I just had to share this story from a friend ("Gwen")... took place
today at the Portland World Trade Center (didn't know there was one, but
it does make the story even more ironic)... It's a wonderful
object-lesson in how a failure to really think thru security standards
can lead to the common "user" circumventing them without any intention
to do "wrong".
"Gwen" was in the neighborhood and needed to find a restroom. Seeing a
coffee shop in the PWTC and figuring there was probably a restroom
there, she walked in and asked for directions to same --
The person behind the counter hands their picture ID and a key to Gwen,
directs Gwen thru the doors to the elevators and down some stairs. Gwen
proceeds to the elevators (using the picture ID to pass thru the scanner
that opens the doors) and, misunderstanding the directions, proceeds
thru another set of doors and back into the unsecured/public area.
Realizing her mistake, Gwen returns to the doors -- but before she can
use the ID card again, somebody else activates the doors (using the
classic hands-full-hip-wave-at-the-scanner move) and Gwen holds the door
for him before proceeding thru herself.
Further inquiry leads her to the 2nd-floor restroom (no key needed,
never did find out what the key would open) and Gwen returns the key and
card to the coffee shop -- with no one making any effort to confirm that
she had done so and not just walked off with the goods.
I presume I don't need to explain the moral behind this story to this
audience... But I will point out that the above story could have been
avoided by the simple action of making sure there was a publicly
accessible restroom (with or without key) outside the "secure" area.
And I'd be willing to bet that the security protocols in place apply
negative reinforcement to anybody who makes a mistake -- in other words,
I'll bet that if Gwen had walked off with the ID card, the card owner
would not have been inclined to report that fact...
Any comments? Anybody on the inside of PWTC on this list?
Raan Young
PS -- the elevator design in the PWTC is a whole nuther story, but I
won't go into that here...
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Tue Apr 05 2005 - 22:29:21 PDT