Cyber-assaults have elevated exponentially in last 5 years and this is why each business enterprise is making an investment closely in its security. But those days, the hackers are very smart. They preserve on locating new methods to take advantage of the device and get entry. There are numerous assaults that they have got of their bag to try. One of the very famous ones is Social Engineering attacks.
Social engineering is a shape of a way utilized by cybercriminals with a purpose to control an character in presenting their exclusive or private records that may be used for fraudulent activities. It is likewise typically known as hacking the human as it entails manipulating people to offer touchy records or touchy details. The loss of cybersecurity way of life makes social engineering assaults one of the maximum risky threats at the network. These assaults are performed via the primary line of protection withinside the business enterprise, the employees.
Now, there are numerous assaults that come below the Social Engineering umbrella, Tailgating (additionally called Piggybacking) is certainly considered one among them. In this article, I will communicate approximately tailgating assaults in detail.
What is a tailgating attack?
Tailgating is a social engineering assault wherein the attacker receives internal a restrained vicinity with out right authentication. It is likewise called piggybacking. The tailgater attacker and stroll at the back of a real legal individual to get in the restrained get entry to vicinity. It is one of the maximum not unusual place harmless and not unusual place breaches within side the hacking world. In this situation of assault, the cyber danger actor attempts to trick an worker of the focused corporation with a purpose to get internal get entry to of that corporation.
It is an act of the usage of a person to benefit get entry to to a place wherein you do now no longer have get entry to or authorization to go into. That is why this assault is a bodily cyber-assault. There are many methods you could tailgate. You can truely observe a person once they have tagged in or faux to be a person else and input proper after an character has entered the given premises. The only manner to guard your self from tailgating is via way of means of verifying an character`s ID previous to them coming into given premises. A conventional instance of tailgating is an character dressed up as a shipping motive force retaining numerous packing containers in his hand expecting a person to go into an workplace building. As quickly as an worker tags in and verifies his/her identity, the attacker asks the worker to truly preserve the door and profits get entry to via the authorize character. This instance truly tells that attackers execute a tailgating assault after a whole lot of making plans and earlier withinside the vicinity of social engineering.
Tailgating or piggybacking
Piggybacking is a form of social engineering. This is the process of allowing access to areas that are normally blocked by some access control system, such as badges, passcodes, or biometric scans. Tailgating and piggybacks are considered to be about the same type of social engineering attack, which is pretty much right. Both are social engineering techniques used to abuse human behavior by using authorized personnel credentials to enter restricted areas without notifying authorized personnel.
The difference between the two terms is that a piggyback is a person who opens the door using his credentials and knows that others are following them through a secure door. Is to mean. By contrast, tailgating means chasing someone through the door without the knowledge of the person who opened the door. Therefore, the piggyback grants access with the consent of the authorized person, but the rear gate only enters the site without consent.
How dangerous is a rear-end collision? The jumble is not a technical cyberattack like a DDos attack or phishing. This attack is physical and can cause enormous damage to your organization through data breaches, data tampering and theft, and malware attacks from malicious software deployments. The main motive for tailgating attacks is always to steal sensitive information for malicious purposes.
Assuming the attacker successfully executed a tailgating attack, the loss would be in the millions. In the past, there have been some examples of social engineering attacks like tailgating spending a lot of time on tech giants. Shark Tank judge Barbara Corcoran lost $ 400,000 in a social engineering scam in 2020. In 2017, the Ethereum Classic website was hacked, costing thousands of dollars.
How to prevent tailgating?
Here are some practices and methods you can use to avoid tailgating attacks:
Employee Education: Explains the risks of tailgating and why employees shouldn’t open their doors to strangers. Employees must be informed about such attacks.
Receptionist: The receptionist helps prevent unauthorized persons from entering the building.
Photo ID: This card is given to staff and security guards can verify that the photo on the card belongs to the same person who holds this card.
Visitor Badges: Visitors and temporary workers must wear badges or badges to indicate that they are allowed access to the building.
Video surveillance: Cameras should be installed at all entrances to the building to record everything. Anyone watching the video can look for any suspicious activity.
Biometrics: The machine receives the signature of the employee’s thumb and only registered employees of the company can enter the facility.
Guards: Sounds very obvious, but guards can help keep the tailgate out by staying vigilant.
Avoid talking to strangers in the office or using your ID to grant access to strangers. Always lock your system at work.
There are ways to combat tailgating attacks such as multi-factor authentication, smart cards, and facial recognition.
These methods help keep the workplace safe in your organization.
Tailgating Attack Techniques
Understanding the methods hackers use to carry out attacks is the first step in preventing cyber threats. Employees can stay one-step ahead of the tailgate by understanding the “methods”.
Opening doors to crowd employees
In a corporate environment, it is common to open doors for the people behind them. This kindness can allow malicious hackers to gain access to company resources. The tailgates are always looking for ways to sneak into the building behind their employees. The attack may not have started in cyberspace, but cybercriminals can gain more ground by gaining access to restricted areas. Unlocked computers, abandoned USB sticks, and open doors to server facilities are potential sources of data breaches.
Pretending to be a courier
Attacker could pretend to be a courier to deliver a package. To access, they can pretend to be delivery or repair workers.
If the receptionist or security guard is not alert, an attacker could access the company’s delivery area and enter a restricted area.
“Hands Too Full” Trick
Cyber attackers can have multiple packages that can be used to access the target building. This is similar to disguising a deliveryman. Unknowingly, your employees can harm the company through their natural instinct to help strangers.
Forgotten ID Scam
An attacker can pretend to be an employee of your company. These attackers could impersonate a company employee and lose their access ID.
You need to make sure your employees are trained to keep strangers out of your office. Even if they are familiar with hiding and other tricks, intruders may appear to be able to break into your office building. You can earn the trust of your employees by opening the door and giving them an ID card.
There are thousands of people in an organization. Not everyone knows the other person. The accounting “Judy” may know the marketing “Kyle” and can convince a person to trust her even if she doesn’t recognize her face.
As with the above case, a little research on the company’s employees will help the intruder “set a [marketing Kyle] promise regarding ‘new outsourced work'”. This can convince your security officer or receptionist to allow access to the building.
Standing behind someone and stealing passwords and pins
Have you ever been approached by someone trying to steal your personal information? This is called “shoulder surfing” and is a technique aimed at avoiding the target being noticed. You will be aware of this information and can use it later.
Example of tailgate cyber attack
Social engineering is the method attackers use to manipulate victims. Tailgating is similar to email phishing. To be successful, it uses the natural act or kindness, urgency element, strangeness of the situation or a combination of all of these. Here`s an example of high profile tailgating:
Yuking Zhang, a Chinese woman, was stopped by Donald Trump`s MaraLago club in 2019. She claimed she was going to a swimming event and that there were no events. To confuse security guards, she also used language barriers. A secret service agent searched multiple devices and found a USB stick containing malware. They also found two Chinese passports.