The Security Dance
Korea Trip Journal #7
Gumi, Korea - 4pm Thursday, 17 July 2008
A few days back I mentioned that there's tight security at the customer's plant. There's a dance on the way in and another on the way out.
Every morning when I arrive at the factory I go to the visitor office and fill out a form. Actually it's two forms, one for me and one for my computer. They're the same forms every day, with the same information. It's gotten so that I can fill out the form that's printed in Korean instead of the one in English, which surprises the security officers who are the same people every day but apparently don't remember that I've been coming there all week.
So I hand in the paperwork and show my ID and I get a visitor badge. Then I go outside to the next office and show them the paperwork and my computer for verification.
Here they take my phone away. You're allowed to bring a phone onto the factory grounds only if it's made by the company. (For those they have a machine that connects to your phone and audits it or disables the camera or something. I don't have one of theirs so I don't know.)
Next I walk to the building where I'll be working for the day and I go through another security step. The first visitor badge is taken away from me and a new one, good for just that building, is provided. Our host has to swipe his badge for each new badge given to each of us.
The Way Out
The way out is slightly different dance. First, a manager has to sign off on some paperwork that you've been supervised the whole time and haven't stolen anything. A piece of security tape is put around your computer case just to make sure you don't steal anything on the way out.
At the lobby of the building you trade in your second security badge and get the first one back. You walk it out to the perimeter security building, where your computer is inspected and compared to your paperwork. Then you pass through a magnetometer and your bags get x-rayed. There's also a wand inspection. But here they're not looking for bombs, they're looking for media.
After that you trade in your badge, collect stored items like cellphones, and leave the grounds.
On Monday I got into trouble with the bag scan. I had a blank CD-ROM in my bag. The guards freaked out. I tried explaining, with my Korean partner translating, that it's an old blank I've been carrying around for 4 years and had forgotten about. By now it's badly scratched and still has nothing on it, so I tell told them keep it. They still demanded to scan it, just to check that I wasn't trying to sneak something out.
On Wednesday they threw a fit about my wireless modem card. I'm not sure why it was such a big issue on Wednesday when I was able to talk my way out of it on Monday and Tuesday. My Korean partners don't know, either. But we were all apologetic about it, because if the guards throw enough of a fit, we can be blacklisted and banned from setting foot on any Company campus again. Today I let them seal my wi-bro in a bag in the morning and didn't open it until I left the plant.
These guys are really serious about their security, especially in making sure that people aren't walking out with IP. That's probably because their whole company is built on copying designs from other countries, so they're familiar with the risks.
Gumi, Korea - 4pm Thursday, 17 July 2008
A few days back I mentioned that there's tight security at the customer's plant. There's a dance on the way in and another on the way out.
Every morning when I arrive at the factory I go to the visitor office and fill out a form. Actually it's two forms, one for me and one for my computer. They're the same forms every day, with the same information. It's gotten so that I can fill out the form that's printed in Korean instead of the one in English, which surprises the security officers who are the same people every day but apparently don't remember that I've been coming there all week.
So I hand in the paperwork and show my ID and I get a visitor badge. Then I go outside to the next office and show them the paperwork and my computer for verification.
Here they take my phone away. You're allowed to bring a phone onto the factory grounds only if it's made by the company. (For those they have a machine that connects to your phone and audits it or disables the camera or something. I don't have one of theirs so I don't know.)
Next I walk to the building where I'll be working for the day and I go through another security step. The first visitor badge is taken away from me and a new one, good for just that building, is provided. Our host has to swipe his badge for each new badge given to each of us.
The Way Out
The way out is slightly different dance. First, a manager has to sign off on some paperwork that you've been supervised the whole time and haven't stolen anything. A piece of security tape is put around your computer case just to make sure you don't steal anything on the way out.
At the lobby of the building you trade in your second security badge and get the first one back. You walk it out to the perimeter security building, where your computer is inspected and compared to your paperwork. Then you pass through a magnetometer and your bags get x-rayed. There's also a wand inspection. But here they're not looking for bombs, they're looking for media.
After that you trade in your badge, collect stored items like cellphones, and leave the grounds.
On Monday I got into trouble with the bag scan. I had a blank CD-ROM in my bag. The guards freaked out. I tried explaining, with my Korean partner translating, that it's an old blank I've been carrying around for 4 years and had forgotten about. By now it's badly scratched and still has nothing on it, so I tell told them keep it. They still demanded to scan it, just to check that I wasn't trying to sneak something out.
On Wednesday they threw a fit about my wireless modem card. I'm not sure why it was such a big issue on Wednesday when I was able to talk my way out of it on Monday and Tuesday. My Korean partners don't know, either. But we were all apologetic about it, because if the guards throw enough of a fit, we can be blacklisted and banned from setting foot on any Company campus again. Today I let them seal my wi-bro in a bag in the morning and didn't open it until I left the plant.
These guys are really serious about their security, especially in making sure that people aren't walking out with IP. That's probably because their whole company is built on copying designs from other countries, so they're familiar with the risks.