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#9. Piggyback Rides
I am surprised at how piggybacking is still one of the most effective ways into an organization. With piggybacking, a social engineer appears as a legitimate employee and walks into a secure building by following behind someone who has access.
A classic example is a social engineer showing up at the front door of a secure facility on a rainy day at 8am, carrying a heavy box. As an employee walks up, the social engineer takes advantage of human kindness by saying, “Would you mind opening the door for me? I can’t reach my badge to open the door while carrying this box.” Because people generally want to help others, the employee will open the secure door and grant access to the social engineer.
Another common example of this is for the social engineer to show up in the area where employees stand outside to smoke. The social engineer stands outside smoking with other employees then, when the employees finish smoking, he or she will simply walk right behind them and into the building, bypassing any physical security control such as card readers.