An example of the power of social engineering

Here is another article I picked up on the Qui Custodes blog of David Kaufman: Washington City Paper: Cover Story: Desk Job.This article describes a woman, without any special training, who was able to gain access to “secure” government buildings and steal money right from the desks and purses of the employees. Obviously this could have been documents and information if she had been involved with foreign intelligence. Her methods were simple. She was spotted frequently, but very few people were willing to confront her about her actions, choosing to avoid conflict. The moral here is: security is about everyone following up on everything that seems out of place or unusual. Better metal detectors, or bigger guns at the front door won’t do it. Security comes from the alert minds of everyone on the inside of the building being willing to ask direct questions.

- Lance Cottrell

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 1:47 pm and is filed under National Security, Physical Security, Security Breaches, Social Engineering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “An example of the power of social engineering”

  1. David Kaufman Says:

    Your are absolutely correct. As I always teach and preach: the best defense is an alert mind.

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