In: Computer Science
NEED at least 1000 Words on this Please
Discuss how physical security plays a huge role in the security information security infrastructure. Include discussions on Risk Assessment and Business Continuity Planning.
Solution: Physical security refers to protecting assets that are of crucial importance for an organization from any external or internal physical threat such as fire, robbery, flood, natural disasters, terrorism, and vandalism. These assets mainly include personnel, hardware, software, data, and networks. Even though a lot of emphasis has been given on information security and data privacy in recent times but the value of the Physical Security remains unacknowledged at least in the domain of Information Technology and Information Security. Hacking or cracking attacks generally require a very sound knowledge of Computer Systems and it is a very complex task, on the other hand, the physical attacks are brute force attacks and they do not bound the attacker to have an outstanding knowledge of the Computer Systems and hence they are highly expected and more dangerous.
Physical Security is further divided into three components such as access control, surveillance, and testing. Physical Security focuses more on placing obstacles in the way of potential external or internal threats so that events that can be endangering may be evaded such as accidents and natural disasters. This is ensured by taking technological measures such as fencing, access control cards, biometric access control(access control cards), fire alarms, etc. When it comes to surveillance it is meant to monitor the situation for the resources that are highly precious to the organization such as the server rooms, records room, etc. This is ensured using the cutting edge technological pieces of equipment such as cameras, heat sensors, smoke detectors, intrusion detectors, etc. The testing mainly includes making sure that the security procedures and policies are checked from time to time and on a regular basis so that they work well for the situations that they have been set up for.
In this way, the Physical Security helps the organizations to better protect their IT infrastructure and their assets. Due to this, the organization can better enhance their production level which will eventually lead to profits in their businesses. New generations technologies such as IoT also helping the field of Physical Security to improve by connecting the crucial business systems with smart devices through the internet. The main impact that it lays down on the physical security of the IT infrastructure is that it helps the organizations to isolate their business systems from the outside malicious access. This is made sure by tracking the location of the device. Sensors such as motion sensors and tracking signals also help the organizations to secure their business systems in an efficient and effective way.
Physical Security is not always about the usage of the high tech equipment to secure the business systems but it also requires a fair share of human contribution from the organization. In other words, the employees of an organization are its first line of defense, and the organizations must build a culture of security within the organization so that even the employees of the organization are serious about this thing. This can be achieved by building a sense of awareness regarding the security among the employees of an organization. This helps in creating a sense of commitment within the employees of an organization as they know that the organization relies on them when it comes to the security of the assets of the organization. This also reduces the chances of employees turning their backs towards the organization and hence it will benefit the company.
Time to time evaluation of the budget that is spent on the physical security of an organization must be carried out so that the organization never runs out on the resources that are required to tackle the issue of physical security within the organization. This is important because, as technology gets more and more advanced, the attackers are delving into developing newer methods to harm the organization. So in order to keep up with the external or the internal threats the organization must ensure that they are not running out of the essential resources to tackle the issue of physical security within the organization. It helps the organization to develop unconventional ways to tackle any external or internal threat which is very much required as the threats keep on becoming more and more unconventional hence the preventive measure to tackle these threats has to be unconventional as well.
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