This basic Recommendation presents guidance on the management of physical security concerned with electromagnetic interference and/or emanation, for telecommunications centre managers to implement the information security management system (ISMS) requirements of Recommendation [ITU-T X.1051]. The relationship between [ITU-T X.1051] and this Recommendation is shown as Figure 1.

There are two primary categories on the electromagnetic security.

One is high-power electromagnetic interference, either natural (such as lightning) or deliberate (malicious EM attack) that causes damage and disruption for telecommunication centre equipment such as switching, transmission, radio and power.

Another is information leakage from unintentional emanations of telecommunication equipment such as servers, computers and transmission equipment, which process or carry information. There is the possibility that a malicious and sophisticated eavesdropper could reconstruct significant information from intercepted emanations.

This Recommendation is a guide for the application of [ITU-T K.78] (HEMP), [ITU-T K.81] (HPEM), [ITU-T K.84] (information leakage) [ITU-T K.115] (mitigation method) and K series Recommendations on lightning protection.

This Recommendation represents an overview of electromagnetic security; it classifies the environments where devices and equipment in need of protection are installed, and classifies predicted threats and vulnerabilities as well as countermeasures.