How to Prevent Tailgating: 12 Tips for Your Business

As a means to breach a company’s physical and cybersecurity at once, tailgating is a primary concern for those tasked with managing that security. Yet for large, sprawling facilities — or companies with many different facilities and access levels to manage — the challenge is considerable. With that in mind, here’s a closer look at how to prevent tailgating in the facilities you manage, and how technology and a new app-based device are making that job more manageable than ever before.

> What is tailgating, and how can it impact your business? Find out here

How to Detect an Intruder: Examples of Tailgating

As we learned in part 1 of this series, tailgating refers to a situation in which an intruder gains access to a restricted space by following directly behind an authorized entrant. (When this is done with the participation of the authorized individual, it's called piggybacking, not tailgating.)

Tailgating can happen as simply as someone following an employee through a slow-closing, badge-restricted security door. Or, it can be as elaborate as an intruder disguising themselves as an authorized delivery person. In addition, tailgating could also take the form of someone who:

•    Poses as a painter, repair person or other service professional

•    Appears confident or in a hurry — e.g., rushing through a half-closed door while on the phone

•    Appears to be struggling — perhaps with carrying heavy boxes, or a large lunch delivery

•    Enters with a large group to circumvent individual security checks

•    Uses a counterfeited badge or ID card, or claim to have lost theirs

Tailgating is rarely spontaneous. Intruders may stake out a facility for months to find a breach opportunity — like a slow-closing or broken door, or one that’s often left propped open. They usually behave as though they belong, and thus are rarely questioned by those who may not recognize them.

This potential to take so many types of forms, many of which can be effective in different situations, is one of the factors that has made tailgating such a difficult-to-manage threat in the past. Luckily, though, today's businesses have access to a host of prevention tips to help them get the job done, including new technology and even a device to prevent tailgating throughout the entire space they manage.  

12 Tips to Prevent Tailgating in Your Business

Given today’s widespread use of customer data for targeted selling and personalized experiences, most organizations are at some level of risk for security breaches like tailgating. But serious as that risk may be, tailgating can also largely be prevented by shoring up some basic security best practices. For instance:

1. Double-check your security plan to remove vulnerabilities and “loopholes” like unsecured or broken doors.

2. Implement a system-wide alarm system to detect open doors.

3. Implement (or reinforce) advanced electronic access systems like smart ID badges and biometric controls (e.g., fingerprint scanners or voice recognition), or both via multi-factor authentication (MFA).

4. Implement additional checks on delivery and service personnel.

5. Hire additional security guards to watch over entry points or patrol facility grounds.

6. Implement single-access turnstiles or revolving doors, especially in sensitive areas.

7. Use occupancy sensors to monitor the number of people present in sensitive areas.

8. Better train employees in access protocols and offer regular updates and reminders — in other words, foster a culture focused on security.

9. Ensure that any vendors or subcontractors also receive training in these rules and adhere to them.

10. Make it easy for employees to report suspicious individuals or new vulnerabilities.

11. Use security cameras and CCTV systems to conduct video surveillance.

12. Leverage more sophisticated technology like computer vision (e.g., Dragonfruit's device to prevent tailgating) to detect intruders via facial recognition and other methods.

Tackle the Challenge of Tailgating with Computer Vision AI Technology

When it comes to preventing tailgating security breaches without the expense of hiring new security personnel or other costly overhauls, those last two points are key. Combining computer vision AI technology to your existing camera infrastructure can offer a level of detection that simply wasn’t possible just a few short years ago — and, with the Dragonfruit AI device to prevent tailgating, it's all available at a price point that’s accessible to virtually any business.

Designed to smoothly and seamlessly integrate with the camera and security systems you already use, the advanced tailgating detection software offered by Dragonfruit AI provides multi-camera support for each entry point for the best protection against tailgating. You can learn more about our AI-driven tailgating alarm system here, or contact us today to get a quote.