Protecting Audio / Video Equipment
By: Dan Zimmer

Twenty years ago, projectors had three "guns," weighed between 80 and 120 pounds, were the size of a coffee table, and took a crew of technicians a couple of days to install and converge. They were dim, expensive, and finicky machines, but one advantage they had over today's bright, ultraportable, and inexpensive projectors was that you could come into the classroom or lecture hall and pretty much count on still finding them on the ceiling where they were yesterday. Theft wasn't an issue.

Today’s projectors are a different story. They disappear out of institutional environments every single day…and not just schools. Hard statistics remain frustratingly elusive, but it's clear that K-12 facilities are challenged with hanging onto their A/V assets. Portable and easily disposed of on the street, stolen projectors end up attached to game consoles or in home theaters or even back in other institutional environments.

So, what can you do about this?

Identify the Assets
Many facilities will have a formal Security Master Plan, with people or departments responsible for that plan. Part of their responsibility will be to maintain a list of both assets and threats. Your first step is to make sure that projectors are counted as an asset. You’d think that would be a given, but it’s not. A record of your assets can be a simple as a spreadsheet or as sophisticated as a Web-based asset management system, and it should, at minimum, contain make, model, serial number, and date of acquisition for each projector.

Understand the Threats
The next step, in the words of Sun Tszu, is to “know your enemy” – to understand what the threats are and where they’re coming from. This may require consulting with other stakeholders, such as facilities managers, security departments, and peers. What are other areas within a facility experiencing? What about peers at other facilities? Is there historical data to draw from? Can trends be identified?

Have a Plan
Finally, the goal is to have comprehensive strategies in place to manage these threats. Both type and degree of threat must be addressed. Countermeasures should be reviewed regularly. Is what you’re doing still appropriate and adequate?

Perimeter Security vs. Asset-Specific Security
Students of the second World War will remember that the Maginot Line was an infamous line of perimeter defenses that France built along its borders with Germany and Italy. The French had such complete faith in the invulnerability of the Maginot Line that they had no “plan B,” and. as history records, all the Germans had to do was breach the line at one point to be able to overrun the country. The Maginot Line is generally considered one of the great failures of military history, and the term "Maginot Line" is now often used as a metaphor for something that is confidently relied upon but proves ineffective in the end.

At the K-12 level, perimeter security would typically consist of locked doors and shuttered windows, but might also include alarm systems, security cameras, card access, security guards, and more. While perimeter security is important, it risks becoming a “Maginot Line” if relied upon exclusively. If your perimeter has been breached, what other countermeasures do you have? Projectors and other A/V equipment need to have their own protection.

Diminishing Returns
A professional threat management/risk abatement strategy employs layers of security, an approach often referred to as the "onion" methodology. Up to a point of diminishing returns, the more layers, the better. It’s important to keep in mind that, like Shangri-la, a theft-proof environment is an impossible ideal. Security professionals are fond of saying that “locks keep honest people honest.” You cannot make your equipment or your environment theft-proof. However, diminishing returns apply to a thief as well. By combining your countermeasures in well-designed layers, you can succeed in making your assets unattractive, and not worth the trouble or risk.

Asset-Specific Countermeasures
Assuming you have your perimeter security house in order, what are some of the layers you can add at the projector level to reduce the incidence of theft?

First are psychological countermeasures. The simplest way to define these is to explain what they are not. Psychological countermeasures do not physically prevent theft, but rather rely on good old-fashioned fear of getting caught. They may not deter a sufficiently desperate thief, or one with a mental state altered by drugs, alcohol or mental illness. Solutions include network monitoring, product identification, and alarms.

Conversely physical countermeasures can include anti-theft cables, security fasteners, password protection, anti-theft mounts, which come in three varieties.

First, the "Pizza Box" design adds a shallow steel box to the top of the mount, concealing the anchoring points between the mount and the projector. Some models provide additional internal space for the mounting of other electronics, such as tuners, scalers, switchers, etc. These mounts provide good lightweight security for low to medium risk environments.

The "Lobster Trap" is a one-size-fits-all (or couple of sizes fit all) perforated steel box that completely encloses the projector. These mounts offer excellent security but are best suited for applications that require impact protection for the projector, as might be required for installations in gymnasiums and similar environments. Outside of this application, "Lobster Trap"-style mounts can be awkward to install, unattractive, and can add to the thermal load and service complexity of your projector. If you're still using IR remotes to control your projectors, you’ll have problems with this design. Many models also need to be used in conjunction with a regular mount, adding cost.

The "Adjustable Cage" provides the best combination of flexibility and security. This design features a relatively universal fit, and can be easily reconfigured to fit different projector models. Comprised of movable interlocking members, the "Adjustable Cage" shouldn't impede airflow, IR or access to ports or onboard controls.

Here are a few final things to keep in mind. Combine robust perimeter security with one or more asset-specific countermeasures.

Securing the projector at the mount is only one step. What's to prevent someone from unscrewing the mount from the pipe, or the pipe from the ceiling flange, or from unbolting the flange and taking the projector, pipe and all? You'll need to address each of these points of vulnerability, as well.

The soft cost to replace a projector often runs three to five times the hard cost. Low incidence of theft is not evidence of low risk, but rather of luck. Don’t let luck be the determinant in you’re A/V security planning.

Dan Zimmer is the director of sales and marketing for Hard Steal Security Corp., www.hardsteal.com.