Glossary
Shoulder Surfing
Someone watches you type your password at a coffee shop. Simple, but effective. Public places are risky for entering sensitive information.
What is Shoulder Surfing?
Observing someone's private information by looking over their shoulder while they type passwords or view sensitive data.
Why Should You Care?
Shoulder surfing enables immediate account compromise and theft without sophisticated hacking tools. A single observed PIN or password can grant attackers direct access to bank accounts, payment cards, and corporate systems. For businesses, this attack vector can expose customer records, trade secrets, and employee credentials, and it is a particular concern for staff working in public spaces, on transit, or in open offices where screens and keypads are visible to others.
Is your business exposed?
Real-World Example
An attacker in a coffee shop, airport lounge, or open-plan office watches over a target's shoulder as they type a password or enter a PIN, then memorizes or records it for later use. In a coordinated variant, one person observes a victim entering a PIN at an ATM or payment terminal while an accomplice steals or swaps the card, allowing the attackers to withdraw funds or make purchases before the loss is noticed. Privacy screens, shielding the keypad, and awareness of one's surroundings are the simplest defenses.
How to Protect Against Shoulder Surfing
- 1.
Use privacy screen filters
- 2.
Be aware of surroundings when entering passwords
Related Terms
Is your business exposed?
Check if your company data is circulating on the dark web
Free scan • No credit card required