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From: harrison@GPU.UTCS.UTORONTO.CA (David Harrison)
Newsgroups: misc.security
Subject: Physical security of terminals
Message-ID: <9011121858.AA11252@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 24 Oct 90 00:36:58 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
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Approved: security@rutgers.edu

We are about to replace our `dumb' ascii/tek-compatible terminals
with colour X-terminals.  Among the locations will be a dedicated
terminal room which is never locked, although the building itself
is locked from ~10PM - 7AM.  Being a university building, people
are constantly coming and going, so we regularly see winos et.al.
in the building at all hours.  So -- we are considering systems
to insure that our X-terminals are still there when we come in in
the morning.  Physical security in terms of bolting the suckers to
table tops, track balls similarly bolted down instead of mice, and
similar physical measures are taken care of.  But such schemes are
fairly trivial to bust if the person *really* wants to steal our
stuff.  We are musing about more sophisticated systems, such as
ping-ing the terminals every few minutes and if we don't get a
response calling somebody, ringing a bell, whatever.  Thus, I am
soliciting experience, ideas, and/or cautions about these issues.
---
David Harrison, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Toronto