Sep 23rd, 2006 |
First Posted on TheTechStop.net
Now that the show is over and the crates have been packed, there’s time for the team to catch our collective breath. While we’re doing that, I want to look at a revelation that the members of the InteropNet had during the show….
We need PHYSICAL security.
We may have some of the best security engineers in the industry, driving advanced security solutions from Juniper and Extreme, but somehow we missed the very simple fact that the best designed and implemented network on the planet is only as secure as the environment that houses it.
During the show we had two incidents without our Network Operations Centers. In NOC 2 we had an unknown individual rummage through the belongings of the NOC members, stealing an expensive digital SLR camera. In NOC 1 we had an intruder make himself at home at the Fluke table, not stealing anything, but nonetheless being an unwanted visitor.
We were relatively lucky this time: a digital camera can be replaced and the intruders didn’t compromise the network. Several years ago at an Interop conference in Atlanta we were not so lucky, with somebody stealing all the laptops and several diagnostic tools from the NOC. In any case, I think we now know that a few see-through walls and a guard at the door isn’t enough security.
Thankfully, we have Axis Communications as a Solutions Provider.
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Axis was once again in the NOC with their advanced network video products. We had an Axis 221 camera watching NOC 1, an Axis 211 viewing the area in front of the PEDs, an Axis 214ptz (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) camera sitting in the Network Services Area, a variety of 205 and 207w cameras overseeing the show floor area, and Axis Camera Station software to aggregate the video into one screen and provide motion sensing and recording functions. Truly we had an impressive array of video security up and running within the simple-to-use Axis family. The deployment was made even more simple by the fact that the 211 and the 221 are native POE capable and all the other cameras are low-power as to allow POE dongles.
Unfortunately I set up the cameras and the software as a way for people outside the show to view what was going on in the conference instead of using best-practices deployment for security. This meant that I didn’t deploy any cameras in NOC 2 where the digital SLR was stolen, I didn’t have overlapping coverage, and I didn’t dedicate a storage server for recording images when the Axis Camera Station detected movement. — Several of us were able to view the intruder in NOC 1 from our hotel rooms, but we never had a clear picture of his face.
Still, it seems that even the mere presence of the cameras was enough to safeguard the gear in the NOC 1 racks. While the security guard may not have been able to keep the intruder out, at least we knew he was there. Though we clearly need to improve our deployment of the Axis solutions, at least this incident should light a fire and force us to protect layer 0.
So… you can expect to see my reviews of the various Axis cameras. You can expect to see a writeup on the Axis Camera Station software. You can expect to hear about the myriad number of ways that the Axis gear can be used to tighten security… But most of all you can expect the Axis presence to grow at the next Interop.
