As if you didn’t have enough to be worried about with little things like conficker, we get word through InformationWeek of sabotage to fibre optic cables in Silicon Valley. It seems that a manhole cover didn’t, by itself, present a sufficient security challenge to someone with a desire to disrupt phone and Internet service to hundreds of thousands of people. What’s the takeaway from this? First, don’t ignore physical security. A good firewall is important, but it can’t stop someone from walking in through an unlocked door and stealing your server. Those of us who spend our working lives looking at configuration screens and log files can find it very easy to overlook simple things like door locks and access records. This is a good reminder to pay attention to the less exotic side of security.

Next, redundant paths are very good things. I know, I know, it’s not always possible (or affordable), but the normally-reliable public telephone network has demonstrated time and again that single signal paths are critical failure points. If you can afford redundancy, it’s a good investment.

Speaking of investment, you might think about increasing your security knowledge. At Interop, IT Security Workshops like How to Complete a Risk Assessment in a Week or Less could give you the information you need to take a more comprehensive look at your organization’s security. If you need new ammunition to convince management that redundancy and backup are good things in which to invest, Key Considerations in Business Resiliency might by just what you need.

If you can’t get to the sessions, and can’t convince management to invest, then I recommend ham radio. You can’t use it to keep your business going, but at least you can contact your spouse to say you’re going to be very late for dinner.

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