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408 Chapter 6 • Infrastructure Security: Devices and Media

called plenum. Plenum cabling is flame retardant and does not release
any toxic fumes. It is actually required by some building codes to be
used in overhead ceilings and in buildings over a certain height. Make
sure that you check the local building codes to see if this is a require-
ment in any buildings you are wiring.

Removable Media

Dealing with security while data is stored or being communicated on a physical
network is only one aspect of information security.Another part of security con-
cerns what happens to the data when it has been removed from the network and
placed on another media.This media is called removable media and is another area
that the Security+ exam focuses on.
In the past, the transmission of data via removable media was called sneakernet,
referencing the fact that the underlying protocol involved people physically car-
rying the media from place to place to transfer it from one computer to another.
This section covers the following removable media types:

■ Magnetic Tape
■ Recordable compact disks (CDRs)
■ Hard drives

■ Diskettes
■ Flashcards

■ Smart Cards

Magnetic Tape
Magnetic tape is one of the most commonly used types of removable media for
backing up data on a network. In the past, this was accomplished with the use of
large reel-to-reel tape systems.Today, a small cassette tape offers more capacity and
takes up less space.Typical magnetic tapes hold several gigabytes of data and offer a
quick and mostly reliable method of backing up critical data.
Unfortunately, the primary drawback and vulnerability of removable media is
the fact that it is portable.When not properly secured, a magnetic tape can be
removed from a site and restored to any system with a similar tape drive.When this
data is restored, any permissions previously defined on the data from the OS is ren-

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