English-language social engineering skills have become highly sought on underground forums, with job advertisements mentioning the talent more than doubling between 2024 and mid-2025. ReliaQuest tracked four relevant listings last year and ten as of July 2025. Criminals increasingly offer impersonation-as-a-service in a SaaS model that bundles tools, training, scripts, and coaching to support infiltration operations often tied to targeted ransomware and financial motives. ShinyHunters has used voice-phishing to obtain Salesforce credentials and compromise numerous companies, with suspected victims including Dior, Chanel, Pandora, Allianz, Google, and Workday. Collaboration with groups like Scattered Spider amplifies high-touch social engineering effectiveness.
"impersonation-as-a-service."
"It's this SaaS business model," he told The Register. "As a bad actor you can subscribe to get tools, training, coaching, scripts, exploits, everything in a box to go out and conduct your infiltration operation that often combine[s] these social engineering attacks with targeted ransomware, almost always with a financial motive."
"high-touch social engineering approach, potentially combined with coachin
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