Social engineering dangers encompass a huge number of
cyber-attacks. Various research has shown that day by day, these attacks are
increasing, leading to almost 90% of successful cyberattacks with the help of
malicious social engineering.
The main aim of social engineers is to get
confidential and sensitive information from users without their knowledge.
These devious schemes help social engineers to steal information that can be
further manipulated to engineer highly developed attacks or for financial profits.
Two most commonly practiced social engineering techniques
are tailgating and piggybacking. The most common essence of both of these
practices is to take advantage of the human factor to breach areas that are
reserved for authorized officials. It leads to a threat to physical security as well
as information systems.
Most often, the terms tailgating and piggybacking are used interchangeably, but there is a slight difference between the two. Let’s understand more about tailgating & piggybacking, and we will also learn about how anti-tailgating security devices help in preventing threats like tailgating & piggybacking.
What is Tailgating?
Tailgating is an easy social engineering attack in which
a hacker gets access to the areas that are restricted to authorized people by
following an authorized person in the reserved area. The hacker takes advantage
of the instance when the door is opened by the authorized person using his or
her identity card and tiptoes into the room before the door shuts.
Tailgating is common in organizations with numerous
entrance doors, and these organizations are highly vulnerable to these kinds of
threats. It is also possible for a hacker to gain access to an organization
with a huge number of employees. In office spaces, where employees frequently
shift from meeting to meeting, around a huge network of buildings and
corridors, tailgating attempts may also escape security search.
Direct tailgating can be avoided by changing the
environment. Most of the established organizations have a few entry-related
security procedures that include biometric-identification systems, badge
identification systems, and other forms of authentication systems.
Regardless, it is probable that the hacker might start
talking to the employees and increase familiarity with them to get access to
the restricted and secured areas. They might even pressurize and manipulate a
potential employee, and the individual can unknowingly be an accomplice in the
tailgating attack.
What is Piggybacking?
Another kind of social engineering attack that can pose a
threat to physical security is piggybacking. In this type of attack, the hacker
gains access to restricted and secured places by trickery. They often obtain
permission to enter the restricted area by manipulating the authorized
person.
How to avoid tailgating and piggybacking?
To ensure the safety and security of your organization,
the employees should be provided education regarding social engineering
threats. For example, if an employee finds a stranger at his workplace without
identification proof can follow some security protocols. Most organizations
have a security policy that states rules describing access rules to restricted
areas. These must be followed by the employees in case of any suspicious
activity in the organization.
The employees should be clearly instructed not to allow
anyone whom he/she does not recognize in the restricted and secure area of the
organization. Let the person open the lock on the door to avoid tailgating.
Also, the employees can check the identification badge or visitor badge of the
unknown person in the office. In case of any suspicion, the employees should
immediately contact the security personnel to avoid any mishap.
So, here are some ways through which tailgating or
piggybacking can be staved off. Let's have a look at them:
A few Tips To Prevent Tailgating And Piggybacking Are As Follows:
● Always
Give Value To Physical Security - Well, you might be utilizing extremely advanced security measures to
reduce the risks of security threats & even expenses, but never neglect the
significance of physical security. There are a number of advantages of having
physical security employed at your facility. If you keep physical security at
the doors to your facility, you can effortlessly see if somebody is trying to
make an attempt of piggybacking or tailgating as they arrive. This is one of
the simplest ways you can curtail unauthorized access to your facility.
● Proper
Management Of Access Control Anti Tailgating Devices - One of the most worthwhile & effective
ways of preventing the risks of tailgating or piggybacking, is to install
rightful access control anti tailgating devices and handle them in a systematic
manner. For example — turnstiles. It is one of the best entrance control
strategies as turnstiles allow only an individual at one point in time, and it
lets the visitors enter when they present their appropriate credentials. By
relying on the premises' requirements, it is possible to regulate the
turnstiles with or without the support of the building security staff.
● Visitor
Badges: You should make sure that all the visitors and temporary
workers must be wearing identification badges which would indicate that they
are authorized people and must not be denied to get access to the building.
This is an extremely crucial tool which helps employees to easily identify
unauthorized people by the absence of a visitor badge.
● Security
Camera System: An instalment
of a security camera system that monitors all the entry and exit points and helps
identify unauthorized access. Plus, the camera systems might be further
incorporated to evaluate the event and specify if more than one
person arrived at the time of valid access. This would result in an
unauthorized access analytic-driven alarm to warn the security staff about any
tailgating scenarios happening within your premises. The tailgate security
system proves to be a saviour in such cases.
Tailgating or Piggybacking is a very common thing seen in
IT organizations. But there are a lot of other solutions that you
can enforce to mitigate the risk of security threats.
Yes, you read that right! The above-listed tips to
prevent tailgating or piggybacking are very much effective, but you know what,
they are not sufficient enough until you have your hands on our tailgate
detection systems!
Access control anti-tailgating
devices are the best way to safeguard your facilities!
So, we have a solution for you — "smartATG".
"smartATG is an AI-based
integrated Anti-Tailgating Access Control & Anti-Piggyback system with
state-of-the-art smartXS plus 2Door 2Reader access controller & smart
ONE."
This tailgate detection
system works in conjunction with an access control system to detect a person
following a cardholder through a controlled entrance.
This access
control tailgating alarm can be used to trigger an appropriate response:
●
Real-Time Tailgating & Piggybacking
detection.
●
Tailgating Alarm output relay for connecting an audio-visual alarm.
●
Modbus connectivity option for integration with
third-party BMS.
●
SNMP alert for integration with IT systems
administration software for the critical alert.
●
Tailgating or Piggybacking event image
capturing & SMS alert.
●
CCTV Integration for generating incidence
evidence.
Conclusion
We hope that this article was helpful to
you in several ways. However, if you want more relevant information about
tailgate detection systems or access control anti-tailgating devices, feel free
to reach
out to us or check our website for more!