11 min
You’re sure you’ve got a solid security system in place, but have you ever actually tested it?
Physical security is hard to get right. You install a system that, in theory, does everything you need it to. It’s only when the worst happens and a breach occurs that you know for sure whether your system was up to scratch.
What if we told you it doesn’t have to be that way? What if there was a way to put your security systems under real-world pressure in a safe and controlled way?
Well, there is! It’s called physical penetration testing and this article will help you feel prepared to plan your first pen test.
What is physical penetration testing?
Penetration testing refers to an organization purposefully trying to break into its own IT systems. It’s a way of finding and fixing weaknesses, so they can’t be exploited.
Physical pen testing is the same principle applied to the physical parts of your organization. That could be within an IT context (e.g. a person taking a laptop out of a building), but it can cover all security situations (e.g. a break-in or a visitor entering an unauthorized area).
Why physical pen testing is critical for modern security
Physical pen testing is a valuable and reliable way to assess your security. It takes you out of ‘what if’ theories and puts real pressure on your system(s).
If you care about your security, then you should be investing in pen testing. In fact, it may be more important than ever – here’s why.
1. Risks are increasing
Keeping your organization and its premises safe has never been as complex as it is today.
According to FBI data from January 2025, there were 332,829 reported burglaries relating to non-residential buildings in 2024. In 2023, there were 296,354. In the space of one year, reported burglaries have increased by 12.3%.
All the while, our buildings are increasingly connected to technology and the internet. The number of connected IoT devices (worldwide) is consistently growing by double digits YoY.
The risk of a physical attack is higher and the methods of gaining entry are becoming more varied and exploitable.
2. It’s easy to miss gaps
A good security system is only good because it’s maintained, tweaked, and improved over time.
If you set up your security years ago and haven’t thought much about it since, there’s a high chance it’s not fit for purpose today. Without regular testing (including pen testing), your security is going to have weak points or outdated elements. These are the areas that intruders will target.
3. Compliance and insurance
Each insurer has their own criteria, but many will want proof that you’ve secured your buildings. They’ll also want to know that it’s more than a passing thought to you.
If you’re in any kind of regulated industry, you’ll also have obligations to meet from your regulator. That could be anything from HVAC to chemical manufacturing to education settings.
Common techniques used in physical penetration tests
Pen testing is a fascinating world, as there are so many approaches you can take. There isn’t a single ‘best’ technique to follow, as each organization will have its own risk profile. For example, the best pen tests for a data centre will be quite different to a hospital’s.
Looking beyond specific scenarios, we can highlight some common and widely useful tests you can consider.
Social engineering
You’ve probably heard (many times) that humans are the weakest point in any security system. It’s nothing personal, it’s a fact of nature. Computers, locks, and alarms are binary systems. Humans are full of biases, nuances, and counterintuitive responses.
Common social engineering tactics include tailgating (e.g. following someone into a building after they’ve scanned in) and impersonation (e.g. calling a helpdesk and pretending to be an employee). Visitor management can be a hotspot for security risks.
Brute force
Brute force attacks are more straightforward than social engineering, but just as dangerous.
Scaling a security fence, picking a lock, or breaking a window may not be sophisticated, but they can be effective. They need to be taken seriously. It’s tempting to focus on more complex risks and techniques, but attacks like these are arguably more likely to occur.
Badge attacks
The vast majority of organizations will use some form of badge on-site, whether that’s name/ID badges or RFID access passes. These badges act like a set of keys, so they’re high-value to attackers and high-risk for security.
Common badge attacks you can test are cloning (e.g. making a copy of an RFID chip or ID badge) and theft (e.g. finding or taking an employee’s badge).
You can make your physical access processes as secure as possible (e.g. with the principle of least privilege), but that’s irrelevant if your admin key gets cloned.
Surveillance and reconnaissance
Another important technique to deploy is surveilling your premises to see what information potential attackers can gather. Depending on the experience and ambitions of potential attackers, they may be doing work before an attack.
These tests are wide-ranging, as there are many different avenues you can follow to potentially gain valuable information:
- Data security – What information is available online about the organization, your staff, and your systems?
- Shift and arrival/departure patterns – If you can observe specific patterns, you can identify the best times for tailgating or brute force attacks.
- Employee behavior (in-person and online) – are any employees unhappy? Can you find out who has been there for the longest and the shortest time? Is anybody uploading photos of themselves/others at work?
What physical pen tests can reveal
In an ideal world, your physical pen test would reveal that your security is perfect and there are no issues to be found.
In reality, even the most secure integrated systems will have room for improvements or tweaks. All manner of issues and risks can show up in a pen test, but they often reveal:
- Inadequate visitor screening: Without a system in place that tells you who is on site – when, why, and with whom – you can’t be certain your site is secure. If you do have such a system in place, how well is it followed and maintained?
