“This is your bank's fraud department. We've noticed suspicious activity on your company's account. Please confirm your details immediately."
"IT support here—we're running an urgent security update. I need your login credentials to avoid downtime."
"This is the CEO. We're finalizing a major deal. Send the wire transfer now.”
Sounds familiar? These are classic examples of vishing attacks, where scammers use fear or excitement to push you into making rash decisions. Whether they promise easy money or play on your anxieties, their goal is the same: To trick you into revealing sensitive information or taking an action that benefits them.
Vishing, short for voice phishing, is a form of social engineering where attackers use psychological manipulation to steal data. The pressure to act quickly is a major weapon in their arsenal. And while phishing scams may get most of the attention, vishing is becoming an increasingly dangerous threat. Over 68 million Americans have fallen victim to this kind of scam, with losses totaling $39.5 billion.
So, how can businesses protect themselves? One of the best defenses is a vishing simulation campaign. A vishing simulation campaign exposes employees to realistic, simulated vishing attacks so their staff can recognize these cons before it's too late.
In this article, we’ll explore how to run a vishing simulation campaign so you can equip your staff to resist this growing threat.
Running a Successful Vishing Simulation Campaign
For maximum impact, vishing simulation campaigns should be meticulously planned, as certain aspects like clear communication with employees and proper strategy can significantly improve their effectiveness. Below are steps to help you run a successful vishing simulation campaign.
Develop a Clear Strategy
The foundation of any vishing simulation campaign is a solid strategy. Begin by identifying the goals of the simulation. Are you aiming to increase awareness, gauge how susceptible employees are to voice phishing, or test their reaction to high-pressure situations?
Next, determine the scope. How many employees will be involved? Will the campaign target specific departments, like finance or HR, where the stakes are higher? You can also vary the complexity of the vishing scenarios. For those new to vishing simulations, simpler scenarios can give a baseline understanding of employee awareness. If you've done these campaigns before, consider tailoring scenarios based on user groups, such as new hires versus experienced employees.
Before advancing, answer the following to clarify your approach:
- What’s the goal? Are you testing response times, awareness, or regulatory compliance?
- Which departments are most at risk? Employees in roles like finance or IT may need more targeted simulations based on real-world threats they face.
- How familiar are your employees with vishing tactics? Use this knowledge to adjust the difficulty and context of the scenarios you plan to use.
- How frequently will the simulations occur? Regular, unpredictable campaigns are essential to keeping employees alert and reinforcing the training over time.
Craft Your Scenarios
Once you have a strategy, it’s time to design your vishing scenarios. This involves scripting calls and setting up automation tools for call scheduling and data collection. Craft scenarios that align with your industry and employee roles to ensure employees encounter calls that feel legitimate.
You can take two approaches to vishing simulations:
- Targeted Vishing: Tailor calls based on the role and responsibilities of the individual. For example, employees in the finance department might receive calls pretending to be from a vendor asking to verify payment information. Meanwhile, IT staff could get calls from someone posing as a service provider requesting login credentials for an urgent update. Customizing the vishing attacks based on department increases the relevancy and effectiveness of the training.
- Behavior-based Vishing: This method tailors the complexity, topic, and timing of vishing attempts based on an employee’s past performance and risk profile. Initially, focus on reinforcing fundamental skills, such as identifying obvious red flags, for employees who frequently fall for simple traps. As they demonstrate improved awareness, gradually introduce more subtle, advanced scenarios to further challenge them.
Prepare Your Employees
To avoid confusion or unnecessary panic, it's important to communicate the upcoming simulation to employees ahead of time. Notify them a few weeks before launching the campaign, and make it clear that this is a training exercise, not a test.
You don’t need to provide an exact launch date, but give them an idea of what to expect. Share the purpose behind the simulation, how it works, and that there are no penalties for mistakes. This helps set the right tone and encourages participation. When employees understand that the goal is to strengthen security practices, they’ll be more motivated to engage.
Launch the Campaign
Now, it’s time to run the simulation. When the vishing calls are made, pay close attention to how employees react. Do they give out sensitive information under pressure? Do they ask for verification or refuse to comply with suspicious requests?
You should also provide immediate, educational feedback. If an employee falls for a vishing attempt, don’t just leave it at that. Send them resources right away explaining the telltale signs of a phishing call and how they could have identified the scam. This on-the-spot learning increases retention and ensures the lesson is absorbed.
Positive reinforcement is also crucial. Recognize employees who successfully detect and report vishing attempts. You can incorporate rewards or acknowledgment through internal platforms to maintain engagement and emphasize good security practices.
Refine and Repeat
A single vishing simulation isn’t enough to protect your business from evolving threats. Regularly scheduled campaigns help keep employees aware of the latest tactics and continuously improve their resistance to vishing.
Review the feedback from your previous campaign and adjust future simulations based on employee performance. Increase the complexity if your team responded well, or scale back to focus on fundamentals if necessary. Continuous improvement ensures that employees stay one step ahead of scammers and builds a culture of security mindfulness throughout the organization.
Arsen’s Approach to Effective Vishing Simulations
At Arsen, we understand that protecting your organization from vishing threats requires more than just one-off simulations. Our cybersecurity platform is designed to enhance human behaviors by offering dynamic, tailored, and fully automated vishing simulations. With our platform, you can effectively group your employees based on their security awareness, job roles, and risk exposure, ensuring each individual receives the right level of training.
Arsen’s advanced automation capabilities allow you to streamline the entire process using a combination of attack simulation and AI voice technologies to create realistic and context-driven scenarios that mimic genuine threats.
You can adjust the frequency and difficulty of simulations based on individual performance. Employees with lower security scores receive more frequent training to build their resilience, while those with higher scores face more complex scenarios to keep them vigilant.
We also prioritize instant feedback. After each simulation, employees are shown the signs they missed so they can better recognize future threats. Don’t leave your organization vulnerable. Start your vishing simulation campaign with Arsen today and make your employees resilient against vishing and other social engineering attacks.
