Physical security is the protection of personnel, hardware, software, networks and data from physical actions and events that could cause serious loss or damage to an enterprise, agency or institution. This includes protection from fire, flood, natural disasters, burglary, theft, vandalism and terrorism.
Physical security is often the first concern in facilities with high asset concentration, especially that used in critical systems for business processes. Physical security is especially important for IT resources, as their proper operation demands that the hardware assets and infrastructure they are running on be kept away from anything that could hinder their function. This includes tampering by unauthorized personnel and unforeseen events like accidents and natural disasters.
Physical security is often overlooked and its importance underestimated in favor of more technical threats such as hacking, malware, and cyber espionage. However, breaches of physical security can be carried out with brute force and little or no technical knowledge on the part of an attacker.
Physical Security Elements
Physical protection consists of a variety of measures to protect nuclear facilities and material against sabotage, theft, diversion, and other malicious acts.