For Bad Actors, It’s Always Tailgating Season

By: Tina D'Agostin - CEO of Alcatraz 

Football is back, meaning tailgating season is in full swing. But for security professionals, another kind of tailgating is on our minds year-round.  

Bad actors sneaking through a door behind a legitimate access holder is a leading cause of security breaches. A survey released by ASIS found that 61% of organizations cited tailgating as their most prevalent access control issue. According to the Security, Resiliency & Technology (SRT) Integration Forum, 41% of security executives believe the cost of tailgating ranges from $2M to “too high to measure. Given that tailgating is intrinsically difficult to detect through standard access logs that only show authorized badge swipes, the true scale of the problem could be even larger.

In conversations with business leaders, I’ve seen a growing shift toward treating tailgating not just as a procedural lapse but as a cultural one. Organizations that excel in security recognize that accountability and awareness must extend to every individual, through shared responsibility. Setting a zero-tolerance standard is not about disciplining employees; it is about defining excellence. When everyone understands that securing a door is as essential as authenticating an identity, we move from reacting to breaches to preventing them altogether.

While it’s commendable that companies are taking physical security so seriously, in many cases, the weakest link isn’t really their employees; it’s their access control system.

Complex threats require smart defenses

Tailgating is a persistent issue because proximity-based control systems rely on people operating in unnatural ways. Most of us are taught from an early age that it’s polite to hold a door open—there’s even scientific evidence that we’re hard-wired to help others from as young as 18 months.

When employees are faced with a situation where they should shut the door on a tailgater or refuse to badge someone in, it becomes awkward. It makes them feel like a jerk. Bad actors exploit this, using social engineering techniques such as dressing like a delivery driver to add pressure.   

The solution is to create physical environments and technology that minimize the possibility of tailgating and a corporate culture that keeps security top of mind.   

• Use intelligent AI-powered access points. Traditional badge systems are inherently vulnerable to tailgating because they verify a card, not a person. With facial authentication, we know who belongs and, just as critically, who doesn’t. Intelligent edge devices use built-in AI to verify identity in real time and detect when an unauthorized person attempts to follow someone through the door. Unlike proximity readers or other biometric systems that require additional sensors, cameras, and backend software to detect tailgating, facial authentication consolidates everything into a single, AI-powered device at the edge. The result: smarter security with fewer gaps.
• Turnstiles only work when you know who’s walking through. Electronic gates and turnstiles are designed to allow just one person through at a time, and are increasingly used at main access points in large office buildings. When paired with biometric identity verification, such as facial authentication, they can be highly effective. The system quickly verifies who the person is, not just what credential they’re holding, and only then unlocks the gate for a brief window. Without that identity check, even the best-designed turnstile can still let a badged but unauthorized person pass through. Real security requires knowing who belongs—not just what they’re carrying.
• Stop tailgating in real time—not after the fact. Most tailgating detection systems are reactive, providing forensic data only after an incident has occurred. Systems with real-time alerting capabilities allow security personnel to respond as a tailgating attempt is happening, rather than reviewing footage after the fact. In addition to live detection, these systems log patterns over time, such as frequent locations, times of day, or individuals involved—giving security teams the information needed to address vulnerabilities and adjust protocols before they lead to a breach.
• Training and awareness. There’s a tendency in busy organizations for security training to happen at onboarding and then sporadically (if at all) thereafter. But secure environments such as airports show that an always-on security culture requires regular reminders. Frequent refresher training, compliance audits, risk assessments, diligent analysis of incidents and near misses, and creating internal champions to promote awareness are all part of building a culture that empowers employees to challenge tailgaters.

There’s no single answer to the threat of tailgating. But a combination of design, technology, training, and diligence can significantly shrink the opportunity for unauthorized people to enter undetected.