Physical Penetration Testing

Physical penetration testing is a type of penetration testing that assesses all physical security controls of an organization. It focuses on assessment of security controls of the organization such as perimeter walls or fences, locks, security guards, CCTV cameras, turnstiles, mantraps, bollards, and so on. A skilled penetration tester or pentester will try to evade or circumvent these security controls and gain unauthorized physical access to restricted areas and sensitive information. Moreover, it is a simulated intrusion attempt that is designed to identify vulnerabilities in the physical security of the organization.

The orchestrated intrusion attempt by the ethical hacker helps the organization to observe how attackers might gain physical access to the infrastructures, applications, systems or even the personnel. Its purpose is to identify, expose, and improve the organization’s physical security weaknesses that the malicious attackers may exploit to gain unauthorized access to sensitive and critical assets. Some of the techniques the penetration tester may use to physically exploit the security posture of the organization may include the following:

• Tailgating
• Piggybacking
• Social engineering
• Circumvent access controls
• Map the perimeters and entrances
• Lock picking
• Dumpster diving
• Attempt to gain physical access
• Intercept electromagnetic waves
• Shoulder surfing
• Test server rooms, wires, network jacks, and cables

Benefits of physical security penetration testing include the following:

• Protect the organization from infiltrators
• Minimize data breaches
• Improve the physical security posture of the organization
• Identify physical security risks
• Build customer confidence or reputation