Robert Sell - The Art of the Breach

Presented on Thursday 14th September 2023 at 44CON 2023

The Art of the Breach is designed to be a journey for anyone interested in physical security. Robert takes the audience on a trip from the public sidewalk outside a target organization all the way through to the executive filing cabinet in the President’s office. During this adventure, Robert discusses everything from successful reconnaissance prior to the breach to ensuring an easy exit afterwards. Robert spends time at each step to go over the various options for moving forward. Some of these options are easy and straightforward while others require preparations and planning. Since every business is different, Robert brings in many different options a physical penetration tester might face. This includes steel doors, cameras, armed guards and aware employees. While many physical security talks focus strictly on the information security aspect of breaching, Robert will combine this with techniques used by first responders to enter a building. If you want to up your game on physical security or at the very least bring back some ideas for improving your company’s defenses, this talk is for you.

Robert Sell:
Robert is the founder and president of the Trace Labs, a non profit organization that crowdsources open source intelligence (OSINT) to help locate missing persons. He has spoken at conferences and podcasts around the world on subjects such as social engineering, open source intelligence, physical security, insider threats, operational security and other topics. Robert primarily works in the aerospace industry where he assists newly acquired organizations to secure their environments. This includes all aspects of security in regions around the world. In 2017 and 2018 he competed at the Social Engineering Village Capture the Flag contest. He placed third in this contest (both years). In 2018, he actually ran his own Trace Labs OSINT CTF while participating (and placing 3rd) in the SECTF at Defcon Vegas. Robert is also a ten year volunteer with Search and Rescue in British Columbia, Canada. In his search & rescue capacity, Robert specializes in tracking lost persons and teaching first responders how to leverage OSINT.