[OT] Re: Fiber cut in SF area

Sat Apr 11 16:50:55 UTC 2009

On Saturday 11 April 2009 08:31:55 Joe Greco wrote:
> Speaking of that, a manhole cover is
> typically protecting some hole, accessway, or vault that's made out of
> concrete.

An oxyacetylene torch or a plasma cutter will slice through regular steel 
manhole covers in minutes. 

You can cut the concrete, too, for that matter, with oxyacetylene, as long as 
you wear certain protective gear.  We have a few vault covers here that are 
concrete covering the largest vaults we have.  You need more than a manhole 
hook to get one of those covers up.  

The locking covers I have seen here put the lock(s) on the inside cover cam 
jackscrew (holes through the jackscrew close to the inside cover seal rod 
nut), rather than on the outside cover, thus keeping the padlocks out of the 
weather.

One way of making a site more resistant to 'inside job' issues is with SCIF-
like controls (see 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Compartmented_Information_Facility ) 
and using combination locks such as the Sargent and Greenleaf 8077AD for 
control, and the S&G 833 superpadlock for security (see 
http://www.sargentandgreenleaf.com/PL-833.php ).  The tech would have the 
833's key, and the area supervisor the combination.  The 8077AD's combination 
is very easily changed in the field, and could be changed frequently.  The key 
to this method's success is that the keyholder to the 833 cannot have the 
combination, and the holder of the combination cannot have an 833 key.  
Requires a certain atmosphere of distrust, unfortunately.  And slows repairs 
way down, especially if the 833's key is lost....