Hawkstone one, thieves none

2 October 2009, Jo’burg - Information Communications Technology (ICT) company, Hawkstone iSolutions, recently had the security features of their Hawkstone iLab put to the test when one of their educational computer facilities, at a Jo’burg school, was breached by thieves.

Hawkstone iLab is an educational computer facility, designed by Hawkstone iSolutions. Over 130 units have been rolled-out to rural and semi-rural schools in the Province. Although Hawkstone iSolutions does construct insulated structures – a classy cross between a prefab building and a container – the iLab that came under attack was installed inside an existing brick and mortar room. Each iLab is home to 24 learner stations as well as an educator station.

This room, with its bolted-down chairs and desks and thin client computers and screens, which are sealed in metal casings, is designed to be theft-proof. “We have put a lot of thought and development into protecting the facility and the equipment,” explains Jacques Fullard, project manager at Hawkstone iSolutions. “If the room is breached, authorities are alerted; if the underside of the desks is opened to get at the thin client hardware, authorities are alerted; and if the educator’s station is vandalised, authorities are alerted.”

All hardware is protected by metal casings, so there is very little of real, re-sell value that can be stolen. “In addition to being low-maintenance with easy system management, less power usage and low-cost benefits, thin client/server systems are also more secure than stand-alone setups,” adds Fullard. “Thieves would have to spend an awfully long time inside the facility dismantling the desks and cutting the cables to extract the hardware. Even the accessories – keyboards, mouses and headsets – are protected as the plug-in points are metal encased; the only way to steal them is to cut their cords, rendering them useless. Burglars would be hard pressed to find buyers for this technology, which really cannot be used outside of the iLab.” 

The Hawkstone iLab that came under attack held up well. “The would-be thieves got in by digging through a section of wall below a window, which was fitted with burglar bars. The breach was detected by the security sensors, which sent an alert to the community authorities on the school’s emergency notification list,” says Fullard.

“We obviously don’t want these facilities to be vandalised,” says Cedric Boltman, Director of Hawkstone iSolutions. “But, we are very pleased that our systems worked exactly they were designed and that there was neither long-term damage, nor losses. It’s nice to win against the bad guys.”

Unable to use or remove anything from the Hawkstone iLab, the burglars escaped empty handed.

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