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I once toured a similar facility, complete with hand scanners and airlock-style double doors throughout the facility. After going through countless layers of se
by Construct 16y ago
I once toured a similar facility, complete with hand scanners and airlock-style double doors throughout the facility. After going through countless layers of security we reached the deepest, most secure section of the data center where the most sensitive servers were housed. On the opposite side of the room there was a fire escape door propped wide open, leading straight outside into the sunlight.
Our tour guide, who was an investor in the facility, explained that the employees really hated going through all of those scanners and double doors, so in the morning they just prop the back door open. If a customer or potential customer comes for a tour, they make sure to close the door.
The other highlight of that visit was the generator room, complete with some truly massive diesel storage tanks. Our guide (the investor) proudly explained that they could run the facility for several days in the event of a natural disaster which knocked out power to the facility. Out of curiosity, I knocked on the side of one of the tanks, only to be greeted with a hollow echo sound. The investor then explained that the tanks are mostly empty, but they'd fill them up if they thought a natural disaster could occur.
- moe 16y agoWow, I've seen funny stuff in datacenters, but that's quite hilarious. Even the shoddiest datacenters I've been to had door alarms, i.e. an alarm would go off when a door stays open for longer than 30 secs. I was told that opening an emergency door normally also triggers an alarm immediately. But surely all those alarms can be disabled by trained personnel... ;-)
- ratsbane 16y agoI wondered, reading the original article, how many of the security measures were to impress potential clients and investors and how many were really there to keep bad people away from the boxes.
- andfarm 16y agoI'm guessing it's mostly the former. The sort of attack which involves -- for instance -- fake IDs and/or ninjas crawling through the ceiling is relatively rare, especially compared to online attacks (which are a more serious threat anyway).
- smackfu 16y agoThe other complication is that the people who have the most to gain from bypassing the security (your competitors) also have a very easy way to bypass it: get their own cage.