shoulder surfing

Shoulder surfing can be interpreted as "looking over the shoulder". This trivial technique, which can be used to undermine computer security, is used to spy out passwords, personal identification number( PIN) or other sensitive information.

Shoulder surfing involves observing the input sequence of authorized third parties on keyboards in order to later use them for unauthorized access to the Internet, computer systems, accounts or in databases.

Shoulder surfing can be applied to PIN number entry in ATMs, logging into accounts via smartphones or desktop, security codes, or other sensitive input data.