Common Threats to Router and Switch Physical & Mitigation

Common Physical Threats & Mitigation Techniques:

There are four general types of threats to physical installations. Namely, they are: hardware, electrical, environmental and maintenance.

Hardware Threats:

Hardware threats involve the threats of physical damage to router or switch hardware. Critical networking devices should be located in wiring closets or in computer or telecommunication rooms. These rooms should meet these minimum requirements:

1. The room must be locked, and access granted only to authorized personnel.
2. The room should not be accessible via a dropped ceiling, raised floors, windows, duct works, or any other point of entry other than the secured access point
3. It is advisable to use electronic access control with logged entry attempts by security systems. Security personnel should also be on hand.
4. The security personnel should monitor activities via security cameras with automatic recording.

Electrical Threats:

Electrical threats include irregular fluctuations in voltage, such as brownouts(intentional drop in voltage in an electrical supply) and voltage spikes. Unconditioned power and total power loss are other examples of electrical threats. These measures can be taken to mitigate electrical threats:

1. Install uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems for important networking devices.
2. Install backup generators for important networking devices.
3. Plan for and initiate regular UPS or generator testing and maintenance procedures based on the manufacturer-suggested preventive maintenance schedule.
4. Install redundant power supplies on critical devices.
5. Monitor and alarm power-related parameters at the power supply and device levels.  

Environmental Threats:

Environmental threats include very low or high temperatures, moisture, electrostatic and magnetic interference. Suggested methods to mitigate environmental threats include:

1. Supplying the room with dependable temperature and humidity control systems. Manufacturer-recommended environmental parameters of the devices should be verified with the settings.
2. Removing any sources of electrostatic and magnetic interference in the room.

Besides the four above-mentioned threats, there is another group of threats known as maintenance threats.

Maintenance threats include not having backup parts or equipment for critical network devices, not labeling

components and their cabling correctly, electrostatic discharge, poor handling of devices and poor cabling. These are some rules to mitigate Maintenance threats

1. Clearly label all cabling and secure the cabling to equipment racks to prevent accidental damage, disconnection or incorrect termination.
2. Use cable runs and raceways to traverse rack-to-ceiling or rack-to-rack connections.
3. Follow procedures when replacing or working with internal router and switch components.
4. Maintain a stock of spare parts
5. Always log off administrative interfaces when leaving a station.
6. Do not rely on a locked room as the only protection for a device. 

References:

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownout_(electricity)
• http://computernetworkingnotes.com/network-security-access-lists-standards-and-extended/mitigating-common-threats.html