Chapter 11 Badge Surveillance

Where Are Your Badges?

I like slipping into buildings as the phone guy. It’s my favorite getup, because I’ve got the gear, the lingo, and the outfit. But without the official-looking badge, I’m just some nimrod with a bag of gadgets and a dorky shirt. The badge makes the look, and the look makes me the phone guy. But isn’t a badge nothing more than a laminated bit of paper? No, it’s really so much more than that. In security lingo, it’s an authentication token. When I present it to someone, they look at it and draw a conclusion about who I am. Visual identification makes for weak authentication, but that’s how it works inside most of my target buildings, so I leverage that fatal security flaw. Knowing that a no-tech ...

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