Dealing with people is one of the hardest challenges of specialized attacks.
The psychology of manipulating people is a vast and complex subject
and one that cannot be covered in detail here.
There are, however,
some simple tricks of the trade that will allow you to minimize the contact
you have with people. First is tailgating. Simply wait around the door you
need to gain access to. Use a mobile phone to make a fake call or pretend to
be finishing a cigarette if you're outside. Observe how long the door takes
to close as it's been used. Is it 2 seconds, is it 5 seconds, for example.
Stand close enough to the door that you can grab the handle within that
timeframe.
Now, it's a matter of waiting until someone uses the door,
and just before it shuts, reach out,
grab the handle, but do not open it instantly. If possible, allow the person you
are tailgating to move several seconds away so that they are not within earshot
or site of the door when you enter. Tailgating can work for all sorts of
security systems, such as security barriers.
Most of those use a laser system to detect when a person is
passed through in order to shut the doors again.
Gaining access is as simple as preventing that laser from
detecting a gap between the target and yourself.
Either get extremely close to the individual or hold a backpack or
case in front of your legs and behind theirs. This prevents the laser
from seeing the gap and they think it's just a very large person
going through the entrance way.
Of course, you could just jump the barrier if it's low enough
and there's no security guards watching.
Another great technique is one that I call reverse tailgating.
It is perfect for doors that close too fast or are often not used. First,
listen to the door for an approaching employee. As you hear someone coming,
grab and hold the handle. As they open the door,
pull hard and open the door as normal.
This simulates an unfortunate timing of accessing the door at the same time.
They will often assume that you had access and were already in the
process of opening the door. Timing and the pretend reaction is
critical here, so do practice it on your colleagues.
Another trick I often used when attempting to tailgate is to hold a
cup of coffee or a drink in one hand and an unwrapped chocolate bar
in the other. When approaching a door, place the chocolate bar in your mouth.
This leaves one hand free to grab the door whilst deterring
anyone nearby from trying to talk to you.
They can see you've got something in your mouth.
People often hate talking or confrontation with strangers.
Using tricks like this adds an additional barrier to that and could
prevent someone from exposing your engagement.
You will find that most employees will naturally hold doors
open and not confront or engage with you.