Physical social engineering: tailgating and baiting

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A stranger walks closely behind an employee and slips through a secure door before it closes. What is this attack?

A Tailgating

B Baiting

2. An attacker leaves a USB drive labelled 'Staff Salaries' in a school car park, hoping someone plugs it in. What is this attack?

A Tailgating

B Baiting

3. Which statement is true about tailgating and baiting?

A Both are network attacks that only happen online

B Both are physical social engineering that trick people rather than break code

4. Which is the best way to stop tailgating?

A Require everyone to tap their own access card and challenge unknown people

B Hold the door open for anyone carrying heavy boxes

5. You find an unknown USB drive on the ground at school. What should you do?

A Hand it to IT staff without plugging it in

B Plug it into your laptop to find the owner

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1tailgating		AAn attacker follows an authorised person through a secure door without using their own badge or key.
2baiting		Btailgating: door opens for badge, attacker follows
3An attacker walks in behind an employee who has just tapped their badge, before the door closes.		CHolding the door open for an unknown person allows tailgating. Each person should use their own badge, or be signed in by reception and escorted.
4An attacker leaves a USB drive labelled 'Staff Salaries' in a car park, hoping a curious worker plugs it in.		Dbaiting: USB labelled Staff Salaries left in car park
5Policy: hold the secure door open for anyone carrying boxes, because it is polite.		EPlugging in an unknown USB drive is the action a baiting attack wants. Found drives should be handed to IT security and never plugged in.
6Policy: plug any USB drive found in the office into your computer to find its owner.		FAn attacker leaves an infected USB drive where someone will find it and plug it into a computer.

Definitions

tailgating and baiting

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

IF peopleIn _ badgesScanned THEN OUTPUT "Possible tailgating" ENDIF

IF ___ usbKnown THEN OUTPUT "Do not plug it in" ENDIF

IF badgeOK ___ onePerson THEN OUTPUT "Door opens" ENDIF

______ "Do not plug in unknown USB"

extra = peopleIn _ badgesScanned

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A def check_door(card, count):

B if not valid(card):

C return 'deny'

D if count < 1:

E return 'alarm'

F return 'allow'

Question 2

A def on_usb_plugged(drive):

B if not drive.trusted:

C autorun(drive)

D report_to_it()

Question 3

A badge_valid = scan(card)

B if badge_valid = True:

C unlock_door()

Question 4

A def let_in(person):

B if person.followed_in:

C return True

D return scan(person.badge)

Question 5

A def classify(method):

B if method == 'follow_in':

C return 'tailgating'

D if method == 'usb_left'

E return 'baiting'

F return 'other'

Answer Key

Physical social engineering: tailgating and baiting

Section A: Quick Questions

A — Tailgating

B — Baiting

B — Both are physical social engineering that trick people rather than break code

A — Require everyone to tap their own access card and challenge unknown people

A — Hand it to IT staff without plugging it in

Section B: Match the Pairs

tailgating → An attacker follows an authorised person through a secure door without using their own badge or key.

baiting → An attacker leaves an infected USB drive where someone will find it and plug it into a computer.

An attacker walks in behind an employee who has just tapped their badge, before the door closes. → tailgating: door opens for badge, attacker follows

An attacker leaves a USB drive labelled 'Staff Salaries' in a car park, hoping a curious worker plugs it in. → baiting: USB labelled Staff Salaries left in car park

Policy: hold the secure door open for anyone carrying boxes, because it is polite. → Holding the door open for an unknown person allows tailgating. Each person should use their own badge, or be signed in by reception and escorted.

Policy: plug any USB drive found in the office into your computer to find its owner. → Plugging in an unknown USB drive is the action a baiting attack wants. Found drives should be handed to IT security and never plugged in.

Section C: Definitions

tailgating and baiting — Physical social engineering: tailgating follows an authorised person through a secure door, while baiting leaves an infected USB drive for someone to plug in.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

IF peopleIn > badgesScanned THEN
    OUTPUT "Possible tailgating"
ENDIF

IF NOT usbKnown THEN
    OUTPUT "Do not plug it in"
ENDIF

IF badgeOK AND onePerson THEN
    OUTPUT "Door opens"
ENDIF

OUTPUT "Do not plug in unknown USB"

extra = peopleIn - badgesScanned

Section E: Spot the Error

D — More than one person through on a single badge scan signals tailgating, so the check should be count > 1. Using < 1 would never trigger for a real entry.

C — An untrusted USB drive could be bait. It must be blocked, not run automatically, so the line should be block(drive).

B — A single = assigns a value and is invalid in an if condition. Comparing needs ==, so the line should be if badge_valid == True:.

C — Someone who followed another person in has not scanned their own badge, so they are a tailgater. They must be refused: return False.

D — The if statement is missing its colon at the end. It should be if method == 'usb_left':.