Practical Industrial Cybersecurity

Chapter 6Physical Security

OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Define and describe physical security strategies, practices, and devices.
2. Understand the application of the following components of physical security:
   • Access Controls
   • Physical Barriers
   • Biometrics
3. Differentiate between authentication and authorization.
4. Identify typical physical access control devices.
5. Identify strengths and weaknesses of different types of physical security and surveillance systems and devices.
6. Select appropriate camera types when given specific scenarios.
7. Describe basic security terminology as referred to in the NERC CIP 006 standard for Physical Security of Critical Cyber Assets.

Introduction

The overall aim of any security effort is to establish a peace-of-mind condition (a carefree state or free from worries) for an individual, a group, or an organization. This condition is ideally achieved by securing exclusive rights to, access to, and use of assets (objects and information). This condition creates value and gives the assets' owner(s) peace of mind.

In the cybersecurity realm, a carefree state is never actually achieved. New types of cyberattacks are constantly being devised, causing cybersecurity specialists and administrators to be constantly on guard against potentially damaging occurrences.

A more structural definition for security is the ...