The Hindu Business Line : An eye for security

“We have set up 10,400 cameras to keep an eye on all the public areas, covering each inch of it in all the 700 sites. These are supported by television and other information from other sources.”

K.V. Kurmanath

It was a Friday evening and it being the last working day of the week all but one employee had left the Colombo office of Microsoft Corporation. The woman staffer had to complete an unfinished job.

She went out to use the rest room, leaving the access card and mobile phone at her desk. She immediately realised she was stranded — she could neither enter the office nor move out. With no one around, she dreaded that she might have to stay s tranded through the week end.

But, then, she was in one of the best secured areas in the world. This ‘event’ prompted an alert at Microsoft’s Global Security Operations Centre (GSOC) in Hyderabad. The GSOC team saw her on the closed-circuit television camera and called up the reception telephone at the office in Colombo to find out the reason for her being in the office at an odd hour.

Her antecedents were verified from the records that are hosted on servers; then the door in Colombo was deactivated remotely from Hyderabad to permit her access to the office, says Chinnappa Maletira, chief of South West Asia Security of Microsoft.

No mean task

The security system at Microsoft reminds one of a Hollywood scientific thriller that visualises futuristic gizmos. For, guarding 1.86 lakh employees and vendors and protecting 700 office sites spread across the globe is no mean task.

Planning the staff’s business trips abroad and keeping an eye on natural and man-made calamities would only add to the woes of the security managers.

Someone, somewhere, tries to barge in using a wrong access card, breaks into the premises without permission. Keeping tabs on these incidents and protecting the staff and premises is quite a task for the security people. Using some well-known commonly available solutions and Bing Maps, these cameras trigger events, categorise them and send colour-coded alerts.

And based on the threat perceptions, the staffers would call the relevant offices, people concerned, and call up the police, if need be.

High on GSOCs’ agenda are intrusion, environment and fire accidents. The fact that the GSOC teams monitor 30 lakh access and security related ‘events’ shows how robust and accurate is the security monitoring network the system offers.

How many people are needed to take up this job? Hundreds? Thousands? Hold your breath, all of this is done by just 50. Working in an eight-hour shift, six-member batches monitor the cameras and deftly communicate with relevant people to ensure security.

“We have set up 10,400 cameras to keep an eye on all the public areas, covering each inch of it in all the 700 sites. These are supported by television and other information from other sources,” says Brian Tuskan, Senior Director of Microsoft Global Security.

These cameras and other gadgets set up at vantage points are connected to three GSOC centres in the US, the UK and India. While Redmond (US) covers the Americas, the London centre Europe and the Gulf, the Hyderabad one covers the Asian region.

“While each one is supposed to take care of the security of the assigned geographies, each one could handle the whole of the burden if others fail,” he explains.

“The robust system ensures remote real-time monitoring with precision response, no matter where the event occurs. We work with the local police,” Tuskan says.

He narrates another incident when 30 of Microsoft’s employees were stranded in Bangkok. “We roped in a local consultant, made him talk to the stranded employees before working on an evacuation plan. We could ferry them out in four days,” he relates.

Even while showcasing the GSOC backbone, he says the cameras do not peep into the work areas. “We respect the privacy of our employees,” he says, pointing out that the vigil is on at the access control and other public areas.

Off-the-shelf technologies

Brian says the beauty of the system is that it uses only off-the-shelf technologies and existing IT infrastructure.

The technologies include Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, Office InfoPath 2007, Office Grove 2007, Office Live Meeting, Office OneNote 2007, SQL Server 2007, Windows Mobile and Bing Maps for Enterprise.

While InfoPath helps in tracking and reporting critical incidents, Bing Maps and Visual Fusion help in mapping and locating all the 700 sites on the globe. “We configure these technologies for the specific use of security,” he adds.

While employing these technologies and solutions, the key mantra is flexibility and user-friendliness. No complex methods are involved.

“They are plug-play, scalable, extensive and interoperable,” he explains.

The GSOC team also uses certain components from partners. This line-up includes IDV Visual Fusion, Lenel Access Control, Motorola over IP and Radionics Galaxy Fire and Life Safety Systems.

Business proposition

After using it for itself and seeing the advantages of low-cost and quick and reliable response, Microsoft sees a business proposition too. The company has begun showcasing the model to the chiefs of security arms and other people to sell the idea.

Whatever goes into these networks doesn’t require any custom-made product or solutions. This will add almost no additional cost to the enterprises. Besides, it will help companies cut costs of multiple security centres and improve operational effectiveness,” he says.

kurmanath@thehindu.co.in

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