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Comment by exabrial | Hacker News Reader

My uncle described the air gapped facility he worked in… when they said no EM out, they meant nothing in or out except humans and filtered air. It was behind dual interlocking nuclear blast doors and concrete. Even the water was sourced and recycled on site to prevent documents or capsules exfiltration via the sewer.

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I would think that a much more likely exfiltration method (assuming a compromised employee) would be via a capsule in the metaphorical "prison wallet" rather than the sewer.

The original backdoor.

All sorts of practical questions.

Can you bring in a lunch (is that a Coke bottle or a secret camera?)? Are there trash bins? If there is water, does that mean there are bathrooms (who does the restocking?)? Is there coffee?! Who/how do you get data into the network? Who/how do you get data out of the network? Can you bring in printed reference materials from a slightly less secure facility?

Bottom line: probably a huge pain in the butt if you have to work like that.

It is a huge PITA. I recently quit a job where I helped out with a PKI environment that was air-gapped.

We employed a lot of improvised quality of life solutions that management doesn't want to know about.

Oh gosh. PKI environments are the worst. I've worked at ZRM and KES type environments, but PIK, those are awful.

I guess it would be just like in nuclear power stations. You can't bring food in, not even toilets are inside the big "sphere".

Honestly I’ve never asked him, this was me listening as a 12 year old at the dinner table as he ranted about another search as he went into work. Now I have questions haha.

if he sometimes got searched when he went into work then he was probably permitted to bring things in such as lunch

Actually, it's probably the opposite. The searches are more than likely to make sure you're not bringing anything in that could exfiltrate data like a camera, usb drive, or even pen and paper.

I work in a similar, secure environment. We are not allowed to bring any items in other than our persons, smart card that we scan on enter/exit, and the clothes on our back. We have to leave the facility to use the bathroom, eat, drink, etc.

The typical SCIF is configured with the break room, bathrooms and maybe lockers outside of the secure perimeter, the "regular" office space. Along with a wall mounted shelf area for people to put their wallets and phones.

i see, thanks!

Depends on the site.

What facility was that?

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