IS IT BOLLOCKS?

Can you really Sneak(ers) past security with fake cake and a bunch of balloons?

Q Robert Redford and River Phoenix’s professional penetration testers fox security with a fake cake box and balloons to gain entry to a high-security building. Sneakily correct or nonsense?

A NICK DRAGE, CYBER SECURITY STRATEGIST AND DIRECTOR OF PATH DEPENDENCE PATHDEPENDENCE.CO.UK @PATH_DEPENDENCE

At the start of the scene, the clerk by the security gate is arguing with Phoenix’s Carl. Redford’s Whistler coming in ‘overloads’ him, making it ‘two against one’, so the clerk needs to get rid of one problem fast. They also allow other people to make assumptions: Whistler is an older, smarter gentleman, and his clothes look unremarkable. The cover story involving a bright pink cake box and balloons is particularly unthreatening. I’ve gotten into an airport before with only a hardhat, a reflective vest, and a clipboard. Then there’s ‘indirection’ – Carl is only trying to make a delivery because the ‘form’ tells him to, Whistler is hurried because his ‘wife’ was late, so neither of them is directly confronting the clerk or responsible for the problem; neither of which the clerk can argue with. Finally there’s neuro-linguistic programming; in the scene both Carl and Whistler escalate their separate conversations together and the clerk becomes increasingly fraught trying to track three arguments – his brain is looking for a clear way out of this horrible situation. Then everything is momentarily quiet as Whistler issues a clear and direct instruction: “Push the goddamn buzzer, will ya?” What harm could come from pressing a button for a staff member carrying a cake and cute balloons? Your manned physical security post, using state-of-the-art electronic passes, was just bypassed in 38 seconds.