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Comment by ck2 | Hacker News Reader

So this is fun to look at, but considering how datacenters are supposed to be secure, isn't this counterproductive to them?

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Two facts:

#1. Nobody attacks data centers. No, really, they don't. Have some solid concrete walls, a man trap for people entry. a secure receiving area, and make sure your external doors are locked and you now have more security than is required for any data center short of critical infrastructure (nuclear/air-safety) - and probably enough for that as well.

#2. Even if people attacked data centers (which, honestly, they don't) - there was nothing in these tours that would increase their odds of successfully doing so. Much easier to just get a job there if you really had some desire to cause damage.

Indeed. Facebook's operational risk is probably geared towards making sure employees don't leak people's private data, rather than making sure someone doesn't blow a wall in the data center and cart off their disks. Because the first one happens, but the second one doesn't. Unless it's a movie.

I know of two datacenter "attacks".

However they were inside jobs by disgruntled former employees which I know disqualifies my original concern.

Oh, I've been involved in several incidents in Data Centers -but they all were a result of people who had been legitimately been let in to the data center. Contractors, Electricians, Customers, Telcos.

In the entire history of data centers, I'd be surprised if there's been more than a dozen external penetrations on a data center that had the following:

  o Solid Concrete walls.
  o Man Traps w/security that vets all entry.
  o External Locking Doors that are always Locked.
  o Secure Shipping and Receiving (Basically Rolling Doors 
    that lead into a "Package Trap" for gear where it is 
    deboxed)
  o And, I should have also mentioned, customer cages.

On the flip side, I'm betting we could find thousands, and more likely tens of thousands, of incidents related to people who had been let in through proper channels. If you want to invest effort in securing your data center, that's where you'll get the biggest payoff.

> Nobody attacks data centers. No really they don't.

I suggest that these "facts" are too general: nobody currently physically attacks this sort of datacenter in the US.

There are clearly many examples of physical attacks on other sorts of datacenter, eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McDade.

Correction: Nobody has attacked a datacenter.

I think that's a fact because the folks who blow things up aren't cognizant of their importance, or aren't using weapons appropriate to the task.

When the US attacks a country, what do they blow up first? A: Airfields, SAM sites, and Command/Control/Coordination centers. Datacenters and big telco facilities fall into that category.

It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. That said, yeah, it doesn't increase odds of a robbery to give press tours.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/12/08/ocean...

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/11/04/armed...

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security-management/2006/11/02/l...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381108,00.asp

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/20/easynet_brick_lane_r...

Generally datacenters are weary of photos due to housing hundreds or thousands of different customers, many of which who do not want photographs taken of their equipment or even to have the geographic location of their equipment exposed (governments, financial institutes, etc). At Facebooks datacenter the only occupant is Facebook, so it's nice that they aren't as paranoid and will show these photos.

Well, except the "no photos of the older equipment" rule that Scoble apparently ran into :-)

There were various things we weren't allowed to take pictures of but mostly they were very open. You can't even get to the bathroom without a keycard. I don't think they have a reason to be paranoid.

isnt this: "You can't even get to the bathroom without a keycard" contradicts this: "I don't think they have a reason to be paranoid"

Hah. You got me there.

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