Datacenter Robbed for the Fourth Time in Two Years

mariushm writes "According to the Register, the Chicago-based colocation datacenter C I Host was attacked by armed intruders recently, making it the the fourth time in two years that armed thugs have made off with data. According to a letter C I Host officials sent customers, 'At least two masked intruders entered the suite after cutting into the reinforced walls with a power saw ... During the robbery, C I Host's night manager was repeatedly tazered and struck with a blunt instrument. After violently attacking the manager, the intruders stole equipment belonging to C I Host and its customers.' Aggravating the situation, C I Host representatives took several days to admit the most recent breach, according to several customers who said they lost equipment, all the while reporting the problems as 'router failures'."

Re:The evil thing here - continuation.

[Z00L00K]

"at least two masked intruders entered the suite after cutting into the reinforced walls with a power saw,"

In what way was that wall reinforced? Dual layer of sheetrock? If it was sufficiently reinforced it would have delayed the intruders long enough for the police to get there (unless the police chose to not respond). If I was insuring that company I would drop the insurance dead by now due to lack of sufficient protective measures. If the measures were approved by the insurance company I would recommend all other clients to change insurance company.

Anyway - maybe it's time to weave in copper mesh into the T-shirt of all datacenter employees to protect against tazers.

And notice from a comment to the article that any so called man trap doesn't exist - and the security seems to have been far too relaxed. Just a fine example of how not to do things. A good datacenter is located where almost nobody knows where it is - preferably underground in a nondescript location in the countryside. A set of optical fibers will take care of all the traffic. And very few persons shall have physical access to the hardware. Think about how the military handles their datacenters.

I'm one of the victims....

[Anonymous Coward]

I've used them for years, and was an avid supporter of CI Host even while they were enduring constant negative publicity.. I was initially a client of their shared hosting, then upgraded to a dedicated hosting package, and never had an issue aside from the typical short downtime every now and then.. nothing crazy.. so a startup I was working with put a colocated server with them earlier this year and in around 6 months we endure an outage for numerous days, numerous BS excuses, then one day "Oh yeah by the way your server was actually stolen, and good luck finding the real thieves!" So now we come to find that this has happened 3-4 times in the past 2 years, the detective (and even a worker there I talked with) told me they believed it was an inside job. Obviously I am cancelling all of my accounts and taking my business elsewhere. I will proudly do my best to spread the word and tell EVERYONE I know to NEVER use CI Host for *ANYTHING*

CI Host Chicago

[Average]

I've actually been in this datacenter. Tried to host some boxes there for a while... and when I finally gave up on their shenanigans, I was not near Chicago, so I just abandoned them there (cheaper than shipping).

First, this datacenter is literally two blocks from what is left of the infamous Cabrini-Green projects. Tough neighborhood, so it's not entirely impossible that it is an outside cracked-up scheme.

There was none of the double-man-trap doors or whatever there. The one staffer was in the back playing a Playstation. The couple of customers in the center exchanged cell numbers, so we could call each other to get let back when we needed to use the toilet.

The Dallas billing people weren't any better. Worst... host... ever.

Cut through RC walls? Sounds fishy to me.

[Overzeetop]

Seriously, cutting through a reinf. concrete wall is not trivial, if it was indeed just that. By code, the minimum thickness of a concrete wall is 6" and most used for loadbearing in anything but the cheapest residential construction are 8". You aren't cutting that with a reciprocating saw (aka Sawzall). Second, reinforced concrete walls are required (in order to be considered "reinforced" by code) to have steel bars equal to 0.0014 x wall area in both directions at a spacing no greater than 18". That typically works out to a 1/2" steel bar at 12" on center or a 5/8" steel bar at 16" o 18" on center both horizontally and vertically.

Now, this is a non-technical publication, so "reinforced" may mean anything - like a 1/2" bar at the top and bottom, and around jambs. Also, this is Chicago, known far and wide for severe corruption in the building inspection process.

Still, anything close to a RC wall is going to require a diamond blade and a gas powered saw for any kind of efficiency at all, and the cut rate is going to be measured in single-digit (or fractional) inches per minute. Most also require a water source for cooling. You'd have to be utterly incompetent not to catch these guys before they got in.

