Cybersecurity For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 5

Enhancing Physical Security

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding why physical security is an important part of cybersecurity

Understanding the basics of physical security for data and electronic devices

Identifying what needs protection

Reducing physical security risks

You may be tempted to skip this chapter — after all, you are reading this book to learn about cybersecurity, not physical security.

But please don’t.

Various aspects of physical security are essential ingredients of any cybersecurity program, whether formal or informal. Without them, all of the policies, procedures, and technical defenses can prove to be worthless. In fact, just a few decades ago, the teams responsible for protecting computers and the data housed within them focused specifically on physical security. Locking a computer in a secured area accessible by only authorized personnel was often sufficient to protect it and its contents. Of course, the dawn of networks and the Internet era, coupled with the mass proliferation of computing devices, totally transformed the risks. Today, even computers locked ...