Adversary Simulation

Social Engineering

Test the resilience of your workforce against manipulation tactics, phishing, vishing, and AI-driven social engineering attacks.

Discuss an engagement

Objective: Test human defences
Maturity: Awareness training in place
Approach: Phishing, vishing and physical
Result: Awareness gaps and training plan

Testing the human element

While technology plays a crucial role in cybersecurity, human behaviour remains one of the most exploitable attack surfaces. Social engineering bypasses technical defences by manipulating trust, authority, and urgency, allowing attackers to infiltrate organisations through employees, contractors, and third-party partnerships.

SilentGrid's Social Engineering Services simulate real-world manipulation tactics to assess how well your workforce recognises, defends against, and responds to these threats. By targeting human vulnerabilities, our engagements strengthen awareness, improve response protocols, and reduce the risk of successful social engineering campaigns.

Why social engineering testing matters

Even with advanced endpoint detection and firewalls, adversaries exploit human psychology to bypass defences. One click, one conversation, or one misplaced credential can undermine an entire security architecture.

85% of breaches

Involve the human element

Phishing

Remains the primary delivery vector for ransomware

AI-driven attacks

Are increasing success rates significantly

One click

Can undermine entire security architectures

Is social engineering the right fit?

The engagement measures how people respond to manipulation, so its value depends on having awareness training and verification procedures worth testing. Where the question is what an attacker does after someone clicks, assumed breach testing picks up from there.

Social engineering assessments are ideal for organisations that

Want to assess and improve employee security awareness
Need to validate security training effectiveness
Require compliance with industry regulations requiring security awareness
Have experienced previous social engineering incidents

Simulated social engineering techniques

SilentGrid replicates real-world attack scenarios, exposing employees to the same tactics used by adversaries:

Phishing (email-based)

Simulated campaigns targeting individuals, departments, or executives with realistic business email compromise scenarios

Vishing (voice-based)

Voice phishing calls impersonating IT, HR, or management to test verification procedures

Smishing (SMS-based)

SMS attacks leveraging fake delivery notifications, account alerts, or urgent requests

Physical security testing

Tailgating attempts, badge cloning, and testing physical access controls

Baiting attacks

Deployment of USB drives and rogue devices to test employee response to physical lures

AI-enhanced attacks

Next-generation techniques using AI for personalisation and deepfake impersonation

AI-driven social engineering

Advancements in AI have transformed social engineering, making attacks more convincing and difficult to detect. SilentGrid simulates next-generation AI-driven tactics to prepare your organisation:

AI-generated phishing

Highly personalised emails that bypass traditional filters

Deepfake vishing

Voice cloning to impersonate executives and trusted contacts

Automated profiling

AI-driven reconnaissance to build convincing attack profiles

Our tailored approach

Each engagement is tailored to your organisation, reflecting specific threat landscapes, industry risks, and target profiles. We work with you to:

01
Define objectives
- Align testing with your security goals and compliance requirements
02
Select targets
- Focus on high-risk departments or test organisation-wide
03
Customise scenarios
- Create realistic attacks based on your industry and threats
04
Control intensity
- Graduate from basic to advanced techniques as awareness improves
05
Measure progress
- Track improvements over time with repeat assessments
06
Enable learning
- Turn failures into teachable moments without punishment

Deliverables and reporting

Our social engineering assessments provide actionable insights to strengthen your human defences:

Campaign results analysis

Detailed metrics on click rates, credential submissions, and user responses

Risk assessment report

Department and role-based vulnerability analysis with targeted recommendations

Training recommendations

Customised security awareness training based on identified weaknesses

Process improvements

Updates to verification procedures and incident response protocols

Why SilentGrid

SilentGrid's consultants are hand-picked, and between them they have delivered red team engagements globally over decades, including CBEST for UK financial institutions and CORIE engagements in Australia. Their sector experience covers banking and financial services, insurance, government, critical infrastructure and healthcare.

Consultants find 0-day vulnerabilities in commercial software and speak or teach at security conferences. That research produces the custom tooling used to bypass EDR and network controls, and keeps techniques current with the threat actor being simulated. The methodology follows concepts set out in NIST, OWASP, PTES and OSSTMM.

CREST ANZApproved company

Individual credentials across our team include

OSEE
OSCE3
OSED
OSEP
OSWE
GXPN
CRTO
CRTE
CRTP
OSCP

Meet the team

Common questions

What is social engineering testing?

A social engineering assessment tests a workforce the way an attacker would target it: through email phishing, voice phishing, SMS, baiting with USB drives and physical attempts such as tailgating and badge cloning, including AI-generated phishing and deepfake voice. Scenarios are built around your industry and chosen target groups, and failures are treated as teachable moments, without punishment.

What does social engineering testing cover?

Email phishing against individuals, departments or executives, voice phishing impersonating IT, HR or management, SMS attacks, physical security testing, baiting with USB drives and rogue devices, and AI-enhanced techniques.

Do you test physical security as well?

Yes. Tailgating attempts, badge cloning and physical access controls are tested, along with baiting attacks that deploy USB drives and rogue devices to see how employees respond to physical lures.

How do you simulate AI-driven attacks?

Through AI-generated phishing emails that are highly personalised enough to bypass traditional filters, deepfake vishing that clones voices to impersonate executives and trusted contacts, and automated profiling that builds convincing attack profiles.

Can we choose who is targeted?

Yes. Targets are selected with you: testing can focus on high-risk departments or run organisation-wide, and scenarios are customised to your industry and threat landscape.

Is this used to punish employees who fail?

No. The engagement is designed to turn failures into teachable moments without punishment, and the intensity graduates from basic to advanced techniques as awareness improves.

How do we measure whether awareness is improving?

Repeat assessments track improvements over time, supported by campaign metrics on click rates, credential submissions and user responses, broken down by department and role.

What do we receive at the end?

A campaign results analysis, a department and role-based risk assessment, customised security awareness training recommendations, and process improvements for verification procedures and incident response protocols.

Strengthen your human firewall

Get started with social engineering

Protect your organisation from the most common attack vector

Our expert team will help you identify and address human security vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.

Discuss an engagement Explore adversary simulation