Re:The evil thing here - continuation.

[Anonymous Coward]

For what it's worth, I feel the need to mention the nearest police department is .8 miles (2 minute drive) per Google Maps [google.com]

Re:The evil thing here - continuation.

[billcopc]

Stronger walls, and maybe armed security guards. Heck, we have them up here in Canada and we don't have a tenth of the violent crime problems Chicago has.

Re:Obligatory...

[timmarhy]

The fact that file sharing isn't stealing has been up held in court.

next please.

Here is a copy of the police reports

[inject_hotmail.com]

I found these links to the report from a post on theregister.co.uk [theregister.co.uk]

Report 1 Page 1 [imageshack.us]
Report 1 Page 2 [imageshack.us]
Report 2 Page 1 [imageshack.us]
Report 2 Page 2 [imageshack.us]
Report 3 Page 1 [imageshack.us]
Report 3 Page 2 [imageshack.us]

The guy says that $50,000 worth of stuff was stolen...not only servers, but misc crap like routers, and battery chargers for Black Berry units.

I'd say either look for a new web host startup in the Chicago area in the next year, or a lot of stuff going cheap on Ebay.

The saddest part about this is that the crims clubbed and zapped some innocent guy that would have offered zero resistance. For this, I hope they thieves go to jail for a long time.

Re:Who is going to buy the gear?

[Anonymous Coward]

If someone offered me a 16 core Xenon for $250, I'd buy it.

Re:The evil thing here

[harmgsn]

CI Host is actually located in Bedford, TX which is a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth. I worked for them for a while (regrettably) and could go on and on about the "features" they have in place. This is typical of the company policy and doesn't surprise me one bit. Their Bedford "datacenter" is actually an old 3 story office building that was haphazardly converted into a facility for servers. The rows of 2-post racks (they don't do cabinets) were actually parallel with the support beams instead of perpendicular, they repeatedly overloaded the power circuits that they installed and didn't have a backup generator that would automatically kick in and have "redundant" power. A tech would have to go downstairs and get the key and then call an admin and ask for permission to fire the generator. Then and only then would it be turned on. Then the tech would again have to ask for permission to throw the breaker to give power to the building from the generator. I wouldn't host with this company regardless of their price or what they promise. Another point: their "security" is actually that tech that was referred to. The owner (Chris Faulkner, go google him... he sued SMU... look it up) refuses to spend any money to fulfill the promises he has made to his customers and the claims he has made on his site. There isn't 24x7 access in Chicago, it's "Call when you need in" access.

Advertising for a guard - "bring your own gun"

[tomhudson]

I couldn't make this stuff up. They're advertising for a security guard [careerbuilder.com],

"We are seeking motivated individuals" ... translation: work cheap.

"Prior security experience preferred." ... translation: not really a requirement, but if we can get it at no extra cost ...

"Some College is also preferred." ... if you managed to drop out of college instead of high school, you're more "presentable" to our insurers, who are now royally pissed at us ...

... and if you scroll down to the bottom of the page:

"Armed Hand-gun license/permit and ability to supply own weapon a Huge Plus! : translation: "we're cheap! You're desperate AND stupid! Let's talk!"

Re:The evil thing here - continuation.

[Timothy Brownawell]

So can anyone here be bothered to explain to the ignorant what a datacenter is? I'd never had need to think about this concept until I RTFA. Is it really a place that people rent real estate to put their equipment?

It's not about the real estate, it's about redundant everything and lots of backup systems. If an idiot with a backhoe cuts their uplink, they have a couple more so that you don't lose connectivity. If someone flys a kite into the power lines, they have generators to keep things running until power is restored. If a squirrel eats a hole in the air conditioner, they have another one so things don't melt.

Or is it for third-party security, which really makes this bad.

Computer equipment is expensive and a data center has a lot of this, so their security compared to what you would have should be a similar relation as a bank's security compared to your sock drawer. That's when it's not a selling point. When it is advertized as a selling point, it sounds like something out of Mission Impossible.

