NSA data centre brings 300 million daily security scares to its Utah home Utah is being hit with up to 300 million security incidents a day, the state's public safety commissioner says. He complains that the undefined "incidents", the bulk of which are likely automated scans, have skyrocketed since 2010 when the number of incidents peaked at 80,000 a day. Commissioner Keith Squires told local …
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He believes the common view, that Utah is a hellhole. I moved to Utah 5 years ago. Best decision I ever made. I happen to be an outdoor guy and this place is so good it's unreal. Also the prevailing LDS culture means no serious crime most places, and courteous drivers too.
Of course there are drawbacks. I can't get hard liquor on Sundays or late night, boo hoo. Temp swings are big due to the inland location. So much empty land you can get really lonely. And here in southern Utah it can get damned hot in Summer. Oy.
But that's why they invented beer!
I too lived in Utah, Brigham City to be exact; for 6 years when my Dad worked for Thiokol.
We went camping and fishing all over the state and surrounding areas, truly beautiful, without a doubt the bluest sky I have ever seen. Close to Idaho and Wyoming we fished the Green River a lot. Went to Christmas Meadows in Idaho and my worst memory was falling in a chuck hole up to my waist at the edge of the creek.
My father always lamented the fact that he had to drive out of state to get booze and if you wanted it in a club you had to buy the bottle and keep it at the club until it was gone and they charged as much for the drink setup as some bar in New York would. However, fireworks were legal and we had a great time on the 4th of July.
I agree with the hot in summer but the winters were so dry you could use a push broom instead of a shovel on the snow. If there was no wind, you would be warm in just a sweater. It is a beautiful state.
And the area is geographically stable, there are major military bases nearby for defense, the workforce in the area is stable and reliable, the economy is good, there is a major airport there, and people like to live there. There are more reasons, but it is a great area, except for traffic, which will be better after the I15 construction is completed.
One of the original six ARPANET sites. The choice of location for NSA data center was no doubt influenced by -relatively- new major fiber bundle run between University of Utah hub and Las Vegas. Think there are equivalent fiber runs up to Redmond, West to the Bay area and East to Denver. Salt Lake has been a telecommunications hub for a long time with long distance lines and inter city microwave links. Salt Lake area also includes at least one major data satelitte center. Choice of location for NSA data center was not hapenstance. Located adjscent to major fiber and Western power grid interconnects.
Just wish all that translated to fast cheap IP connections.
From Utah, you can ship a truck filled with Blu-Ray disks over land to Fort Meade, Maryland. From Alaska, you would have to either use a boat over the ocean, or go through a foreign country, Canada. So there is a legitimate security reason for choosing Utah over Alaska; it isn't necessarily because the NSA scientists want to gamble (or hack the casinos?) in Las Vegas.
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