Re: Centralized security administration

[Valdis Kletnieks <Valdis.Kletnieks () VT EDU>]

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 13:40:21 EDT, "Hunt,Keith A" said:

> A question about the Level 1 and Level 2 practices: why did physical
> security get bumped down to Level 2? I would consider that very basic,
> and also one of the easier problems to fix.

Quite often, physical security isn't as easy to fix as one might hope.

I've seen more than a few times where an office or a closet has been pressed
into service as a server room - minus the door.  Works OK for years, because
it's adjoining a lab with noisy equipment, so the noise of the server room
leaking out isn't an issue.  Then we get Somebody Important suddenly
discovering a wild hair about "physical security", and installs a door with a
lock.

By the next morning, the servers are all totally dead due to overheating,
as there wasn't good airflow with the door in the way.  Whoops.

(In one case, there wasn't HVAC in there, but there *was* fire suppression.
Unfortunately, when the sprinkler in the closet went off, so did several
others outside, hosing down the lab equipment too.  Double whoops. :)

(Which reminds me - are those of you who are doing the "physical security"
checklist remembering to check off environmental control, backup power, fire
suppression, and all the rest of that stuff too, not just the door locks
and video cameras? :)

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