Common Threats to Router and Switch Physical & Mitigation

We all know regardless of how well our technological equipment perform, there is always a chance that it might break, malfunction or even explode(Makes me wonder how on earth did you ever take care of it if it ever explodes). In the cyber world, not only can our computers and other electronical devices get damaged physically, it can also be virtually damaged. How? By viruses such as trojan horses, malwares and other pesky cyber nuisances. Even networking devices such as routers and switches are not spared from these terrible nuisances!

If we do not take care of such networking devices, they may break down and cause inconvenience to users in the network. In this post, I am going to explain 3 types of physical threats-Hardware, environmental, and maintenance. I will explain each type of threat and include the mitigation to the problem.

 Hardware threats

"One small swing to the router, one big hole in the wallet. ITS HAMMERING TIME!"

Hardware threats refer to physical damage to routers and switches. Like bringing the hammer down on the router or switch(Why would you do that). To prevent such things from happening, we can mitigate these hardware threats by methods such as securing the room that houses these equipment. How? By installing security cameras to monitor the room and to deter anyone from damaging the equipment. Another great example is to ensure that there is no other entry to the room(such as ceilings or windows) other than the main door.

Environmental threats

If you think housing networking devices in one room with no ventilation is going to work out well, then you are wrong. Just like any other ordinary machines, these networking devices generates heat and if they are not cooled down, they will eventually break down. Also, some devices work properly under specific humidity conditions. If not they will also definitely break down sooner or later. To mitigate such problems, we should implement methods such as having remote temperature control in place to ensure that the humidity and temperature is of acceptable levels.

 Maintenance threats

"This cable...uh what does it do again?"

Not only can poor cabling design cause problems to the networking devices, electric static discharge(known as ESD) can also cause malfunctioning in routers and switches. The solution is to ensure that the cables used for these devices are properly labelled and ESD deterrent. This will aid in troubleshooting and tracing of the cables. Saves you a one way ticket to cabling hell!