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Darknet Diaries · Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Pen Testers Use Improvised Tools for Physical Breaches

Penetration testers Justin Wynn and Gary DeMercurio explain some of the tools and techniques they use to bypass physical security. They describe using an 'under-the-door tool' and a modified plastic cutting board to manipulate door latches, highlighting creative problem-solving in their profession.

personJustin WynnpersonGary DeMercurio

The tape

3 quotes
So, let me tell you what this tool does. It almost looks like a bent fishing rod. It’s long, four feet, metal rod, and it has a string on the end. This is for doors that have a handle, that when you push down, it opens the door.
What we have come up with that we like to use that’s absolutely my favorite tool that is literally in my backpack right now is a cutting board. It’s a really, really thin, plastic cutting board that I bought from Amazon, and I cut a notch in this cutting board.
So, typically when we’re talking about door bypasses, we're inserting a tool through whatever method that we can, whether it’s in the inner-leaving double-door system, so you can go in-between the doors, or if there’s a gap underneath the door, insert a tool there and start manipulating some mechanisms on the other side of the door, whether that’s the Von Duprin crash bar or the latching mechanism itself or some peripherals like a request-to-exit sensor.
Heard on Darknet Diaries — “179: The Courthouse - Revisited, published Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via publisher transcript · $0.00
Pen Testers Use Improvised Tools for Physical Breaches — Heardvine