Social Engineering Is Easy

I’m a little terrified about how easy it was to get a new key for my hotel room today. Came back from a long day of work, with dinner in a bag and laptop on my back. Walked to my hotel room, and the key didn’t work. I grabbed a nearby house phone, called the front desk, and explained that I wasn’t 100% sure about my room number, but I thought my key wasn’t working.

I gave her my name, and she confirmed my room number. I said I’d try the key again, and if it didn’t work I’d come down. Came down, there was a key waiting for me. I handed her the broken one, she handed me the working one. No questions asked, no names or IDs checked…

There are good reasons why you shouldn’t leave your laptop or other valuables—whether confidential information or diamonds—in your hotel room. Primarily among them is that it doesn’t take a purported expert to socially engineer their way into your room.