Physical Penetration Testing and Onsite Social Engineering

Expert-Led Physical Breaches to Expose and Secure Your Human and Facility Vulnerabilities

Over a Decade of Real-World Adversary Simulation

Proven Expertise in Physical Penetration Testing

Since 2011, Raxis has been at the forefront of physical social engineering and penetration testing, helping organizations worldwide identify and close critical security gaps through hands-on, expert-led assessments.

Global Reach, High Stakes Clients

Raxis Red Team engineers have flown across the globe — from North and South America to Europe and beyond — to test some of the most secure environments, including:

  • Major banks and credit unions
  • Leading law firms protecting sensitive client data
  • Critical infrastructure operators in energy, utilities, and transportation
  • Defense contractors and government-adjacent organizations
  • Hospitals and doctors offices

Battle-Tested Tactics, Every Single One

We’ve successfully executed every advanced physical tactic on our list in live engagements — from canned air attacks on data center sensors and badge cloning to lock picking, under-door tool bypasses, perimeter breaches, dumpster diving, and sophisticated pretexting. These aren’t theoretical exercises; they’re proven methods that we’ve used.

Physical Security Testing Experience Matters

With more than a decade of refining adversary emulation, our team brings the creativity, persistence, and precision of real threat actors — always within strict rules of engagement and legal boundaries. Clients trust Raxis because we deliver results that matter: clear proof of risk and actionable steps to eliminate it.

Physical Access Stories That Drive Change

Every engagement ends with comprehensive reporting, remediation guidance, and gripping Hack Stories that bring the breach to life for executives and teams. These real-world narratives are powerful tools for building awareness and securing buy-in for security improvements.

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Why Physical Penetration Testing?

With Raxis physical social engineering penetration testing, you gain the confidence of knowing exactly where your facilities are vulnerable—before a real attacker exploits them.

Prevent Real-World Breaches with Physical Penetration Testing

Imagine the peace of mind knowing a simple human interaction won’t lead to full network compromise. In real client engagements, our experts have bypassed physical controls using nothing more than professional pretexting and confidence—then discreetly deployed our custom Raxis Transporter device for remote internal access.

These controlled simulations highlight how physical entry can cascade into digital threats, giving you clear, evidence-based insights to close those gaps and prevent costly incidents.

Social Engineering as a Service (SEaaS): Build Lasting Resilience with Continuous Penetration Testing

Raxis Social Engineering as a Service (SEaaS) provides ongoing, unpredictable simulations throughout the year—keeping your team’s vigilance sharp and your processes battle-tested. Unlike one-off assessments that quickly fade, this program embeds security awareness into your culture, reduces the likelihood of successful real attacks, and delivers measurable improvements in your human defenses against persistent adversaries.

Social Engineering Penetration Testing: Secure the Human Element Against Manipulation

Strengthen your most critical asset—your people—against manipulation that no technology alone can stop. Our realistic scenarios, including targeted phishing and on-site infiltration, uncover trust-based vulnerabilities, enabling you to train employees effectively, minimize breach risks, and ensure your sophisticated technical controls aren’t undermined by human factors.

Understand the Full Impact of a Breach—and Prevent It

Go beyond entry to see the real business risks: You’ll receive vivid proof of how initial physical access can escalate to credential theft, device implantation, or network compromise—equipping you with the knowledge to prioritize defenses and stop minor vulnerabilities from becoming major disruptions.

Actionable Physical Security Testing Reports for Fast Remediation

Get detailed, easy-to-act-on reports with visual evidence, technical remediation steps, and executive summaries—enabling your teams to quickly address issues, demonstrate compliance, and show stakeholders tangible security improvements without overwhelming noise or false positives.

Turn Physical Pentest Outcomes into Effective Security Awareness Training

Transform potential failures into powerful learning opportunities: Our approach helps you reinforce awareness through positive, guided training—building employee confidence, reducing future risks, and creating an organization that’s proactively resilient to social engineering threats.

Physical Social Engineering: Beyond Digital Threats

Physical social engineering penetration testing is a cornerstone of our advanced Red Team penetration testing services.

