During a security audit, a tester disguised as a technician follows employees into restricted areas, enabling access to the server room. What attack type is this?

During a security audit, a tester disguised as a technician follows employees into restricted areas, enabling access to the server room. What attack type is this?

• A. Fuzzing
• B. Tailgating
• C. Backtrapping
• D. Man trap attack

Answer: (B)

Tailgating is the act of gaining unauthorized entry by closely following an authorized person into a restricted area. In this scenario, the tester uses a disguise as a technician and relies on the legitimate employee’s presence to slip past access controls into the server room. It’s a social engineering breach that targets human behavior and the tendency to not challenge someone who appears to belong, rather than bypassing a technical system directly. Fuzzing, by contrast, is a software testing technique that bombards inputs to find bugs, not a physical intrusion. Backtrapping isn’t a standard term for this context, and a man trap describes a controlled entry designed to prevent tailgating through mechanical means; the situation here centers on the social lapse of following someone through the door, which is tailgating.

Tailgating is the act of gaining unauthorized entry by closely following an authorized person into a restricted area. In this scenario, the tester uses a disguise as a technician and relies on the legitimate employee’s presence to slip past access controls into the server room. It’s a social engineering breach that targets human behavior and the tendency to not challenge someone who appears to belong, rather than bypassing a technical system directly.

Fuzzing, by contrast, is a software testing technique that bombards inputs to find bugs, not a physical intrusion. Backtrapping isn’t a standard term for this context, and a man trap describes a controlled entry designed to prevent tailgating through mechanical means; the situation here centers on the social lapse of following someone through the door, which is tailgating.