← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-3268 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-3268
Expected annual
$695K
One-time setup
$139K
Annual recurring
$684K
Personnel
5
One-time setup costs are modest (~$139,000) for secure housing, air-gapped hardware, archival setup and forensic tooling; recurring annual costs are higher (~$683,800/yr) driven by staff wages, SOC/legal/response operations and a contingency reserve.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $139K
Initial Research And Lab Setup $70K
[#5, #6, #19] Secure automated image-supply system development and curation (#5), forensic software/signature tooling and training (#6), and laboratory/forensic hardware initial purchases (workstations, write-blockers, imaging kits) (#19).
Facilities $24K
[#1] Secure containment room build-out (locked cabinet/room, EM shielding, tamper alarms).
Redundant Archival Setup $16K
[#3] Redundant archival storage initial setup (LTO/WORM drive purchase, initial tapes/media, vaulting setup).
Network Isolation Setup $12K
[#4] Network isolation and monitoring appliances initial setup (IDS/IPS, hardware firewalls, network tap inline capture).
Incident Drills Initial Training $10K
[#16] Initial incident response drills and SOP documentation / initial staff training.
Equipment $6K
[#2] Dedicated containment hardware (air-gapped workstation/device, UPS, surge protection, hardware write-protect).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $684K/yr
Staff Wages $380K/yr
[#7, #8, #9, #10] Salaries+benefits: Digital archivist/records staff (1 FTE) (#7), IT/security engineer (1 FTE) (#8), research lead / containment scientist (part-time allocation) (#9), and on-site security personnel (2 guards) (#10).
Scaleup Contingency Fund $100K/yr
[#25] Rapid-response contingency/reserve to scale operations if SCP propagates widely (mass seizures, expanded SOC, legal takedowns).
Insurance And Contingency Reserve $50K/yr
[#21] Insurance premium allocation and liability reserve for unexpected public exposure or litigation.
Soc Monitoring And Network Maintenance $30K/yr
[#4] SOC monitoring, IDS/IPS maintenance and outsourced monitoring to trace outbound connections and forensic capture.
Cover Story And Legal $23K/yr
[#15] Legal retainer and expected annual takedown / PR / ISP coordination costs (retainer + average per-incident work).
Psychological Support And Ppe $16K/yr
[#14] Psychological counselling, trauma care, mandatory rotations, and PPE/visual filters for staff.
Field Seizure Response Costs $14K/yr
[#11] Field seizure & forensic response operational costs (travel, per-diem, vehicles, on-site imaging) estimated for expected annual incidents.
Research And Monitoring $12K/yr
[#6] Forensic rule updates, signature maintenance, and testing for detection tooling.
Software Licensing $10K/yr
[#20] Hardened OS licenses, forensics software subscriptions, and paid threat-intel feeds for signature updates.
Evidence Processing And Archive Maintenance $9K/yr
[#18] Ongoing cataloging, encrypted index maintenance, integrity checks, media migration, and Digital Archive Site maintenance.
Logistics And Transport $7K/yr
[#12] Device transport and secure storage per seized device (courier, chain-of-custody containers, quarantine storage) estimated annually based on expected seizures.
Secure Disposal Per Device $7K/yr
[#17] Secure destruction/disposal costs for compromised hardware (per-device shredding/degaussing) estimated based on expected destroyed devices per year.
Amnestic And Medical Support $6K/yr
[#13] Amnestic administration and medical observation costs for affected civilians (estimated annual usage).
Drills Recurrent $5K/yr
[#16] Recurrent incident response drills and refresher training.
Ethical And Compliance $5K/yr
[#24] Administrative costs for oversight boards, memetic/ethical review, and consultant time.
Facilities Maintenance $3K/yr
[#3] Archival media refresh and vault fees for redundant archival storage (media refresh, tape migration, offsite vault fees).
Forensic Hardware Maintenance $2K/yr
[#19] Annual maintenance/replacement for forensic imaging kits and portable workstations.
Energy And Overhead $2K/yr
[#22] Power, climate control, CCTV and alarm monitoring for small isolated containment system.
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#23] Consumables for handling (gloves, wipes, evidence bags, labels, warning metadata stickers).
Image Supply Maintenance $1K/yr
[#5] Maintenance and curation of the secure automated image-supply system and dataset QA/legal checks.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $684K/yr
80.0% probability / year
Normal year with no major incidents; routine operations, scheduled maintenance, and expected minor responses.
no_major_breach routine_maintenance scheduled_drills
🚨 Minor Incident $714K/yr
18.0% probability / year +$30K vs baseline
One small breach or public report requiring a handful of device seizures, some legal takedowns and amnestic administrations.
single_device_breach 1-5_seizures small_public_forum_report
🚨 Major Outbreak $984K/yr
2.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline
Wider propagation through popular messaging or forums requiring mass response, expanded SOC operations, large legal/PR effort and significant device seizures.
widespread_propagation multiple_public_reports mass_seizures_required
👥 Personnel 5 total
Role Count Notes
Digital Archivist / Records Staff 1 [#7] 1 FTE handling daily image uploads, archiving and chain-of-custody documentation.
IT / Security Engineer 1 [#8] 1 FTE maintaining air-gapped environment, monitoring and after-hours alerts.
Research Scientist / Containment Lead 1 [#9] 1 allocated position (part-time allocation for oversight, SOP updates and coordination).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 [#10] 2 on-site guards for physical access control and retrieval operations.
📋 Confidence Notes
Containment requirements and per-item cost ranges are reasonably well described, but annual estimates rely on uncertain incident frequencies and wide ranges for legal/scale-up costs, so precision is limited.
← SCP-3267 ↑ All SCPs SCP-3269 →