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Handled by Red Team Engineers

Every physical test draws on real-world offensive security experience, ensuring creative pretexts and tactics that generic assessments can’t match.

Core Integration in Red Team Operations

Physical access often chains into full compromise, such as planting network implants or exfiltrating data — demonstrating risks in MITRE ATT&CK-aligned scenarios.

Standalone or Full-Scope Flexibility

Use focused physical social engineering for targeted awareness, or integrate with broader Red Team exercises (including phishing via our dedicated service).

Advanced Physical Tactics We Employ

Our physical social engineering penetration testing goes far beyond basic tailgating. We’ve done all of these on real engagements, ask us to tell you stories!

Tailgating & Pretexting

Seamlessly following employees through secure entrances or talking our way past reception and guards with convincing stories.

Badge Cloning & Access Bypass

Cloning legitimate badges for unrestricted entry into restricted areas, including server rooms and executive suites.

Canned Air Attacks

Using inverted canned air dusters to trigger door sensors and alarms, granting unauthorized access to sensitive facilities like data centers.

Onsite Impersonation & Loitering

Posing as vendors, contractors, or visitors to exploit trust, access unlocked workstations, or retrieve sensitive items (e.g., keys, passwords).

Device Implantation

Planting covert "Raxis Transporter" devices for persistent remote access, proving the real impact of a physical breach.

Lock Picking & Bypass

Expertly picking mechanical locks or bypassing electronic keypads on doors, cabinets, and safes to access restricted physical assets.

Under-Door Tool Attacks

Sliding specialized tools under doors to manipulate internal handles, latches, or crash bars from the outside.

Fence & Perimeter Breaches

Climbing, cutting, or exploiting weaknesses in perimeter fencing and barriers to gain initial site access undetected.

USB Drop Attacks

Strategically placing baited USB devices in common areas (parking lots, break rooms) to test employee curiosity and handling protocols.

Camera & Sensor Evasion

Using IR illuminators, reflective clothing, or timing to defeat surveillance cameras and motion detectors during infiltration.

Dumpster Diving

Searching through onsite trash and recycling for sensitive documents, passwords, access cards, or operational intel that aids infiltration.

Request-a-Badge or Help Pretext

Approaching employees with a believable story (e.g., "forgot my badge" or "new contractor needing temporary access") to get them to badge us in directly.

How Hackers Bypass Physical Security

Raxis Chief Penetration Testing Officer Brian Tant demonstrates how simple tools like badge scanners and hidden cameras can be used to infiltrate secure facilities—revealing just how vulnerable physical security can be without proper defenses.

Raxis Hack Stories

Confidence is King

Our stories are based on real events encountered by Raxis engineers; however, some details have been altered or omitted to protect our customers’ identities.

When our elite penetration testing team dives into physical social engineering, whether it’s a laser-focused PSE test or a full-throttle Red Team operation, confidence is our secret weapon. We're often stunned at how many people accept that we belong simply because we act like we do. Even more jaw-dropping? The number of folks who spot something fishy but don’t raise the alarm. As our tests ramp up, we push the boundaries with bolder moves, daring employees to call us out. Spoiler: they rarely do.

On one assignment our team was tasked with infiltrating a sleek, big-city high-rise with a break room so stocked with free eats that employees practically lived there for breakfast and lunch. Our team did their homework, scoping out every detail before arriving onsite. On a bustling Monday morning, they slipped in one by one, tailgating through turnstiles and blending into crowded elevators before the guard could figure out what was happening. Each operative strolled onto the target floor, flashed a charming wave at the receptionist, and proceeded to regroup in that legendary break room. Then they split up to take a look around the floor. Unlocked workstations? Check. Sensitive customer documents left on a printer? Check. After gathering proof for the customer's report, they glided out one by one, leaving no trace and not a single soul batted an eye.

