Scott Wright’s Security Views

Here’s a scenario that could happen to anybody in any organization. But with the staggering number of information security breaches occurring at colleges and universities recently, this scenario is perhaps more common in within educational institutions.

A university professor receives an email from another colleague working in the university. The subject line says, “Here’s a good way to stop students from cheating on assignments and exams…” When the email is opened, there is a forwarded message that has a pitch for a free teleseminar on iron-clad techniques that discourages student sharing of assignments. This sounds like a panacea in a world where students are getting too street-wise for professors to maintain control over their evaluation system. So, the prof clicks on the link.

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With news that they are resurrecting the old Get Smart parody of the James Bond spy series in a new movie, I can’t wait to see what ridiculous and useless security measures they dream up. Some of you may remember Maxwell Smart walking purposefully down a long hallway during the opening theme, with a series of large doors opening before him until, at last, he gets to a room with nothing in it but a phone booth (click HERE). He turns around in time to watch as all the doors behind him close one after the other. He puts a few coins into the phone, makes a call and suddenly drops through the floor, and out of site.

This, apparently, is the only way into Control Headquarters. It always made me wonder how they take deliveries of office supplies and equipment…

The multiple secure doors are a great example of a zoning safeguard… except for the fact that, to be secure, each one has to close before the next one opens, so that nobody can “tailgate” without being detected or trapped. It’s this kind of subtle inconsistency that makes a safeguard that’s supposed to be secure into a bit of a joke.

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