Physical Security

Roles: lock, key, barrier, perimeter, zone, vault, badge, guard

The protection of physical spaces and objects through barriers, locks, credentials, and controlled access points. As a source domain, physical security provides the foundational vocabulary for digital access control: keys, keychains, vaults, locks, badges, perimeters. The metaphorical transfer is so complete that most practitioners no longer think about the physical originals when using terms like “key rotation” or “access token.” The frame imports assumptions about physicality — that keys are tangible, that locks have a single correct key, that perimeters are continuous — that break in digital contexts where credentials are copyable, revocable, and scopeable.

As Source Frame (2)

• Permissions Are Keys → access-control
• Security Violations Are Trespassing → network-security