- Weak access control policies: Staff and visitors should have clear permissions for where they can and cannot be in your building(s). If there are grey areas, unclear signage, or overgenerous policies, people could easily be accessing places they shouldn’t.
- A lapse in employee training or awareness: It’d be a dream to have every staff member be as serious about security as you. The likelihood is, they aren’t. That’s not a criticism, but it is a reason to establish regular training and testing.
- Weak spots and dead zones: For example, if you use a camera system, there may be a point at which no two cameras overlap. In that case, any activity in that area won’t be captured, creating a vulnerability.
How to conduct or commission a physical penetration test
There are two distinct approaches you can take to get started with pen testing:
- Internally organized
- Third-party testing
In other words, you can take a DIY approach or bring in experts to test your security. Whichever approach you choose, you should aim to have a few essential steps in place.
Pre-test planning and scope definition
If you aren’t clear about what you’re testing for, you won’t be able to draw any definitive conclusions. Pen testing with a “let’s see what we find” attitude won’t lead to accurate results.
At the very least, you should be clear on which parts of your security system or physical locations you’re testing. For example:
- We are testing how accurately security staff inspect ID badges during busy periods.
- We are testing whether there are any CCTV dead zones in buildings X, Y, and Z.
- We are testing the effectiveness of our anti-climb paint on the rear wall.
Legal considerations, authorization, and warnings
Before you start simulating a break-in, you need to do some preparation. The last thing you want is a Good Samaritan calling the police or your alarm alerting an off-site security team.
Give your team, stakeholders, and any third parties fair warning about your plans and involve them in the planning process, where necessary.
Any test you do should aim to be maximally effective – i.e. you want to genuinely beat your security system. As a result, there is the chance that property could be damaged or a tester could access restricted areas. Accounting for this and preparing a post-test cleanup is important.
Reporting and recommendations
If you’re going to the effort of conducting a penetration test, you want it to be worthwhile. What you do after the test is actually more important than conducting the test itself.
Condense your learnings into a report, providing a list of recommended actions and paths to their implementation.
This could be as simple as:
- Hold training session for staff
- Conduct another test in six months
All the way up to implementing new systems after finding critical faults in your existing setup.
Benefits of physical penetration testing
Organizations don’t do physical pen testing for fun, they do it because it’s a necessary part of keeping their assets and people safe.
There’s one very clear benefit: you either prove or disprove that your system is working as intended. However, there are several knock-on benefits that we’ve seen firsthand, many times over, including:
- Improved incident response times
- Identifying weaknesses and critical risks
- Proving effectiveness of security upgrades
- Validating investment in access control (and associated security measures)
- Improved awareness among staff of risks, behaviors, and healthy skepticism
Pen testing can improve your wider security culture in so many ways, it’s an invaluable tool to have at your disposal.
Physical pen testing in regulated industries
Regulated industries are in a difficult position with physical penetration testing. They are most in-need of testing, but also the most difficult to coordinate.
Put simply, it’s not feasible for a hospital to ask all of its patients to vacate for a few hours.
Nevertheless, this work needs to be done and organizations in regulated industries need to find ways to make pen testing feasible.
Third-party specialists
Using a third party might be easier in this instance, as they will have the experience and processes in place to handle compliant testing in your industry.
This can come at an extra cost, but you need to weigh it up against the opportunity cost of organizing a compliant test internally.
The DIY option
If you do choose to organize your test in-house, we recommend speaking to your regulating body (e.g. the Department of Health and Human Services) about your plans. They can advise on the safest, most compliant approach.
Any test will need to involve close coordination between teams and departments. Clear communication with patients/students/service users will be essential, too.
Acre Security: supporting physical security resilience
If you’re not convinced that your physical security systems are up to the job, we’d love to help you change that. Something’s gone wrong if you can’t feel secure about your security.
We’ve helped organizations as big as Google and the UK government secure their premises, while providing the same level of service to mom and pop shops. We don’t care who you are, we care about keeping you safe.
With Acre Security, you get industry-leading standards and a personalized service across access control, intrusion detection, and visitor management. Plus, our in-house experts can help you test and validate your existing systems and their alternatives.
Check out our pages for those different systems, linked above.
A fast-track to safer premises
Physical pen testing is one of the most effective ways for organizations to understand their security systems. The results aren’t always good news, but that knowledge is good in its own way.
Great pen testing starts with a clear hypothesis and ends with a clear report and plan of action. When implemented correctly, physical pen testing strengthens your security and creates a culture of safety, risk awareness, and proactivity.
Getting it right takes a little time and focus, but the return on investment is astronomical.
If you want to take your security more seriously, we can help.
