Phone Phishing (Vishing) Testing

What Is Vishing?

Vishing — voice phishing — is the use of telephone calls to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information, performing actions, or granting access they shouldn't. Attackers impersonate IT support, executives, HR personnel, vendors, or regulators to create urgency and authority that overrides users' normal judgment.

Why Vishing Works

Phone calls activate a different psychological response than emails. The real-time, conversational nature creates pressure that email does not. Caller ID spoofing makes it trivial to appear to be calling from inside your organization. And most employees have never received vishing awareness training — they're trained to spot phishing emails, not manipulative phone calls.

How Grid32's Vishing Assessments Work

Our engineers use a range of pre-designed social engineering scenarios — adapted to your organization's structure and industry — and vary techniques based on results as the engagement progresses. Common scenarios include:

• IT help desk impersonation requesting credentials for "account verification"
• Executive or leadership impersonation requesting urgent wire transfers or information
• Vendor or supplier impersonation attempting to update payment details
• HR or payroll impersonation requesting personal employee information

Both live human calls and automated scenarios are used, as attackers use both and each produces different results. All calls are designed to be non-disruptive — typically under a minute per contact.