S 1.55 Perimeter protection

Initiation responsibility: Top Management

Implementation responsibility: Planner

If the building or computer centre is located on a property where additional security systems can be installed, safeguards should be taken to prevent any external threats to the building or computer centre.

In particular, the first stage of a site access control for people, and especially for vehicles, may be implemented at this point.

Depending on the protection requirements and topography of the property, the perimeter protection may consist of the following components:

• A wall or fence around the property (including surveillance of the perimeter).
  
  This provides
• protection against accidental trespassing (crossing the property line),
• protection against deliberate trespassing without the use of force, as well as
• protection against deliberate trespassing through the use of force.

• Outdoor security safeguards, e.g. landscaping, vehicle access barriers, illuminating the property and building, surveillance companies, video surveillance, and installing detectors on the property (see also S 1.53 Video surveillance).
  
  This provides protection against undetected access by an intruder to the area between the perimeter and the building.

• Visual identification of people and vehicles, e.g. video intercom systems, personnel and vehicle turnstiles, access control units, and door and gate opening alarm units
  
  This provides protection against unauthorised access attempts that are detectable (visually, acoustically, or using sensors) as the first stage of the access control concept. An entrance control service can be used to support this task (see also S 1.17 Entrance control service).

Before safeguards from the field of perimeter protection are implemented, a consistent security concept must be drawn up for the building and its environment (see S 1.79 Formation of security zones), with this concept comprising the aspects mentioned above and building protection. Otherwise there is a risk that relatively expensive security safeguards will be implemented, for example expensive fencing systems and sophisticated video surveillance of the property, that are not related in any way to building protection and are therefore inadequate.

The idea behind the protection concept should be to implement the most effective safeguards possible using the resources available. This applies particularly to perimeter protection. The safeguards implemented in this area should increase the overall level of security and should not just convey the image of a "high security backdrop", since a professional burglar will hardly be deterred by the sight of high fences and video surveillance cameras.

Example:

If an intruder needs two minutes to get from the fence to the building and then only half a minute to break in to the building, then something is out of proportion. This is even more true when it takes eight minutes for the local police to arrive from the time the private security company triggered the alarm, for example. By this time, the burglar will probably already have completed his/her mission and left the property. The burglar would have been noticed and recorded on video, but would be impossible to identify if wearing a mask.

Review questions:

• Is there a protection concept that includes perimeter protection as well as building protection?