Question

Explain the difference between piggybacking and shoulder surfing.

Answer 1

The answer to the above problem is as follows:

Shoulder Surfing	Piggybacking
(a)It is the act of looking over the shoulders of a person to gain access to personal information, while the other person whose details are being accessed is not aware of such an action.	(a)Piggybacking simply means to get access to a private wirelss LAN network without permission. So essentially its an unauthorized way of getting inside a wireless hotspot and using free internet.
(b)Generally it is done with malicious intent to gain private information like ATM pin, credit card details, and other similar stuffs	(b)Generally its not done with malicious intent and only to use network resources for free, but it slows down the network speed for legitimate users.
(c)Apart from looking over shoulders, perpetrators also use binoculars, video cameras and other gadgets to capture details like ATM pin, smartphone/laptop password etc.	(c)Perpetrator gets inside the hotspot range of the network and then starts to use internet from it if its open hotspot or cracks the password if its simple enough to crack.
(d)Prevention steps are- cover the keyboard or the place where you are entering sensitive information using your body or palms. try to use laptops/smartphone at safe places where random people cannot see your screen. do not enter extremely private information when you are using laptop/smartphone in public places which are crowded.	(d)Prevention steps are - Always have your router password encrypted. try to use the Wireless protected access(WPA) which is present as an option in most of the routers/smartphone hotspots. And make sure to always use strong password which is a combination of all kinds of letters

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