employees who were most susceptible to manipulation.
- Behavioral patterns, analyzing why employees engaged with malicious content.
- Security awareness gaps, highlighting weaknesses in training and reporting procedures.
- A prioritized remediation roadmap, providing practical steps to strengthen security awareness.
Remediation & Employee Training
To enhance the company’s defense against social engineering attacks, we provided:
- Targeted employee awareness training, using real examples from the engagement.
- Phishing simulation exercises, ensuring employees could recognize future threats.
- Incident reporting improvements, encouraging employees to report suspicious interactions.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforcement, reducing the risk of credential-based attacks.
- Verification protocol enhancements, strengthening identity verification processes.
- Executive security training, helping C-suite members recognize BEC and deepfake scams.
Results Achieved
Within six weeks, the company successfully:
- Reduced phishing susceptibility by 60% through targeted training.
- Increased security reporting by 75%, creating a more proactive security culture.
- Implemented stronger verification procedures, reducing pretexting and impersonation risks.
- Enhanced MFA adoption, securing high-risk accounts from unauthorized access.
Conclusion
By leveraging our Social Engineering Testing services, we helped the company identify human security vulnerabilities, improve employee awareness, and build a strong security culture. Our real-world attack simulations provided valuable insights, ensuring employees were better prepared against sophisticated social engineering threats.
Need a Social Engineering Assessment?
If you’re looking to test your employees’ resilience against social engineering attacks, reach out to us today for a customized Social Engineering Security Assessment.
COE Security LLC
COE Security is a leading cybersecurity services provider, offering comprehensive solutions to address the evolving threat landscape. We have a proven track record of helping organizations of all sizes mitigate risks, strengthen defenses, and recover from cyberattacks. Our team of experienced cybersecurity professionals possesses deep expertise in the latest technologies and best practices, enabling us to deliver tailored solutions that meet your unique security needs.
We offer a wide range of services, including:
Security Services
- Application Penetration Testing – Assessing the security of applications by simulating real-world attacks to identify vulnerabilities.
- Mobile Application Penetration Testing – Evaluating the security of mobile applications on Android and iOS to detect potential risks.
- Web Application Penetration Testing – Identifying and mitigating security flaws in web applications to prevent cyber threats.
- Thick Client Penetration Testing – Testing desktop applications to uncover security gaps that could be exploited by attackers.
- API Penetration Testing – Ensuring the security of APIs by detecting vulnerabilities that could lead to unauthorized access or data leaks.
- Network Penetration Testing – Evaluating network infrastructure for weaknesses that hackers could exploit to gain access.
- Hardware Penetration Testing – Identifying security flaws in hardware components that could compromise overall system security.
- Operational Technology Security Testing – Protecting critical industrial control systems from cyber threats and potential disruptions.
- Cloud Penetration Testing – Assessing cloud environments for vulnerabilities to ensure the security of cloud-based assets.
- AWS Penetration Testing – Conducting security assessments for AWS environments to detect and mitigate risks.
- GCP Penetration Testing – Evaluating security risks in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to safeguard cloud assets and infrastructure.
- Azure Penetration Testing – Identifying vulnerabilities in Microsoft Azure cloud environments to prevent unauthorized access.
- Alibaba Penetration Testing – Ensuring the security of Alibaba Cloud infrastructures against evolving cyber threats.
- AI & LLM Penetration Testing – Assessing security risks in artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model (LLM) applications.
- Red Teaming – Simulating advanced attack scenarios to test an organization’s cyber resilience against real-world threats.
- Social Engineering Service – Identifying human-related security weaknesses through phishing, impersonation, and other socialengineering tactics.
- Product Penetration Testing – Evaluating security vulnerabilities in software and hardware products before deployment.
- IoT Security – Securing connected devices to prevent them from becoming entry points for attackers.
- DevSecOps & Secure Software Development – Embedding security into the software development lifecycle.