An example of shoulder surfing

Sue is a receptionist at a busy doctor’s office. She was working at her computer when a flower delivery man came into the office. He told Sue he had a flower delivery for Dr. Smith. This was the doctor’s name he saw on the front door of the office as he entered the waiting room.Sue was busy that day and Dr. Smith was in with a patient, so she told the flower deliv-ery man that he could leave the flowers on the desk and she would make sure the doctor received them. He said he needed to wait and give them directly to the person who was listed on the delivery ticket. So, Sue asked him to stay in the waiting room until Dr. Smith was available to receive the flower delivery. As Sue turned back to her computer to fin-ish writing an email she had started, she was distracted thinking about the work she had in front of her. She quickly typed the password to unlock her Windows workstation. The flower delivery man paused for just a moment before turning to take a seat in the waiting room. As he paused, he was able to see the five-character password Sue typed to unlock her screen. It was in this manner that he was able to discern her password and continue the hacking process. The password was gathered using shoulder surfing, a form of social engineering.

from CEH course guide