Mr. Bean wants out

 

Image from Wikipedia

Britain has produced some great comedians, and Rowan Atkinson is undisputedly one of them – especially in the role of Mr. Bean, from the 1990s. This silent, cunning bumbler still makes me laugh.

Like in this video, in which he thinks the parking garage rate is a bit too high and thinks of all kinds of ways to get past the barrier for free. Now go watch that video first – spoilers follow.

To be able to leave the garage for free, the barrier must be raised. This usually happens when a car drives in or out. Mr. Bean waits like a predator for the right moment and eventually strikes successfully with his Mini. For my further story, it is a bit of a shame that he does not drive out right behind another car, but instead takes off via the entrance, forcing the car that wants to enter into reverse.

The word tailgating means that driving dangerously close behind another car. In addition, North America also has tailgating parties: parties where people gather at the open tailgate of their cars, barbecuing and drinking. But of course those are not the meanings I want to talk about here.

In security, we have adopted the term tailgating for unauthorized entry into a secured area by means of closely following someone, thereby free riding on that person's access rights. Take smokers, for example, who congregate at the back entrance of their business. When they are done, they go back inside. Just then someone walks up and acts like he belongs there, and there's a good chance they'll hold the door open for him, especially if he's carrying a large box and has his hands full. This practice is also called piggybacking.

I don't know all our offices, but where I have visited, electronic turnstiles were installed everywhere to prevent unauthorized persons. They open up after reading your valid ID card and they close behind you quite quickly. Almost impossible to sneak in with someone unobtrusively. And keeping the gate open for someone – if you would even consider doing so - is not really an option either. I do remember a building in Utrecht where the gates were open for months, if I remember correctly because they were incompatible with our access passes. Maybe they were still the gates of the previous occupant.

We also have entrances with revolving doors. Present your card, step into the revolving door and it gently sweeps you inside. One person at a time; if two persons step in, it starts beeping and turns the other way around, so you're outside again. How does that revolving door know that there are two people in it? Because of the weight. We have an anecdote going around about a revolving door that had to be adjusted because a big colleague kept getting spit out. I just hope that such an adjustment cannot be made from the outside by unscrewing a panel and turning a knob a little.

In an internal poll, no less than 78% of participants indicated that they are aware of the security risks of tailgating. Anyway, for that remaining quarter, and for those who did not vote: what are those risks? Suppose you arrive home, open your front door and notice that a stranger wants to come in with you. You probably don't like the idea. And that's how it works at work, too: you fundamentally don't want any unauthorized strangers inside. What is their purpose? Stealing, hacking, collecting information, who knows, even committing an attack? (Yes, sorry, I'm paid to think doom.)

Sometimes there is little you can do yourself about tailgating. When I arrive at my office by bike, the sliding gate opens when I present my card to the reader. Once I'm through the gate, it takes quite a while before it closes again. I often take advantage of this myself by cycling in behind a colleague. There are often smokers right outside that gate; Who tells me that there won't be someone there at some point who doesn't belong there at all? (Side note: could you please stand a little further away from the gate? I now always have to hold my breath when I'm waiting in front of the gate, because I don't want to inhale your smoke. Thanks in advance!)

Fortunately, our physical security consists of several layers. The fence may be a relatively weak barrier, but that's not all there is. The aforementioned gates, revolving doors, not to mention receptionists and security guards, do their best to keep unwanted people out.

 

And in the big bad world...

• the British are stoking the crypto war again.
• Trump Jr. 's hacked account tweeted that dad Donald had died.
• the International Court of Justice in The Hague was also hacked.
• Employees of tech giants also sometimes commit blunder.
• Quantum computers are (maybe) coming, so you have to guard against them.
• payment details of hotel guests are phished by first hacking the hotel.
• This Android malware first empties your bank account and then resets your device to factory settings.