You’ve trained employees to spot phishing emails. You’ve rolled out MFA. Your endpoints are locked down. But none of that matters when an attacker calls your help desk and talks their way in.

This is vishing—short for voice phishing—and it’s one of the most effective, least tested threats facing organizations today.

What is a Vishing Attack?

A vishing attack is a social engineering tactic where attackers impersonate trusted entities over the phone to trick employees into handing over sensitive information. That might include:

• MFA codes
• Internal usernames or email formats
• Password reset approval
• Personal data or account identifiers
• Details about internal systems or tools

Unlike email-based phishing, vishing requires no payloads or links. Just enough data to sound credible and a call placed at the right time.

Why It Works So Well

Humans are built to trust, especially when the call sounds urgent or helpful.

Attackers use caller ID spoofing to appear legitimate. Then they create pretexts that sound familiar:

• “This is IT, we noticed suspicious activity on your account.”
• “I’m calling from the help desk, your manager asked me to confirm some details.”
• “We’re verifying internal extensions due to a recent phone system upgrade.”

If they’re rebuffed, they pivot. They ask for less. They call again under a different pretext. Piece by piece, they build trust and collect access.

A Real-World Vishing Scenario

In one recent engagement, Lares simulated a vishing attack against a major enterprise. With nothing but open-source data and a spoofed phone number, we obtained:

• Two working associate IDs
• A valid employee’s manager’s name
• Access to an internal support flow
• Two MFA codes in under 10 minutes

We never needed malware. Just a phone and a convincing story.

Why You're Still at Risk

Most awareness programs focus on email phishing. Very few companies simulate phone phishing or teach employees how to identify and shut it down. That’s the gap attackers exploit.

You’ve hardened your tech stack. But your people are still exposed.

Ready to Test Your Defenses?

Download the Lares Vishing Methodology
Get the full breakdown of how real-world voice phishing attacks are built and executed.
Download Now

Or see how your team holds up in the real world
Schedule a meeting with Lares