Social Engineering 
Proven expertise
Our consultants are experts at carrying out multiple customised attacks, just as a real-life hacker would, to highlight your weaknesses and how to address them.
Protecting your data from social
engineering attacks
Despite all your sophisticated cyber-security protection, it could be your own employees who are unwittingly leaving the door open to attackers. Social engineering attacks are a rapidly increasing threat.
Social engineering involves hackers manipulating people from within an organisation into carrying out damaging actions or divulging sensitive information. Our experience and expertise in this area will give your business all the protection you need, so you can forget all your cyber-security worries.
Why your business needs simulated social engineering engagement
From phishing to social media attacks, social engineering involves targeting your employees as a vulnerability within your organisation, capitalising on human nature and errors in order to gain access to your network and data.
Here are just some reasons why taking control of your security is imperative:
More and more cyber-attackers are recognising that your employees are one of your businesses’ greatest vulnerabilities.
You need to put controls in place to counter potential attacks.
It’s vital to know how susceptible your own employees might be to a ‘real-world’ attack, such as a phishing scam.
Simulated social engineering attacks help strengthen internal processes and teach employees what to look out for.
30% OF BREACHES ARE CAUSED BY A COMPANY’S OWN EMPLOYEES*
86% OF BUSINESSES REPORT EXPERIENCING A PHISHING ATTACK**
98% OF ATTACKS ARE SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF PHISHING
95% OF BREACHES ARE CAUSED BY HUMAN ERROR
Why choose A&O IT Group for social engineering training
Supremely qualified
Put your trust in our CREST-accredited team with more than 23 years’ experience of protecting businesses like yours from the threat of criminal attackers.
Real-world knowledge
Bespoke real-world social engineering services that highlight your issues, provide vital metrics and identify your weak spots.
Bespoke solutions
Detailed testing methodology, tailored to your business, and designed to evaluate your employees’ responses to different types of attack.
What social engineering prevention techniques are right for your business?
Our experts will guide you on the type of testing your organisation needs, depending on your specific challenges and business priorities.
Phishing campaign simulations
Email spam attacks attempt to trick employees into downloading malicious content or providing credentials. New data reveals companies face an average of 1,185 attacks every month.
38% of respondents reported that a colleague had fallen victim to an attack within the last year, leaving 15% of organisations spending up to four days putting things right again.
To test your ability to deal with this threat, we create false emails encouraging staff to click on content to measure their cyber security awareness.
Vishing campaign simulations
Phone calls or voice messages purporting to be from a reputable company, designed to induce an individual to reveal bank details and other sensitive information.
Our consultants will target key individuals with phone calls and then attempt to extract information, while posing as legitimate agents.
Whaling campaign simulations
Phishing or vishing is the term given to attacks targeted against high-profile employees, most likely to be Board Level or highly privileged technical staff.
We use our expertise to create campaigns aimed at those who should already have a high awareness of cyber security risks.
Spear phishing simulations
Targeted attack against any specific employee or group, often making use of publicly available information.
We create specialised campaigns aimed at key individuals of your choice and demonstrate the risk and potential damage caused by the leak of confidential material from compromised staff.
USB drive drops
Circulating malicious USB drives in and around a business premises in the hope that an unsuspecting employee might insert one of these into their workstation.
Face-to-face social engineering
In-person social engineering attack where an employee is tricked into granting access or information to an attacker.
Our expert consultants will provide a tricky test for even your most security-aware employees.
Third-party resource dependencies
Social engineering technique where an attacker poses as a third-party vendor to gain access or coerce an employee to divulge sensitive information.
Our sophisticated social engineering experts are highly trained to uncover any weaknesses in this area.
Digital reconnaissance
Often, there are plenty of valuable breadcrumbs that businesses and employees leave all over the internet. These may be gathered by an attacker and used in an attack. If it’s out there, our expert consultants will find it before any potential hacker can.
Social media information leakage
A common social engineering tactic used in phishing and spear phishing attacks. An attacker may be able to collate vast amounts of information on a potential victim just via social media profiles, which they can then use to extract damaging information. Our expert consultants will check what’s out there for you.
Delivering a first class level of service
Our high service standards, loyal team and flexible approach keep our outsourcing partners and clients returning to us time after time.
Phishing isn’t a new threat but it’s advancing by becoming increasingly targeted and harder to spot. Criminals use phishing as a gateway to steal your details and money, often without you even noticing.
Richard Hughes | Head of Cyber Security
A&O IT Group
FAQs
What is social engineering?
Social engineering involves hackers manipulating people from within an organisation to carry out damaging actions or share valuable information.
Why do I need social engineering?
Social engineering is a must in today’s world to help keep your business secure and your employees protected from targeted and increasingly sophisticated attacks.
How can we defend ourselves against social engineering attacks?
Simulated social engineering attacks targeted against your business will highlight your key vulnerabilities and how best to address them.
Learnings from a social engineering assessment can help you reduce risk by improving internal processes, introducing new training and raising employee awareness.
What is the most common type of social engineering attack?
Phishing is by far the most common threat and is carried out via emails which try to trick the target into revealing information that could be damaging to your business.
A phishing attack targeted against a specific individual or group is known as Spear Phishing. This can often be particularly effective as it appears to be more genuine.
Explore more from our Cyber Security solutions
Help protect your company from the inside
Covering all your bases when it comes to cyber security is so important to avoid breaches. However, it doesn't have to be difficult to put protection in place.
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