Local computer security
Author: L.S.Lowe. File: locsecurity.html. This update 20100925. Part of Guide to the Local System.There are several methods of computer security in Particle Physics.
Physical security
Your ordinary office door key gives you access to some of the common rooms in our group, such as the print room 331, the terminal room 330, and the PP door of the conference room 229 (shared with Astro). It also locks/unlocks the corridor doors on the West 3rd floor.It's important to avoid computer theft, as this would be very disruptive to our work, as well as being expensive. So please keep your office door locked when nobody is there.
When you leave, or when you are working late, please ensure the corridor doors on the 3rd floor are locked. This is always important, and particularly important on a Friday. The corridor doors are the ones near office 313 and office 326. If your office is in the south stretch (say 321 to 327) but you leave via the door near 313, please nevertheless ensure the door near 326 is locked.
Rooms with alarms
Several rooms in our area have conventional burglar alarms: Computer Servers and IT Development. Do not expect to be able to enter these rooms under normal circumstances.The Remote Monitoring System
The Remote Monitoring System monitors the response of most group-owned desktop PCs and computer servers in the Particle Physics area and sends a message to me and to University Security when a possible problem is detected.For this reason, you should avoid switching off your desktop machine particularly outside normal working hours: 08:30 - 19:00 on Monday to Friday. Official university holidays are also counted as outside normal working hours.
If a hard fault is encountered, you should ring security on 44444 to warn them to expect a false alarm, giving them your name and room number. You should normally try to reboot immediately to reduce the likelihood of a false alarm.
You should also avoid disconnecting any group machine from the network. This is effectively the same as switching it off as far as the remote monitoring is concerned.
The Remote Monitoring System identifies to University Security the exact room and computer name giving rise to the problem. Be prepared to identify yourself to security if a problem is indicated.
Switching off just your display monitor to save some energy at weekends (say) is OK and will not trigger the alarm. (A display in power-saving mode uses about 5 watts, or 0.1 units per day).
L.S.Lowe.