Documented cases attributed to authorized tester or researcher threat actors, sourced and fact-checked.
Researchers from UIUC, the University of Michigan, and Google dropped 297 USB drives across the UIUC campus and found that up to 98% were picked up and 45% were plugged in and opened, with the first connection occurring in under six minutes, the first rigorous, quantified real-world proof that USB-baiting works.
Research/advisoryESET found PromptLock, ransomware that had a local AI model write its scripts at runtime. It turned out to be an NYU research prototype. What it showed.
Research/advisoryA Rapid7 penetration tester tailgated into a client's building using door-holding reciprocity and a cloned-looking badge, rode an elevator up on a bystander employee's badge scan, then posed as a new security-team hire at the help desk for 30 minutes to probe whether staff would challenge him. He was ultimately stopped, seven months later, by a guard who cited that very fake-badge incident as the reason for denying access.
Research/advisoryImperva hid prompt injections behind whitespace in contact names, vCards and WhatsApp pins, making an OpenClaw agent run a script. A lab demo, now patched.
Research/advisoryThree separate congressional watchdog engagements, not one campaign. In 2000, GAO agents carrying counterfeit badges declared themselves armed officers and were waved around screening at all 21 sites they tried. In 2002, they talked a pass-issuing clerk out of a genuine building pass, forged copies for the team, and breached four of the five Atlanta buildings tested. In 2009 a differently designed test used no deception at all. No public record substantiates a parallel breach of the U.S. Capitol or the GAO-13-370T report cited in some retellings.
Research/advisoryNoma Security hid a prompt injection in a Salesforce web form and made Agentforce leak CRM data to a $5 expired domain. A lab demo, fixed in Sept 2025.
Social Engineering Examples