"What techniques are used?"

"Common techniques include lock bypass, badge cloning, tailgating, and impersonation."

"Will this involve real intrusion attempts?"

"Yes, but all activities are pre-approved and conducted safely within agreed rules of engagement."

"What happens if access is gained?"

"Access is documented as proof of risk, and no damage or disruption is caused."

"What do we receive in the report?"

"You receive detailed findings, evidence of access, and recommendations to improve physical security controls."

Physical Security Testing

Q: "What is physical security testing?"

"Physical security testing assesses how easily an attacker could gain unauthorised access to buildings, offices, or restricted areas."

What is physical security testing?

Your doors are locked. Your reception desk is staffed. Your access control system cost a fortune. But does any of it actually stop someone who wants to get in?

We send operators to your sites with the same techniques a real attacker would use: tailgating, badge cloning, lock picking, social engineering. If someone can walk into your server room unchallenged, we’d rather be the ones who find out.

What it covers

Perimeter testing looks at fencing, gates, external doors, loading bays, and car parks for bypass opportunities. Access control bypass covers RFID cloning, lock picking, latch slipping, and mechanical weaknesses in door hardware. We test tailgating and piggybacking to see whether staff actually challenge unknown people entering secure areas.

Before any physical attempt, we do surveillance and reconnaissance: OSINT on the target site, observing staff patterns, delivery schedules, and shift changes. Once inside, we try to reach sensitive areas like server rooms, executive floors, and document storage. We also plant simulated rogue devices (network implants, keyloggers) to show what post-access impact looks like, and check whether sensitive materials are left unsecured on desks, in bins, or in unlocked cabinets.

How it works

1. Scoping and rules of engagement

Every engagement starts with a clear scope. We agree which sites are in, what areas are off limits, what techniques are allowed, and what the win conditions are. All operators carry a get-out-of-jail letter.

2. Reconnaissance

We do detailed recon before turning up. OSINT on the organisation, site visits to watch the security posture, staff behaviour, delivery windows, shift rotations. This is how a real adversary would prepare, and it is how we prepare.

3. Covert entry attempts

Our operators run the agreed scenarios. That might be a single tailgating attempt at lunchtime, or a multi-day operation involving pretexting, cloned badges, and after-hours entry. Everything is logged with timestamps, photographs, and GPS data.

4. Post-access objectives

Getting through the door is only half the job. Once inside, we go after agreed objectives: reaching the server room, planting a simulated implant, pulling sensitive documents off a desk, or getting into the executive suite. This is where we show what a breach actually looks like in your environment.

5. Reporting and debrief

You get a detailed report covering every attempt, successful or not, with the techniques used, photographic evidence, and prioritised recommendations. We sit down with your team, walk through the findings, and help plan remediation.

Why bother?

Most organisations spend heavily on cyber defences and barely give physical risk a second thought. A locked door is only as good as the process behind it, and most processes have holes.

Physical testing finds gaps between policy and practice, because security policies that exist on paper often don’t get followed on the ground. It exposes staff awareness problems: people holding doors open, not challenging strangers, leaving badges on desks. It identifies control failures like bypassable locks, CCTV blind spots, and alarm systems nobody monitors. It also produces evidence for compliance frameworks like ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and NIST, which require physical controls to be tested.

More importantly, it maps out real attack paths. Someone who gets physical access to your network closet doesn’t need a zero-day. Physical testing shows your leadership team what that scenario actually looks like, backed by evidence rather than a reassuring assumption that the front door is probably fine.

PHYSICAL SECURITY TESTING