Elevators 101
Bobby Graydon, Ege Feyzioglu
DEF CON 33 (backfill) · Day 1 · Main Stage
In "Elevators 101," Ege Feyzioglu and Bobby Graydon from the Physical Security Village at DEF CON shed light on the often-overlooked vulnerabilities inherent in modern elevator systems. The talk serves as a critical introduction to "elevator hacking," which they define as manipulating elevators in ways unintended by their design to gain unauthorized access or achieve objectives within a secured building. Far from mere mischief, this capability presents significant physical security bypass opportunities for penetration testers and malicious actors alike, allowing them to circumvent traditional access controls and navigate restricted areas.
AI review
A competent Physical Security Village talk that does exactly what it says on the tin: introduces elevator attack surfaces to an audience that probably hasn't thought about them. The material is real, the case studies are grounded, and the safety framing is responsible — but this is a 101 survey, not original research, and the technical floor is low enough that anyone who's done physical pentesting will leave having learned very little.