[HN Gopher] SCIF and Radio Frequency Secured Facility Design (2021)
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       SCIF and Radio Frequency Secured Facility Design (2021)
        
       Author : transpute
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2023-04-27 15:07 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (incompliancemag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (incompliancemag.com)
        
       | transpute wrote:
       | Part 2 (May 2022), https://incompliancemag.com/article/scif-and-
       | radio-frequency...
       | 
       |  _> Whether it is used for power, communication, data, or
       | building management systems, a component than includes or uses
       | conductive cables or wires needs to be filtered to maximize the
       | RF performance of a shielding system ... If it is conductive, it
       | has the ability to carry signals and radiate similar to an
       | antenna. Similarly, critical or protected signals are at risk of
       | coupling to those cables or wires and leaving the secured space
       | ... a cost-effective solution may be to use fiber-optics in the
       | secure space that can penetrate the shielding through an
       | inexpensive RF waveguide or series of RF waveguides._
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Misery is working in an approved SCIF. I've been in them. During
       | the Cold War, they were like this.
       | 
       | There's a big, mostly empty room. Inside it is a big metal box
       | made of steel panels welded together with visible welds. Thick
       | solid steel. The thing looks like a big metal tank, and that's
       | what it's called. They're usually painted industrial grey. There
       | are, of course, no windows.
       | 
       | The box is raised about two feet above floor level, so it can be
       | inspected underneath. There's clearance on all six sides for
       | inspection. You go in through an double door airlock-type
       | arrangement. When each door is closed, a compressed-air system
       | forces conductive tines against each doorframe for RF tightness.
       | Power goes in via big RF filter boxes. Data involves hardware
       | crypto units and fiber optics. If there's a connection, it's to
       | another similar tank elsewhere.
       | 
       | These tanks are inspected by people who put an RF transmitter
       | inside and then go around the outside with antennas and receivers
       | to see if they can get anything from the transmitter.
       | 
       | This is completely separate from physical security. The alarms,
       | guards, and cameras protect the outer room, so nobody gets close
       | to the outside of the tank.
       | 
       | These steel boxes were no larger than necessary. Much like
       | working in a shipping container. No decoration or unnecessary
       | objects inside. Not grim, but military functional.
       | 
       | When you finally get inside the box, the impression is more
       | likely to be "you still have one of those running?" than "wow,
       | that's advanced!". The advanced technology will be in some very
       | specific mission-critical area, and everything else will be way
       | behind. This reflects long DoD procurement cycles.
       | 
       | People working in highly classified environments tend to
       | stagnate. They get stuck on old technology. That's why I got out
       | of that sort of thing.
        
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       (page generated 2023-04-27 23:01 UTC)