What is Piggybacking in Cyber Security

Piggybacking is also known as tailgating. In cybersecurity, “piggybacking is a specific social engineering attack that refers to gaining unauthorized access to a restricted area, system, or network by following an authorized person.”.

Indeed, piggybacking is similar to tailgating in cybersecurity, but it’s more attention-seeking that tailgating is often unintentional due to the unawareness of the authorized person, piggybacking can be either intentional or unintentional. Piggybacking may happen physically (e.g., unauthorized door entry) or digitally (e.g., Wi-Fi piggybacking). For instance, a Wi-Fi network is not protected with a strong password, and anyone within the Wi-Fi router’s physical range may be connected to this network without authorization. This form of connection is called piggybacking (Wi-Fi piggybacking).

Furthermore, piggybacking is a cyber technique that exploits human behavior rather than technical manipulation to bypass security protocols. In a piggybacking attack, the attacker pretended to be a delivery boy carrying special supplies for authorized persons or an excuse for being “handed-full.”. By the way, the attackers take advantage of human habits and request authorized employees to hold the door for them. Once the attackers gain access to sensitive areas, they can easily get security protocols like retina scanners, fingerprint scanners, or other sensitive information. 

In a nutshell, piggybacking (tailgating) is a serious threat that involves following an authorized individual to gain unauthorized access to a restricted area, including an authorized person’s intent to some extent. The organization should take proper security steps to protect against such types of cyber attacks.

Security awareness training for employees is one of the potential ways to protect against piggybacking. In addition, using anti-malware or anti-virus software, proper physical security measures, and trained security guards help prevent piggybacking (tailgating).