Browsing by Subject "physical security"
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Item Analytical foundations of physical security system assessment(Texas A&M University, 2006-10-30) Graves, Gregory HowardPhysical security systems are intended to prevent or mitigate potentially catastrophic loss of property or life. Decisions regarding the selection of one system or configuration of resources over another may be viewed as design decisions within a risk theoretic setting. The problem of revealing a clear preference among design alternatives, using only a partial or inexact delineation of event probabilities, is examined. In this dissertation, an analytical framework for the assessment of the risk associated with a physical security system is presented. Linear programming is used to determine bounds on the expected utility of an alternative, and conditions for the separation of preferences among alternatives are shown. If distinguishable preferences do not exist, techniques to determine what information may help to separate preferences are presented. The linear programming approach leads to identification of vulnerabilities in a security system through an examination of the solution to the dual problem. Security of a hypothetical military forward operating base is considered as an illustrative example. For two alternative security schemes, the uncertainty inherent in the scenario is represented using probability assessments consisting of bounds on event probabilities and exact probability assignments. Application of the framework reveals no separation of preferences between the alternatives. Examination of the primal and dual solutions to the linear programming problems, however, reveals insights into information which, if obtained, could lead to a separation of preferences as well as information on vulnerabilities in one of the alternative security postures.Item Physical Security System Sensitivity to DBT Perturbations(2012-10-19) Conchewski, CurtisThis thesis examines how perturbing selected adversary capabilities in a design basis threat (DBT) may affect the assessment of a facility's security system performance. We found that using a strictly defined DBT to design and analytically test facility security systems can lead to invalid assessments that security measures are meeting standards. Design Basis Threats are intended to represent the most severe yet realistic attack a facility might face. However, the static nature of the standard DBT makes it unable to test the performance of a facility security system in the case where a specialized adversary may possess different capabilities than defined in the DBT. Our analysis of security system performance for various modeled facilities revealed significant vulnerabilities to certain perturbations of adversary capabilities. These vulnerabilities went undetected when the original strictly defined graded DBT was used in the assessment procedure. By maximizing one adversary capability at the expense of others, a specialized adversary force was able to efficiently defeat each facility. To address this problem, we proposed employing a so-called "point-based" DBT as an alternative to the existing strictly defined DBT. In a point-based DBT, multiple scenarios are assessed that test different sets of adversary capabilities to better uncover and understand any security system vulnerabilities that may exist. We believe the benefit of identifying these site-specific security vulnerabilities will outweigh the additional cost of generating a point-based DBT, especially if the vulnerabilities are identified during the initial design of the security system.