Disguises and quick changes that are most useful during covert entry and social engineering assessments do not need to be to the Hollywood level you see in movies. The budget and team required to pull this off in that capacity is large, and time-consuming. If it’s not executed professionally, you’ll be spotted as a fake extremely quick, and that’s nearly impossible to talk your way out of. Most cases do not call for this. If it does, you’ll know, and so will the rest of the agents assisting you.
For covert entry assessments, the disguises can be very simple and easy to execute with great results. It must be planned and practiced. The backstory and appearance must be believable/convincing enough that you are not drawing attention to yourself. The goal here is to be so incredibly boring that no one remembers you. In the event that someone does begin to approach you out of curiosity or concern, your goal then becomes to quickly change the main attributes about yourself that allow your hunters to lose you.
For example, I have very short, blond hair. The first thing I will do is make it dark and longer.
If I’m wearing a dark jacket, I will change the color and style. Even adding a hat and glasses helps to quickly mask certain attributes.
Another example is to match in uniform, when appropriate. In Tim’s example, the use of the glasses and hardhat are natural, yet helps to cover up his hair and eyes. The bright vest and flannel shirt are also fitting. Yet when removed, the while helmet reveals dark hair. The bright vest and colored flannel would be something darker and very simple. Perhaps a darker grey t shirt. The items could be stuffed in a darker colored backpack. There are many options.
Now, you can’t just throw these things together and expect to get around being so blind to your real identity such as Superman in tights vs Clark Kent in glasses. There are many courses dedicated to learning this art, as that’s what it is. You must know how to skillfully modify yourself to not only throw off those around you, but to fit in with the crowd you’ll be in, how you move, how you act, and so much more. This also includes the movements you must make to change, often times in view of the public, and the locations at which you begin changing. Again, MUCH must go into this.
The example we’re sharing with you in the following video is to show the simplicity of the change, yet how effective it can be with proper planning and execution. In this particular instance, we were performing surveillance against a target to gain information such as high traffic times, guard routes, employee badges, and more. We were located at a parking garage some distance away. After some time, two individuals began approaching our position as no one had done since we posted there. Out of caution, we made our way to the area show in the video where I quickly changed my appearance. I was the only one visible from the surveillance post, so at this point, it was only necessary for me to change. That still gives us a few guys “on the bench” for more surveillance from other positions during the day. After I changed my appearance, Tim Roberts, Davis Blackwell and I then circled back in the direction that we came from with the ability to walk right by the two that were initially heading our way, undetected. Perfect! Whether they were actively pursuing us or not, they no longer would find the guy with the long hair wearing a hat and glasses in a dark hoodie. This took some pressure off of us and allowed us to continue with the assessment unscathed.
If you would like to learn more about our Covert Entry assessments against commercial and government facilities, or for training related to disguise methods, covert entry, social engineering and more, send us a message via the “Contact” page.
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We Hack People - Covert Entry 