220-1102 Question 311
Single answerPhysical securityA small medical office recently discovered that a visitor entered a staff-only area by following an employee through a badge-controlled door without using a credential. Management wants to reduce the chance of this happening again while still allowing employees to move efficiently between secure areas. Which of the following is the BEST physical security control to implement?
- A
Install a mantrap at the entrance to the staff-only area
- B
Require employees to change their passwords every 30 days
- C
Enable full-disk encryption on all workstations in the office
- D
Deploy a screen lock policy that activates after 5 minutes of inactivity
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This scenario describes tailgating or piggybacking, a common physical security threat in which an unauthorized person gains access by closely following an authorized user through a secured door. The best mitigation from the listed choices is a mantrap, which is specifically intended to control physical entry and reduce this type of risk. In CompTIA A+ Core 2 physical security objectives, candidates are expected to understand practical controls such as badge readers, access control vestibules, cameras, and locks, and to match the control to the threat. Password changes, encryption, and screen locks are valid security controls in other contexts, but they do not directly mitigate unauthorized entry into a restricted area. In real-world environments such as medical offices, this is especially important because restricted areas may contain systems handling protected health information, making strong physical access controls a best practice.
- A. Correct.
Correct. A mantrap is a physical access control mechanism designed to prevent unauthorized entry by allowing only one person or a controlled number of people through a secured vestibule at a time. It is specifically used to reduce tailgating and piggybacking, which is the exact issue described in the scenario. This is the most direct and effective physical security control for the problem.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Password rotation is an administrative or logical security measure, not a physical access control. While password policies may be part of an organization's overall security posture, they do not prevent a visitor from following an employee through a secured doorway.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Full-disk encryption helps protect data at rest if a device is lost or stolen. It does not control who can physically enter a restricted area. Someone might choose this because the office handles sensitive information, but it does not address the immediate problem of unauthorized physical entry.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Automatic screen locking is a useful safeguard against unauthorized access to an unattended workstation, but it does not stop tailgating at a badge-controlled door. This option addresses workstation session security rather than physical entry control.