Is the corporate line obscuring the real security message?

It's curious how two telecoms companies have both been broken into in the last fortnight.

No-one's pointed out a link, but the two telcos operate similar businesses just down the road from each other.

First Easynet lost a van full of datacentre equipment to intruders, and then Level 3 - yards down the road on the City of London boundary - yielded to burglers, taking down many of its services.

We sprang into action after the second of these two crimes, reporting on the fortnight's happenings.

But Easynet was not happy and this morning I was on the end of a phone call from a very important man.

Sky - Easynet's parent company - was not happy that we'd written about the crime. The broadcaster-come-ISP had an image of 100% security to protect.

"Easynet are getting pressure from Sky about the datacentre theft," Mr Very Important warned, asking ever-so-politely if we could change our story to suit their cause. You see, Sky needs to maintain a corporate image of absolute and total security, Easynet's messenger said.

That just about nails the crux of the problem.

Easynet - like any company that owns a datacentre - were not 100% secure, but they have to pretend to be.

After all, no-one wants to be hosted in an insecure datacentre.

But just how insecure is Easynet?

We understand from The Register that the thieves had waltzed into its datacentre using staff swipe cards.

That's not totally unlikely as IT managers I have spoken to have told me they have gained access to datacentres completely unauthorised.

Easynet were insistent it had been a forced entry.

But they would have to argue that, otherwise they would look like a soft target.

I'm not saying Easynet is wrong, but when there is a corporate line being towed, it's difficult to identify the truth about such an unfortunate occasion.

Let's hope the officers investigating for the Met Police have a little more luck.