Fort N.O.C.'s Security in Obscurity

penciling_in writes "Brock N. Meeks of MSNBC reports on his recent visit to VeriSign's secret location: 'The unassuming building that houses the "A" root sits in a cluster of three others; the architecture looks as if it were lifted directly from a free clip art library. No signs or markers give a hint that the Internet's most precious computer is inside humming happily away in a hermetically sealed room. This building complex could be any of a 100,000 mini office parks littering middle class America.' The report goes on to say: 'Access to the Network Operations Center, the "NORAD" of the Internet's traffic monitoring, requires the electronic badge and then a double biometric hand print scan.' And here are Karl Auerbach and Robert Alberti offering their interesting analysis of this report on CircleID."

Comments

Cool...

[Shoten]

It's cool to see someone write about the building you used to work in! I worked in this building, a bit more than 2 years ago. I was in Network Solutions' consulting arm, whose DC office was in that building, two floors under the NOC. The security really is as spectacular (and low-key) as you'd expect. You would NOT believe the camera surveillance they have facing outwards...you can see some of it, but you can't see some of them at all. And the cameras themselves are startlingly cool...there's a small strip mall across a major highway from the facility, with a clear line of sight. One of the security guys showed me how far the zoom worked, as he zoomed in on a guy smoking in front of a bookstore in the strip mall...about half a mile away. It was still a clear picture.

When 9/11 happened, we were not allowed back into the building for a couple of days, but all they had to stand up as barriers were road cones. Luckily, they're finally moving to a location that isn't just obscure and secure, but armored, as I hear their Mountain View, CA location is.