When to Use Social Engineering?

Social Engineering should be used when your company needs to evaluate how employees, processes, and communication channels respond to real-world manipulation attempts. It is especially relevant when there is a risk of phishing, fraud, credential theft, or unauthorized access through human interaction. This type of assessment helps identify behavioral weaknesses, improve awareness, and validate whether your organization can resist attacks that target people instead of systems.

How It Works?

Our social engineering assessments are structured, controlled, and focused on real-world attack scenarios.

1 - Scope Definition

We define the target audience, communication channels (email, phone, SMS), and rules of engagement to ensure a safe and authorized assessment.

2 - Scenario Design

We create realistic attack scenarios tailored to your organization, simulating how attackers would attempt to manipulate employees.

3 - Execution

We conduct controlled simulations such as phishing, vishing, or smishing campaigns, targeting selected groups within the company.

4 - Analysis & Reporting

We analyze user interactions, identify behavioral weaknesses, and provide clear, actionable insights based on the results.

5 - Optional Follow-Up

We can support awareness improvement, additional testing, or training sessions to strengthen your human security layer.

Our goal is to identify real exposure and help your organization become more resilient against human-focused attacks.

Why BRZTEC?

Organizations should choose BRZTEC for social engineering services because our assessments simulate realistic phishing, vishing, and smishing attacks conducted by experienced security professionals using real-world adversarial techniques. We go beyond automated campaigns by carefully planning scenarios aligned with the client’s environment, measuring user behavior, identifying procedural weaknesses, and providing actionable recommendations, awareness insights, and remediation guidance to effectively strengthen human-layer security and reduce the risk of successful social engineering attacks.

Our Methodology

Our social engineering assessments follow recognized frameworks such as NIST TN 2276, focusing on realistic phishing, vishing, and smishing simulations, human risk measurement, and actionable recommendations to strengthen organizational resilience against human-focused attacks.

1 - Technical Report

The Technical Report provides a detailed and structured analysis of all social engineering activities performed during the engagement. It includes the attack scenarios executed (phishing, vishing, smishing, or hybrid approaches), targeted user groups, timeline of events, and the techniques used to simulate real-world adversarial behavior. For each successful or attempted interaction, the report documents user responses, indicators of compromise, captured artifacts (such as screenshots, email headers, call summaries, or message content), and the potential impact if the attack had been malicious. Additionally, the report highlights identified weaknesses in processes, user awareness, technical controls (such as email filtering, MFA, or monitoring), and organizational procedures. Each finding is categorized by severity and accompanied by clear remediation recommendations, allowing technical teams and security leadership to understand precisely where exposures exist and how to mitigate them effectively.

• Total number of users targeted

• Total number of users successfully reached

• Number of users who opened phishing emails

• Number of users who clicked on malicious links

• Number of users who downloaded attachments

• Number of users who executed malicious attachments (when applicable)

• Number of users who submitted credentials

• Number of users who provided sensitive information

• Number of users who interacted multiple times with the attacker

• Number of users who responded to phishing emails

• Number of users who engaged in vishing calls

• Number of users who responded to smishing messages

• Number of users who attempted to bypass security warnings

• Number of users who approved MFA requests (MFA fatigue scenarios)

• Number of users who reported the attack to the security team

• Attack success rate by department or business unit

• Attack success rate by user profile (executives, finance, IT, etc.)

• Geographic or office location success rates (if applicable)

• Type of information disclosed (credentials, personal data, internal data, etc.)

• Security control effectiveness (email filtering, EDR, awareness tools, etc.)

• Detection and response effectiveness of internal security teams

• Identified process weaknesses (approval flows, verification procedures, etc.)

• Identified technical weaknesses (email filtering, MFA enforcement, etc.)

• User behavior patterns observed during the engagement

• Indicators of privilege escalation opportunities (if applicable)

• Potential business impact based on successful attack scenarios

2 - Executive Report

The Executive Report provides a high-level, business-focused summary of the social engineering engagement, designed for executives, senior leadership, and decision-makers. It highlights the overall risk posture of the organization, key findings, attack success rates, and the potential business impact of successful social engineering scenarios, such as fraud, ransomware, unauthorized access, or data exposure. The report presents aggregated metrics, trends across departments or user groups, and identifies the most critical human and process-related vulnerabilities without excessive technical detail. It also includes a clear risk rating, comparison against industry best practices, and prioritized recommendations to improve resilience, such as awareness training, process improvements, and technical control enhancements. This report enables leadership to quickly understand the organization's exposure to human-based attacks and make informed strategic decisions to reduce risk.

• Overall attack success rate

• Total users targeted vs. compromised

• Percentage of users who interacted with attacks

• Percentage of users who provided sensitive information

• Credential submission rate

• Phishing link click rate

• Reporting rate (users who reported suspicious activity)

• Time to first compromise

• Time to first detection/report

• Most vulnerable departments

• Most resilient departments

• Most targeted user groups (e.g., executives, finance, IT)

• Highest risk user profiles

• Campaign success rate by attack type (phishing, vishing, smishing)

• Security awareness effectiveness score

• Human risk score (overall organizational exposure)

• Detection and response effectiveness

• Security control effectiveness (email filtering, MFA, etc.)

• Repeat offender users (users who failed multiple scenarios)

• Privileged user exposure (admins, executives, finance)

• Potential business impact level (Low / Medium / High / Critical)

• Trend comparison (if recurring assessments were performed)

• Risk reduction opportunities identified

• Overall organizational social engineering maturity level

3 - Training

As part of the engagement, employees who interact with the simulated social engineering campaigns are automatically directed to a targeted awareness training experience. This includes a short educational video explaining the indicators they missed, the risks associated with their actions, and how to properly identify similar attacks in the future. After completing the video, users are required to take a brief quiz to reinforce key concepts and validate understanding. This immediate, contextual training approach helps transform real mistakes into learning opportunities, improving user awareness and strengthening the organization’s human-layer security posture.

4 - Retest

Following the training phase, a new social engineering campaign is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the awareness training and measure improvements in user behavior. This retest simulates realistic phishing, vishing, or smishing scenarios similar to those previously executed, allowing the organization to assess whether employees have improved their ability to identify and respond to social engineering attacks. The results are compared against the initial campaign, providing measurable insights into risk reduction, user awareness improvements, and remaining exposure areas, helping organizations continuously strengthen their human-layer security posture.