Physical Security Report: Understanding Security Levels and Purposes

This report provides an overview of physical security, defining it as the protection of an organization's resources from various threats. It emphasizes the importance of safeguarding hardware, software, data, and networks against damage, theft, and other potential risks. The report then outlines the five key levels of physical security: outer perimeter security, natural access control, territorial reinforcement, inner perimeter security, and interior security. Each level's purpose is clearly explained, from controlling access to securing building interiors and assets. The report concludes by summarizing the significance of physical security for all organizations, highlighting its cost-effectiveness and crucial role in protecting valuable resources. The report also includes references to support the information provided.

Running head: PHYSICAL SECURITY
Physical Security
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Physical Security....................................................................................................................2
Levels of Physical Security with Purposes............................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Physical security is the security of various equipments or resources of an organization
from any type of damage, theft, terrorist attacks or natural disasters (Fennelly, 2016). It is
described as the various measures of security, which are designed for denying all the
unauthorized access to the resources, equipments as well as facilities for proper protection.
The following report outlines a brief discussion on physical security. The report also
explains about the various levels of physical security (Wells et al., 2014). This report even
discusses the purpose of the levels of physical security in an organization.
Discussion
Physical Security
Physical security involves proper protection from any kind of natural disaster, theft,
fire, flood, vandalism, terrorism, burglary and many more (Peltier, 2013). Several security
measures are utilized for protecting personnel or staffs of that organization. The major areas
that are secured are hardware, software, data and network.
Levels of Physical Security with Purposes
Physical security has mainly five levels of security. Each of them has their own
purpose. The five levels of physical security are as follows:
i) Outer Perimeter Security: This is the first level of physical security. The main
purpose of this level is to protect the outer perimeter from any type of damage or trespassing
to a building (Hahn et al., 2013). This type of security mainly involves a specific locked gate
for controlling, who is walking into the building.

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ii) Natural Access Control: The second level of physical security is the natural access
control (Fennelly, 2016). The purpose of this security level is to utilize the building for
guiding the people from entering as well as exiting from the building. The risk of any type of
physical harm is lowered due to this.
iii) Territorial Reinforcement: This is the third level and it helps to identify private
property from the public property from preventing of unauthorized entry (Wells et al., 2014).
The main purpose of this security level is to prevent all types of unauthorized access and only
allow authorized access.
iv) Inner Perimeter Security: The fourth level of physical security is the inner
perimeter security. The purpose of this security level is to secure the walls, windows and
doors of the building (Hahn et al., 2013). The major measures of this security level are the
involvement of locks, keys, access control, key control, alarm systems and many more. These
measure help to detect the unauthorized access and thus breaching could be stopped.
v) Interior Security: The final level of physical security is the interior security. It
solely addresses the inner spaces of a building and secures the assets of that particular
building (Peltier, 2013). The main purpose of this level is to secure the inner spaces of an
enterprise or organization. Various security cameras monitor the building and thus prevent all
types of unauthorized access.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that Physical security can be
defined as the protection of hardware, software, personnel, data and networks from all types
of physical events and actions, which could cause major damage or loss to an agency or
enterprise. This type of security is undertaken by all organizations or enterprises for securing

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their resources or assets. It is extremely secured and cost effective and thus can be afforded
by all. The above report has given a brief description about the clear definition of physical
security. Further, the report has also explained about the five levels of physical security with
their levels.

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References
Fennelly, L. (2016). Effective physical security. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Hahn, A., Ashok, A., Sridhar, S., & Govindarasu, M. (2013). Cyber-physical security
testbeds: Architecture, application, and evaluation for smart grid. IEEE Transactions
on Smart Grid, 4(2), 847-855.
Peltier, T. R. (2013). Information security fundamentals. CRC Press.
Wells, L. J., Camelio, J. A., Williams, C. B., & White, J. (2014). Cyber-physical security
challenges in manufacturing systems. Manufacturing Letters, 2(2), 74-77.