Help Center / Setup & Configuration
Impersonation Attacks
Impersonation Attacks add internal phishing simulations where emails appear to come from trusted district roles (Leadership, Finance/HR, IT/Tech, or Employees). This helps you test social engineering risk across reporting lines, not just external threats.
Video Walkthrough
Watch our step-by-step video guide to see the Impersonation Attacks setup process in action.
Availability
- The feature is off by default.
- Available only when Email Delivery Method is set to Google Workspace DMI (Recommended).
- If your delivery method is not DMI, the Impersonation Attacks option is disabled.
How to Enable It
- Go to Account settings.
- Set Email Delivery Method to Google Workspace DMI (Recommended).
- Click the toggle next to the header "Impersonation Attacks"
- Optionally add a school signature in the editor.
- Click Save.
School Signature
- The signature editor supports text, images, and links.
- You can likely copy and paste in your existing email signature.
- This signature is appended to impersonation emails.
- You can leave it blank.
- You can also use placeholders to have the signature dynamically updated with the sender information.
Note: table borders in the editor are not visible in delivered emails.
Persona Mapping
Tartan maps existing Department values to standardized personas used by the impersonation scenarios:
- District Leadership
- Finance/HR
- IT/Tech
- Employees (staff only, no students)
Scenario Coverage (24 total)
Downward attacks (9)
| Appears to be from | Targets | Scenario themes |
|---|---|---|
| District Leadership | Employees | Policy Update, Staff Survey, SSN/SIN Request |
| Finance/HR | Employees | Tax Form Incomplete, Banking Correction, Address Confirmation |
| IT/Tech | Employees | Google Password Sync, Tech Handbook Review, Security Compliance |
Lateral attacks (6)
| Appears to be from | Targets | Scenario theme |
|---|---|---|
| IT/Tech | District Leadership | Hardware Upgrade |
| IT/Tech | Finance/HR | Invoice Inquiry |
| Finance/HR | IT/Tech | Software Audit |
| Finance/HR | District Leadership | Benefit Enrollment |
| District Leadership | Finance/HR | Urgent Wire Transfer |
| District Leadership | IT/Tech | Domain Renewal |
Upward attacks (9)
| Appears to be from | Targets | Scenario themes |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | District Leadership | Resource Proposal, Contract Article 14, Outreach Proposal |
| Employees | Finance/HR | Payroll Diversion, Life Event Update, Reimbursement |
| Employees | IT/Tech | Trouble Ticket, App Approval, Wi-Fi Help |
Email Style
- Impersonation emails are generated in a plain-text Gmail-like style.
- Content is minimal and usually includes a link-based call to action.
- School signature (if configured) is added at the bottom.
How Campaign Generation Works
When Impersonation Attacks are enabled, Tartan's AI generation engine draws from both:
- Standard Phishing Simulation templates
- Impersonation Attacks templates
Both pools are weighted equally. There is no built-in priority, so counts vary by campaign due to random selection and overall campaign/service configuration.