PHYSICAL SECURITY

PHYSICAL SECURITY



Why is physical security important?

INTRODUCTION

This is an introduction to physical security and a deep look at site perimeter barriers and other physical security and environmental controls. The objective of physical security is to ensure an organization can plan for and effectively respond to intruders or other unexpected facility events when designing and implementing. We seek to deter intruders with barriers if an intruder bypasses one or more barriers we need a way to detect them via controls like alarms and cameras. The barriers and detection controls must delay an intruder until humans can assess, what is happening and then respond before the intruder achieves objectives. To minimize adverse human impact, we need the ability to recover business operation administrative controls to drive all other physical security efforts,

Policies

• Procedures

• Facility management

• Background checks

• Training

• Incident response
Security policies

In other words, policies identify management's expectations while other administrative efforts ensure facility design hiring employee participation, and effective intruder response. Policies result in standards and guidelines for identifying physical access controls and barriers to facility siting based on risk appetite. Policies also define security zones covered later and the associated security requirements. Before we consider specific physical security environmental controls we need to understand the different areas of the organization that may require different security.
Security area arrangements



The various security areas are usually called security zones each security zone is assessed for the risk associated with physical access. Unauthorized access to the data center has a high risk and access to sales is a much lower risk with all controls applying the right controls in each risk case. Enables focusing mitigation where needed the largest security zone is the facilities site. The site might include one or more buildings and other structures. One of the biggest rules a policy should cover is reasonable and appropriate site locations.

• Things to consider when determining where to place a facility include,

• High pedestrian traffic

• High vehicular traffic obscured visibility.

• High crime rates.

• Ineffective or rare police presence.

• Local governments and courts that are not always aligned with the law.

• Ethical and significant labor unrest.

Placing security facilities


Placing a facility where overall risk is acceptable is the first step in securing its deterrence requires barriers psychological and physical. An organization should never expect one or more barriers to stop a determined intruder, the right barriers deter the less motivated and delay the highly motivated barriers beginning at the site boundary wall. The site barrier like all physical controls depends on the associated risk. Site barriers include hedges walls berm fence signs and a combination of these hedges are bushes designed for providing a flora wall like science hedges are a weak deterrent. They provide a clear delineation between the site and public access areas, and they also prevent accidental site intrusion.



They can be combined with berms or ditches for additional deterrents berms and ditches also provide ways to delineate site perimeters and prevent accidental intrusion. It can be combined with other barriers to increase deterrence and add vehicle defense. Construction of a berm firm design must take into account the impact on site drainage site perimeter walls without any top deterrent like barbed wire are good. Next-level deterrent walls are good for restricting views. When an organization does not want to have passersby see what is happening on the site it's also considered a better choice when fencing is inappropriate for the neighborhood or for customer perceptions. Wall height depends on what an organization is trying to accomplish. Three to four feet deters casual intruders a six to seven feet wall blocks viewing and deters weakly motivated intruders an eight-foot or more wall deters viewing and the moderately motivated areas requiring higher deterrence required.

Fences are a common sight barrier they are a good solution when appearance and visual blocking are not important considerations. The basic requirements for fencing to deter moderately motivated intruders’ links should be about two inches on a side, and there should be no more than a two-inch gap between the fence and the ground fence. Posts should be embedded in concrete wall height; recommendations also apply to fences placing a top guard on a wall or fence that is needed for a high-security perimeter. A top guard consists of strands of barbed or razor wire extending outward at 45 degrees. It adds about one foot to the height of the fence or wall. A second top guard can extend inward. If the organization is trying to deter the escape of an intruder the combination of top guard and fence should reach at least eight feet.

Access points


Points of authorized access through a site perimeter include manned or unmanned vehicle and pedestrian gates. The strength of the gate and related barriers depends on the risk associated with an intruder forcing his way through the gate with a vehicle. Must take into account the types of potential attacks the organization faces for example the fortified gate is a good solution for a nuclear plant or a Department of Defense site. A normal business might only need a simple wooden barrier. There are many different solutions with various levels of security between these two options. Pedestrian gates like vehicle gates can be manned or unmanned pedestrian gates for moderate to high security and should include a key or cipher lock. Unwanted access points or umps must be managed. Moderate security is reasonable to assume that a determined attacker would go under additional fencing. If high security is needed a grate securely attached to the fencing and planted deep into the ditch would be a better solution.

In general, no gap should exist in the perimeter barrier or any barrier that exceeds 96 square inches walls. Fences are not perfect; intruders can climb them or cut through fences to help prevent going over the barriers. Trees and structures should be at least 20 feet from the barrier. Fences should have a clear zone on each side to enable the detection of anyone attempting to damage them. Intruders can also go under fences, to deter this, fences should be embedded at least 12 inches into the ground. Most organizations don't have to worry about intruders driving a vehicle through a perimeter barrier but terrorist attacks over the past decades have determined that intruders will do whatever is necessary to successfully attack high-value targets. Reinforced walls are one way to protect the human facilities and information resources bollards trench or berm external to the surroundings.

Conclusion

The perimeter barrier can also defend against vehicle intrusions. The objective of Physical Security is to ensure an organization can plan for and effectively respond to intruders or other unexpected facility events when designing and implementing.

Thank you for reading

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