Re:The evil thing here

[tomhudson]

They didn't bust through a wall this time - they forced the lock on the front door of the office "suite", according to a customer who went there the next day to check on his equipment.

The "reinforced walls" exist in the same universe as the "router outage".

There were no employees on duty at the time of the break-in. One employee showed up and got himself tazered, AFTER the door had been forced, in response to an alarm.

This was the 4th break-in in 3 years. That alone is suspicious. Taser? Sure, can't kill a co-worker, right?

Security cameras? There's now a question as to whether they (security cameras owned by CI Host) existed in the first place. The only cameras anyone has seen are a few owned by other businesses in the building ...

All very suspicious.

Re:Bringing own gun is a good idea

[tomhudson]

You can't GET a carry permit in Chicago, unless you're a cop or military.

CI Host didn't invest in proper facilities. Contrary to the article summary, the robbery was made by people forcing open the door lock to the office, when nobody was there, and an employee "just happened to show up later in response to the alarm". And the crooks "just happened to have tasers" instead of guns. And the crooks "just happened to steal all the non-existent video surveillance cameras".

And the walls are not "reinforced" - they're plain ordinary office walls. Unless you want to count a new coat of paint as "reinforcement".

Re:The evil thing here - continuation.

[Lord Ender]

if you don't know what a datacenter is, you're probably nowhere near interested in this entire field.

The fact that he is asking at all proves that he is interested in the field.

You must have very poor memory, nuzak, if you can't recall what it was like learning your trade.

When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to work in the computer field, yet I didn't know what a datacenter was. If I had met a pretentious jerk like you, I might not be managing a datacenter, today. Luckily, I met people who answered my questions instead of people like you. I also asked questions on slashdot, and learned quite a lot from this place.

And to answer the original question: A datacenter is a room full of computers with experts monitoring and maintaining them 24/7. It has special air conditioning, wiring, and security. Sometimes people rent servers or space there. Sometimes they contain only the computers of the company that owns the datacenter.

Re:Bringing own gun is a good idea

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't GET a carry permit in Chicago, unless you're a cop or military.

Incorrect. Ten groups are given exemptions, including any employee of a watchman-guard or patrolman agency, licensed by the State of Illinois, while actually engaged in the performance of the duties of their employer or commuting between their homes and places of employment.

http://www.isp.state.il.us/foid/ordinances.cfm [state.il.us]

Re:The evil thing here

[Anonymous Coward]

About the only way you're going to have an armed security guard in Chicago is if he's actually a sworn law enforcement officer or you have *really* tight political connections to those in power.

Your statement is incorrect. I recommend actually reading the city ordinances rather than pulling information out of your ass.

http://www.isp.state.il.us/foid/ordinances.cfm [state.il.us]

Slashdot never fails to reinforce my beleif that it is a clusterfuck of Internet wisdom.

Re:A few possibilities....

[arminw]

......It was certainly not intended to allow Joe Sixpack to wander around the US with a firearm tucked underneath his jacket......

It says "the right of the PEOPLE to bear arms shall not be infringed". It doesn't say the right of the "militia", army, government, corporations etc, but "people". Maybe in your eyes and many other liberals, "Joe Sixpack" doesn't come under the classification of people. If "people" doesn't mean ordinary humans, than what does it mean? Maybe you and the other liberals ought to look up the meaning of the word "people" in the dictionary.

I agree that guns should be controlled in some way. However to properly do that, the constitution should be amended, rather than just ignoring and violating what it plainly states. If simple words don't have a straight forward meaning any longer, then we are all in big trouble. Let those who are in favor of prohibition or curtailing guns, begin a campaign to change the constitution, rather than violating it.

Re:Well, CL Host *IS* Cheap ...

[afidel]

One of the best design/implementation guys I know is a high school dropout. He was too smart and too much of a wiseass in school so he had problems with the administration, in frustration he dropped out. Now he makes six figures and travels the country as a consultant. He's probably been in charge of the design and implementation of over a thousand systems. While I would want my DBA to be a college graduate due to the applicability of CS concepts there are many positions including network administrator that don't really have much applicable need for a degree. I would take a guy with a decade of solid experience over a recent CS grad every time.