Physical cyber security is often overlooked when considering cyber security, though it is an integral part of it. It is important to remember that while much of our data is not physical, the places it is stored in and managed by are. To protect the hardware and infrastructure of cyber security is crucial, whether that may be the building of an organisation, the door to an office with computers inside, or the people coming and going throughout the building.
Strong physical security may take the form or ID badges for employees so that only certain people can access certain areas and therefore certain information. It may involve key card access on doors, or security guards at the entrance to buildings. Locks can be a basic yet vital part of cyber security, perhaps in their advanced forms of ‘smart locks’ which use computer-based access control measures, or even computer-coded locks.
It is increasingly important to be aware of good physical cyber security practices, due to the increase in IoT devices in use amongst organisations. With more devices at play, the attack surface has grown, meaning more physical elements for cyber criminals to access and attack. The connectivity of IoT devices also means that if one of these many physical components is compromised, it may be very easy to compromise all those that are linked with this one device. Therefore, the increase in the number of physical elements vulnerable to attack, combined with their connectivity means that sensitive information could be accessed easily. Ensuring the best security for IoT devices is essential for the cyber security of organisations as a whole.
While highly important to good cyber security overall, as with every cyber security measure, all physical security measures can be bypassed. Therefore, it is best to use a layered solution to cyber security, based on the needs of the organisation, which encompasses strong physical, technical and human cyber security approaches.