// Physical
Why a Propped Door Beats the Best Firewall
A firewall can stop a remote attacker cold. A propped side door lets one walk right past it.
Facility & IT leaders · 3 min read
The strongest network controls in the world mean little if a stranger can stroll into your building and plug into the wall. In most breaches that involve a physical foothold, the attacker didn't pick a lock — they walked through a door someone left open, or followed a trusted employee through it.
This is called tailgating, and it works because it's easier to be polite than suspicious. Once inside, a propped door, an empty conference room, or an unattended desk is all it takes to find a network port, a shared PC, or a sticky note with a password.
The fix is simple and cheap: doors that close and latch on their own, badge readers that log every entry, and a team that's comfortable saying 'hold on, let me badge you in.' Pair that with a quick physical walkthrough — the kind Drill Cyber and Security performs — and the cheapest gap becomes the hardest one to exploit.
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