Social engineering remains one of the most effective attack vectors in cybersecurity. Phishing emails, smishing texts, and other impersonation attempts are designed to exploit human trust rather than technical vulnerabilities.

In IT, we know that technology alone can’t eliminate these risks, but it can significantly reduce their impact. Microsoft Intune, as part of the Microsoft security ecosystem, provides a brilliant set of tools to help organisations defend against social engineering attacks.

Threats

• Phishing and smishing: Attackers trick users into revealing credentials or clicking malicious links.
• Impersonation attacks: Malicious third-parties pose as employees or IT staff to bypass help desk procedures.
• Payload delivery: Social engineering campaigns often aim to install malware.

How Microsoft Intune helps prevent Social Engineering

Conditional Access

• Intune integrates with Azure/Entra AD to enforce conditional access policies.
• Even if credentials are stolen, attackers cannot log in without meeting device compliance and MFA requirements.

Device Compliance Policies

• Intune ensures only secure, compliant devices can access corporate resources.

Zero Trust Security

• Intune supports Microsoft’s Zero Trust model: never trust, always verify.

Automated Remediation

• Intune can quarantine compromised devices and enforce remediation steps.
• This limits the damage if a user falls victim to a phishing campaign.

User Training & Alerts

Intune integrates with Microsoft Defender to provide real-time alerts.

IT admins can use these insights to educate users about suspicious activity.

Imagine a scenario where an attacker convinces a user to accept MFA for their account. Without Intune, that attacker could register their own device and gain access. With Intune, however, device compliance checks and conditional access policies block the attacker’s device, preventing further compromise.

Social engineering attacks exploit the human element of IT, but Intune helps IT admins enforce technical safeguards that reduce the risk. By combining identity protection, device compliance, and Zero Trust principles, Intune ensures that even if an employee is tricked, the attacker cannot easily weaponize stolen credentials.