Building the Ideal Web Hosting Facility: A Physical Security Perspective

Defense in Depth is a wonderful ideal, but it's also a costly one, particularly when dealing with Physical Security. While it is easy to maintain high standards when using a hypothetical model, Physical Security implementations in the real world generally fall well short of this ideal. Compromises are made regarding the site, the building, and the desired security measures. Lesser devices are substituted for the desired ones, all in the name of keeping to the budget. At the worst extreme, you may find that you're not even able to fully control access to your facility. Natural or man-made disasters can always be counted on to bring Physical Security to the forefront of everyone's minds, and it is to be hoped that many companies will then begin the process of reviewing, creating and implementing better Physical Security standards. Past history, however, has shown that once the initial event recedes further into the past, companies go back to their old ways and forget these hard-learned lessons. Perhaps now, with the recent effects and threats of global terrorism all too obvious, this will change and comprehensive physical security implementations will become as commonplace as firewalls