Security Guard for a Day

What can a brainy computer geek learn from the brawny world of physical security? A lot more than you might think.

By Sarah D. Scalet

September 12, 2002 — CSO — Its the week of Sept. 11 time for columnists everywhere to write hand-wringing pieces about the erosion of civil liberties, the American governments failure to improve security and the misunderestimation (to borrow a word from the nations fearless leader) of the threat of cyberterrorism. We all need a break from that. Instead, let me tell you about my summer vacationmore specifically, about what I learned from working as a volunteer security guard.

This summer I spent several days at a music festival making sure no one got in without a wristband, and several afternoons at the food co-op making sure members paid for all their food. Both venues had crowds as honest and wholesome as youll find anywhere in the state of New York. And both seem to illustrate the simplest problems and solutions for not just the physical world but the cyber world as well.

Thats appropriate, since lately theres been talk about the benefits of blending physical and IT security. (See Taming the Two-Headed Beast in Septembers CSO magazine.) The unspoken subtext is often that information security is the brains and physical security is the brawn. Certainly theres very little brawn involved with information security, unless you count pounding policy manuals over your users heads (which I dont recommend). But the fact is theres a lot that the computer geeks among us could learn from the work done by legions of security guards who check our bags, control access to buildings and just generally keep an eye on whats happening. Heres what I learned, anyway.

1. Assume people will make mistakes.
At the food co-op, moms and dads who need a few items for dinner load up the bottom of the stroller, take everything out of the stroller to be scanned, and then put it all back in the stroller to roll homeall while caring for their squirmy, hungry kids. I dont assume theyre trying to smuggle anything out, but I do assume they might inadvertently forget something in the stroller. As they say, the most important job is just keeping the honest people honest.

2. Tell them why security is good for them.
One day at the co-op, I got the typical grumbling from someone who didnt want me to check his backpack for food as he was loading up his grocery bags. Feeling especially diplomaticand powerlessI pointed out that if I just peeked inside, it would be easier for him to get past the last security check at the door, because I would have already accounted for all his bags. The approach seemed to work. The four-step process to buying groceries may seem needlessly complicated, but its kept the co-op running for almost 30 years. And when people understand how policies help things run more smoothly, theyre more likely to cooperate.

3. Help people.

• Print