Social Engineering

What - Types - Reports - With Pen Testing - With Security Consulting

Social Engineering to Support Security Consulting

Social engineering is a very powerful tool when leveraged immediately following a customer security consulting engagement. Because all of the compliance activities have just concluded, this is a perfect time to measure employee retention of and adherence to security awareness training and newly implemented policies.

It's one thing to provide policies to employees that find it difficult to relate to the ultimate intent of the newly formed policies, and quite another to provide REAL examples of security deviations by their own personnel. When presented with this evidence, employees relate to the example immediately, and employee retention of security awareness training is improved substantially.

Human nature is to be helpful, and unfortunately, to also become complacent with security requirements after extended periods of calm. For established organizations that have performed compliance related activities for years, a social engineering engagement can be riveting and frightening, but also enlightening. The engagement exposes flaws in organizational security and becomes the catalyst for genuine internal improvements.