Protecting your nest

by Courtney Cavness


Outside my office window right now, I have the perfect birds-eye view of this nest of Robins. I wanted to take some photos of the new hatchlings, and was able to get pretty close to the nest by going to the building's outdoor stairwell.

Which lead me to think about the importance of considering all the different angles of physical security issues.

When hardening a physical environment, the obvious things like installing door locks and alarms are typically covered. But securing a sensitive area with a door that has the strongest biometric access control is rendered useless if the protected area has only a drop ceiling in place -- or if an employee politely holds the door open for the stranger behind them who is "struggling" with an awkward box in his arms.

Likewise, what use is building your nest high up in a tree to protect your precious assets, if you end up placing it right beside a stairwell?