SECURING FIBRE CHANNEL FABRICS - Brocade

Chapter 4: Security Basics for Storage ProfessionalsTo ensure physical protection of assets, the following groups of countermeasuresshould be considered:• Policies and procedures• Personnel• Barriers• Equipment• RecordsAs with any security program, policies and procedures provide the generalguidelines and establish the spirit in which physical security isimplemented. The policies and procedures also provide liability protectionto an organization when employees do not follow them andincidents occur as a result of not following policy.Personnel include not only the obvious security guards. System administrators,operators, and employees need to be involved in contributingto effective physical security. System administrators and operatorsneed to follow published procedures and policies to ensure that thesystems for which they are responsible are not left unprotected.Employees should be alert for suspicious looking individuals or situations,such as when the exterior door to their office building is leftpropped open.Barriers or access control systems can be structural, human, or natural.A door to a computer center with an electronic access controlsystem is a structural barrier. A security guard posted at the entranceof a data center is an example of a human barrier. A natural creek canbe a natural barrier if crossing a bridge is required to access abuilding.Equipment and technology are heavily used in modern physical security,which include electronic access control systems, locks, fire andintrusion detection systems, and communication systems.Records and logs are also an important part of physical security todetect patterns, flag anomalies, provide evidence, and record eventsand activity. Records can be in paper format such as sign-in sheetsand incident reports, or they can be in electronic format such as videotapes and electronic access databases.Physical access controls are put in place to allow authorized individualsto gain access to specified areas. These include barriers of alltypes such as fences, gates, and doors. These controls can combinemultiple mechanisms to provide additional layers of security.66 Securing Fibre Channel Fabrics