---
title: physical pen testers
date: 2020-04-06T19:46:00Z
slug: physical-pen-testers
tags:
- security
- infosec
---

I was listening to an episode of darknet diaries and learnt that there is this
profession called a "physical penetration tester" where basically a person
works for a institution who wants to test the security of their physical infrastructure
(buildings). A client could be a bank or some other financial firm.

The [episode][ep] interviews two such people that worked for the security firm
coalfire. They tell a story of when they were hired by the Iowa state to pen
test their courthouses. And then later while they were on their job doing the
pen testing on the building they get arrested and are prosecuted with felony
charges. This gets out of hand as there is a lot of misunderstanding between
officials, the judges, the sheriff who arrested them during the night. This goes
to show that you are just not safe no matter what you are doing. Although they
were bailed out by their company, coalfire, they will have to live the lasting
consequences of the whole ordeal. Every time they get background checked, or
every time an officer pulls them over or when they apply for a job, there will
always be the stamp of "Oh this guy was once charged for burglary", even though
those men were doing their job that night.

[ep]: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/59