Sporting events are pretty easy to get into, the key is to have a prop and act like you belong.
I once got into a NHL playoff game by picking up a plastic beer cup off the ground in the smoking area outside of the arena and just walking in through the door. They had a security guard standing there with one of those UV stamp checkers. I showed my hand, he scanned, there was nothing there and I just keep walking like nothing and he didn't say anything.
The hard part is getting a seat in a sold out event... If you don't mind standing, there are plenty of places to stand and watch.
I'm an amateur photographer (did weddings part-time), but bring my camera bag everywhere. I'll walk up to a security guard and ask him for directions to the press area, making sure that my camera is decked out (DSLR with battery grip, flash, and huge lens).
I haven't had the balls to try at the NFL level, but it works fine at the collegiate / city level depending on the size of the game.
This form of social engineering is acting like you belong and that you know what you're doing.
I understand the general principle of how this works, but how are things like press cards dealt with? It seems like that's a major signal that you aren't part of the in-group.
This starts going down the rabbit hole, but you can misrepresent yourself as shooting for <small newspaper / blog / group> and say there were communication problems.
Other times there are multiple entrances and if security doesn't communicate with each other you can try again.
It all depends on how willing you are to push the boundaries.
I am an honest guy, though, so I would buy a ticket, I just made it my goal not to actually show the ticket. It's pretty fun, and you can't really get in trouble this way.
Tricks that work: Just walk fast carrying a drink pretending you are getting back to a movie in progress. Pretend you are catching up to a group that just disappeared around a corner ("guys, waitup!"). If you are with a friend, have a heated discussion as you walk by the ticket-taker. Go to the ticket-taker and ask if they've seen a guy in a "aubergine jacket", when they say no, say "goddamn Jerry, I'm gonna go look for him, ok?"
Pretty much like everyone else says, acting like you belong is key.
I once social engineered my way from Nosebleed seats to right in front of the stage at a concert at Cowboys Stadium where tickets were fetching upwards of $500.
Proclaimed to my date that we end up down there before the concert even started.
One of my cooler moments. Another one of my friends social engineered himself into Pit Row at a major NASCAR race. Love stuff like this. Moments to live for.
That's a great video but its not the fault of security theater, it's just a flaw in the gate design. They made an honest effort to secure the wall but theres a bug in that system. If they see this video, they'll likely patch the fence so people can't climb up again.
Security theater would be more like if they made the gate out of rubber. Then, if someone pointed out that its easy to get through a rubber fence, they'd respond by painting the fence a different color, if they even respond at all.
there was a video (can't find it) a few years ago when a guy sneaks to every club, restaurant, and even very fancy exclusive parties and some not clubbing related events, by having a pair of headphones on him and saying "I'm the dj". nobody checked on him.
I got to sit 3 seats from Marat Safins coach and in the front row once during a professional tennis match that Marat was playing in. He lost the match, so the bitching back and forth was great. But I noticed the free seats in the box and just pointed to the seat when the usher approached me and I pretended I didn't speak english. "There, there, I sit."
Best part was the people in the box realized right away I was out of place. They were really cool though. They gave me their tickets for me and my friends which gave us access to free buffets. It was delightful.
It was also really cool to shout "Zerodina Marat" right in his face. I swear the second time I yelled it he looked at me coldly. Very intimidating Russian.
I was recently out travelling, and I couldn't help wonder why I of all people was called to the side by a security officer of some sort at the airport, after we had landed and were heading for a cab.
It only took a few seconds, but I would love to know what made me stand out from the crowd.
When people get nervous they sometimes touch there nose. Security officers are trained to notice these things. So maybe you touched your nose or did some other simple thing that got noticed.
But there are also just random checks to make it very difficult to predict when or when not you are checked.
"Sneaking in near press/employee access points without going thru them, zigzagging through corridors, and once carrying a box so someone opens a door for them, two jokers from Savannah State University social engineer their way into Super Bowl XLVII for the most part simply by looking like they belong."
what tool would they use to steady the camera frame like that? having little experience with video editing the only way I know of doing it would be getting opencv to track the horizontal line on the back(of the jumper) of the guy who was leading and rotate the frame accordingly, surely there are video apps that do this simply.
It's built into youtube when you upload videos - and it's very good. Easiest way to tell how much it's stabilizing is to notice the way the frame (black rectangle outline) bounces around during the video. A more trained eye will also notice the subtler IS distortions.
I've gotten into clubs and bars before where they stamp your wrist by just flashing my unstamped wrist with an 'alright mate?' and powering through the bouncers.
I once got into a NHL playoff game by picking up a plastic beer cup off the ground in the smoking area outside of the arena and just walking in through the door. They had a security guard standing there with one of those UV stamp checkers. I showed my hand, he scanned, there was nothing there and I just keep walking like nothing and he didn't say anything.
The hard part is getting a seat in a sold out event... If you don't mind standing, there are plenty of places to stand and watch.