In another operation, our team targeted an office secured by key card access. The plan? Pure audacity. They grabbed coffees from a local shop across the street and loitered by the parking lot entrance just before the 5pm rush. Sipping their coffee inconspicuously, our team chatted like they were waiting for a buddy to clock out. No aggressive moves, just casual vibes. Sure enough, several employees held the door for them. As the crowd thinned, they offered their thanks and slipped inside. For an hour, they laid low under a conference room table, biding their time before exploring. What did they find? A treasure trove of vulnerabilities: unlocked file cabinets stuffed with sensitive customer data, passwords scrawled on notes tucked under keyboards, a visitor badge stashed in a desk drawer, open network ports perfect for planting a network implant device (of course they did that), and even keys to the data center left in an unlocked cabinet. Our team made use of those keys to drop a second device for good measure. The cleaning crew? They just waved as our team worked. Hours later, our team sauntered out, armed with a visitor badge for a potential encore and leaving devices in place for further exfiltration.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you are installing new systems or performing new training now, then we recommend you complete those before beginning your PSE. Usually, however, there’s no time like the present. If you have known issues that you haven’t corrected, it may be a budget issue. If so, a Raxis PSE engagement can give you the proof your management team needs to see that the changes are a high priority. In addition, while you may be aware of general weaknesses, a Raxis PSE assessment can uncover hidden vulnerabilities and provide a comprehensive evaluation of your physical security posture.

We always recommend that our social engineering tests be used as training instead of as judgements. The employee who falls for a Raxis phish is often the least likely to fall for a malicious phish. Our social engineering engagements all provide clear reports of our attacks and how your team performed. When you use these reports as training tools and reward employees who report suspicious behavior and communications, your whole team becomes stronger.

By demonstrating how an actual attack would occur, cybersecurity experts can identify and seal vulnerabilities before they’re exploited. Employees who experience simulated social engineering attacks are more likely to take security recommendations seriously. This awareness training helps prioritize response efforts.

Social engineering assessments address vulnerabilities that are often overlooked in technical security strategies. By simulating real-world attack scenarios, they uncover weaknesses in physical security measures and employee awareness. They complement traditional cybersecurity measures by identifying human vulnerabilities that could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information and internal systems. The insights gained from these assessments allow companies to develop targeted awareness training programs, refine their information security policies, and strengthen their overall defense against social engineering threats. Ultimately, integrating social engineering assessments into a broader cybersecurity strategy helps organizations create a multi-layered defense that addresses both technical and human aspects of security.

As the customer, you control the scope of your social engineering assessments to target any subset of users you want to test. While it may be tempting to exclude management from a social engineering assessment, doing so could significantly undermine the effectiveness and validity of the assessment. The purpose of such tests is to evaluate an organization's overall security posture, including that of its leadership. Management often has access to sensitive information and systems, making them prime targets for real-world social engineering attacks. By excluding them, you may miss critical vulnerabilities and create a false sense of security. Additionally, management's participation can serve as a powerful example, demonstrating the importance of security awareness across all levels of the organization. Instead of excluding management, consider working closely with key stakeholders to communicate the test's objectives, ensure buy-in, and establish clear boundaries and expectations. This approach can help alleviate concerns while maintaining the integrity and value of the social engineering assessment.

A social engineering assessment is a simulated test that mimics actual threats, such as malicious email attachments and telephone pretexting. It helps organizations identify vulnerabilities and assess their level of readiness against social engineering attacks. Anyone concerned about their organization’s security should consider a social engineering assessment.

Social engineering attacks evolve rapidly, taking advantage of the latest trends. An assessment constructs multiple scenarios and threat pretexts, customizing solutions for your organization. With this knowledge, employees can engage in online activities confidently, knowing they’re fully protected.

Performing social engineering assessments at least annually demonstrates a proactive commitment to cybersecurity and data protection. By identifying vulnerabilities and implementing recommended improvements, organizations show stakeholders that they take security seriously, fostering trust among clients, employees, suppliers, and investors. This is crucial for gaining the trust of clients, employees, suppliers, and stakeholders. For financial companies and those handling sensitive customer data, meeting regulatory requirements (such as FFIEC) is a crucial step in displaying dedication to protecting valuable data. By taking proactive measures to strengthen security, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to safeguarding confidential information and fostering a secure environment for all involved parties.

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