These methods tend to be physical and cannot be carried out remotely. The social engineer, therefore, needs to be at the scene in person to collect the information that they want. It is also necessary for the social engineer to be knowledgeable about the pretexting, persuasion, and mind tricks that they will use to get the information sought. The most important tool that the social engineer will need in this type of information gathering is an active brain after all. The following are some examples of physical methods of collecting information about targets:
Nontechnical methods
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