You are the security officer today
You walk around a small firm called Harbour Print. It has an office, a server room and a lot of staff.
At every stop you see something wrong. You must say what the weak point is and how to fix it.
No hacker is needed. All the problems come from people and places.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Human error | A mistake that a person makes without meaning to. | Emailing the wrong person |
| Malicious | Wanting to cause harm. | A worker who steals data |
| Cyber hygiene | Simple daily habits that keep data safe. | Locking your screen |
| Tailgating | Following a person through a secure door without your own pass. | A stranger behind a worker |
| Shoulder surfing | Watching somebody's screen or keys over their shoulder. | Seeing a PIN |
| Audit | A check of records to find problems. | Who went into the server room? |
| Access control | Rules and tools that decide who may go where. | A badge door (you hold a card to a reader) |
| Rugged | Built to take knocks, dust and water. | A tough laptop for a building site |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Quick check: people or places?
Have a go
Quick check: people or places?
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Stop 1: the sent email
Aisha sends the pay list to "All staff" by mistake. This is human error. She meant no harm.
Fixes: staff training so people slow down. A confirmation box that asks "Send to everyone?" before it goes. Checking the file properties. These hold hidden facts such as the author name, past edits and comments, which the sender may not know are there.
Stop 2: the worker who is leaving
Joe was told he must leave his job tomorrow. Today he copies the client list onto a USB stick (a small memory device).
He is a malicious employee. The fix must be quick. Take him out of the building at once. Suspend his accounts at once. Waiting even one hour gives him time to do harm.
Stops 3 and 4: visitor and paper note
A disguised criminal walks in wearing a bright jacket and says "I fix the printers." Fixes: check the identification of every visitor. Go with every visitor, so they never walk alone.
Poor cyber hygiene: Tom has his password on a paper note and leaves his screen unlocked at lunch. Fixes: lock every machine you leave. Never write down passwords. Use a password manager to keep them safe.
Stop 5: the doors
Lack of access control: the server room has no lock at all. Fit an entry control system, such as a badge reader or a keypad.
Poor access control: the door has a lock, but staff let others follow them in (tailgating), the code is 1234 and it never changes. Fixes: do not allow tailgating. Use codes that are hard to guess. Change codes often. Watch the doors. Run an audit of who goes in.
Stop 6: the building itself
The nature of the location. A screen faces the street window: a person walking past can see it (shoulder surfing). Fit a screen filter or move the desk. The server room is in a flood area, so protect it against the weather and the environment. A back door can be broken on purpose by somebody (vandalised), so fit strong locks and cameras.
Poor robustness. A laptop used on a building site cracks when dropped. Use rugged machines.
Natural disasters such as fire, flood and storm: keep backups in another place.