Many technologies exist to prevent unauthorized access to property or information. Security usually involves passive measures, while surveillance is more active. Devices for either are typically LC4 except as indicated. Notably, those that inflict harm on an intruder – like many traps – are LC2.
Adventurers often find themselves using or confronting technologies designed to keep valuables in and unwanted visitors out, or to track the movement of goods and people. Whether the goal is security or surveillance, it’s usually more effective to layer several different systems.
Even as technology gives thieves and spies the ability to bypass old security systems, it creates new ones to replace them. In addition, as the average criminal becomes more sophisticated, so does the cop who has to track him down. This chapter covers security systems that protect against both physical and electronic intrusion, as well as advanced law-enforcement tools that allow police and security forces to track, identify and detain criminals more effectively – or simply suppress a riot.
It might be possible to build an impregnable security system – but the more layers of security that are added, the harder it is get anything else done. If an executive has to go through six different scans every time she enters or leaves her office for a cup of coffee, or a computer requires 20 minutes of identity verification before it will let anyone use it, personal convenience and efficiency will be sacrificed.
Most systems compromise between security and ease of use. A system that is too complex or too sensitive can easily be degraded, overloading its monitors with input. The simplest method of fooling an electronic security system is to convince the human component of the security system that the electronic element is malfunctioning. After receiving several false alarms, a human operator or selfprogramming computer may ignore input from a sensor or just turn it off, leaving a hole in the defenses.