Datacenter Robbed for the Fourth Time in Two Years 437
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'."
Obligatory... (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't tase me, bro!
Seriously, though, this sounds like something out of a really bad Hollywood B-Movie.
I didn't know you could do stuff like this in real life.
inside job (Score:4, Interesting)
Not using them anymore (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Not using them anymore (Score:4, Interesting)
Ditto. I switched off them a year and a half or two ago. I don't remember what the final rub was, I think it was reliability (website or email going up or down seemingly randomly?). I've been on Dreamhost since, and been pretty happy (note: referral link at the bottom of my website).
I agree with the other posters. They lied. They obviously have no security (or they are facing an inside job). Four robberies in two years?
I'd switch off 'em real fast if I heard this news. I like Dreamhost but if I heard this about them I'd probably switch off them fast too. How can I trust a hosting company that can't even secure their own premises?
A few possibilities.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, if they actually care enough to try to prevent these attacks, I can see three solutions, any of which should be highly effective:
Deadly force. If you are being robbed at gunpoint on a regular basis, your employees can legitimately say that they fear for their lives, and thus, purchasing of firearms is legally and morally justifiable. Perhaps a couple of guards posted at the entrance with semiautomatic rifles, plus three or four in appropriately concealed locations within the facility (or more if the facility is large enough). Criminals (armed or not) will think twice before attacking.
Electrical interference. Hook a 230 kV transmission line directly to the rebar in the walls. Anyone who tries to cut their way in will likely spontaneously combust, or at the very least, be knocked several meters. Such an attack won't happen twice.
Oxygen deprivation. You probably already have halon fire extinguishers. Assign everyone emergency oxygen masks and a red button remote. In the event of an attack, press the red button and put on your oxygen mask. Assuming you dump enough halon, it will bond with all the free oxygen in the room, incapacitating or killing the intruders in seconds. Assuming they survive, they should still be unconscious when the police arrive to arrest them.
I was one of the victims... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A few possibilities.... (Score:4, Interesting)
If the criminals REALLY want to get in it's not a good idea to arm the employees anyway. Specially assigned guards maybe, but the employees of a data center - no... Just imagine if someone has a bad day... Shooting out at the boss, servers and everyone else in sight. Or if the criminals know about it they will shoot first and check later.
Assuming that it's concrete walls... But it's a good idea until the maintenance guy comes in to drill a new hole for a cable.
Halon use is outlawed, at least in some countries since it has a bad effect on the ozone layer. Carbon Dioxide is almost as good, and has the same effect. Of course - you may use any non-oxidizing gas like pure nitrogen or helium instead. As long as it lowers the oxygen level in the compartment. A much more evil way is to use carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide. In this case the survivability is even lower, but if it's released by accident it will be much more nasty.
But it seems that the datacenter hasn't taken action as it should and moved the servers to a different more covert location. The daily operation can remain at the same location, but since the servers aren't there anymore the criminals will have to leave empty-handed. This requires that the persons running the night-shift doesn't know about the real location of the servers unless they also are relocated.
Re:The evil thing here (Score:5, Interesting)
So, they're looking to hire people that carry guns that are willing to accept a job at minimum wage. That should tell you something right there.
Re:Cutting through walls? (Score:2, Interesting)
2) Add an alarm loop between the layers for added protection.
3) Lock the servers to the racks.
4) Have a good alarm company.
Re:The evil thing here - continuation. (Score:5, Interesting)
The datacenter in question is in a terrible neighborhood, and I can't see anyone bothering a truck there in the dead of night.
There was no man trap, and no security of any sort, just a tech guy who let me in and opened the glass datacenter door for me.
I doubt they have a panic button of any sort either.
You disable the one guy on call and there would be no police coming, period.
Re:The evil thing here - continuation. (Score:1, Interesting)
You can effectively {describe your security, network resources, and ability to accomodate customers' equipment of varying size and shape without giving out nearly so much} and/or {keep track of what information you provide to whom, when, and under what circumstances so that you could at least be able to make some educated guesses about where to start investigations of security breaches even though information does tend to spread, especially when one tries to control information, particularly when done badly}.
Re:inside job (Score:5, Interesting)
A friend of mine that used to work there said that "being in jail was a fairly common excuse for missing work there". The employees seemed to hate working there, to put it mildly.
And the cokehead that owned the company loved to fire employees at a moment's notice, left and right. I highly doubt there's any employee loyalty there.
So in short, you've got highly unhappy employees that get fired at an amazing rate, with some seriously negative employee loyalty and they're surprised when stuff gets stolen?
Re:The evil thing here (Score:5, Interesting)
In a more, uh... "free" state, yes, armed security is a realistic proposition. However such states usually have less violent crime too, so you don't need them as much.
This does not surprise me. (Score:2, Interesting)
A former employee of CI Host contacted us after we quit their service and told us this little gem:
That time early this year when their entire Chicago datacenter was down for two days? They forgot to pay their power bill.
Re:The evil thing here (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Advertising for a guard - "bring your own gun" (Score:3, Interesting)
That's not the way I would translate that. Now if they had a policy of forbidding handguns to employees with a concealed weapon permit I would find that stupid.
If the job entails being the victim of attacks with lethal force (and being repeated tasered and beaten is exactly that) then personally I think it's very rational to prefer an employee that has the training and resources to defend him/herself.
Re:Not using them anymore (Score:2, Interesting)
As a former employee I've had my paychecks bounce (more than once), which I hear is now a thing of the past. I believe I was lied to about the reasons why it happened when it did happen. It was rumored that the reason the employees checks had different company names on them from time to time was because of their ruined reputation among banks and creditors. The name of the company on the checks switched several times. They didn't pay much either.
I've heard this is just how the hosting industry is in general but I would like to think that it was an exceptionally bad place to work. Having lived it from the inside I can't say that I would recommend anyone host there.
Re:Advertising for a guard - "bring your own gun" (Score:3, Interesting)
A: Be a realative, family firend, or former business associate of Mayor Richard Daley. Remeber, this is Chicago, where the motto is "Vote Early, Vote Often!" Everything in city government is for sale.