← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-8287 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-8287
Expected annual
$1.0M
One-time setup
$645K
Annual recurring
$992K
Personnel
5
One-time startup costs are approximately $645,000 driven by workstation fleet, server/UPS/firewall installs and contingency reserves; recurring annual costs are approximately $992,000/year driven primarily by dedicated personnel salaries, facility lease, legal/OPSEC costs, hosting/licensing and insurance.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $645K
Contingency Reserve $250K
[#22] Media/incident contingency / black-budget reserve: $250,000 one-time held for leak/PR/legal contingencies.
Equipment $173K
[#2, #3, #5, #7, #9, #10, #28] One-time hardware and install costs: badge readers/mantrap install (#2 $12,000), CCTV install (#3 $15,000), secure server hardware (selected midpoint) (#5 $40,000), workstation fleet purchase/imaging (50 seats) (#7 $75,000), UPS systems (#9 $15,000), firewall appliances (#10 $10,000), archival/offline audit storage setup (#28 $6,000).
Initial Vetting And Clearances $100K
[#20] Initial background checks and vetting sweep: $500 per vetting × ~200 personnel = $100,000 one-time for initial clearance sweep.
Emergency Response Reserve $100K
[#30] Containment breach & emergency response fund: $100,000 one-time reserve for rapid mobilization, travel, or expedited procurements.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $22K
[#15, #16] Initial lab/research instruments and certified systems: forensics toolkit and hardware (#15 $12,000 one-time) and controlled-shutdown / kill-switch implementation & testing (#16 $10,000 one-time).
Facilities $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $992K/yr
Staff Wages $520K/yr
[#12, #13, #14, #17] Salaries & benefits: 1× Sysadmin/IT security specialist (#12 $130,000), on-call incident technician stipend (#13 $30,000), 2× designated researchers/engineers (#14 $240,000 total), 1× developer/ops salary for database/article system maintenance (#17 $120,000).
Facilities Maintenance $185K/yr
[#1, #3, #4, #6, #9, #10, #24, #28] Recurring facility costs: University-12 lease/hosting fee (#1 $150,000/year), CCTV storage/maintenance (#3/#4 $3,000 + $3,000/year), server colocation / rack power & cooling (#6 $8,000/year), UPS maintenance (#9 $1,500/year), firewall firmware/support (#10 $2,500/year), energy/utilities (#24 $15,000/year), archival maintenance (#28 $2,000/year).
Cover Story And Legal $110K/yr
[#18, #20, #21, #29] Cover, curriculum integration and OPSEC: curriculum integration & training administration (#18 $40,000/year), ongoing vetting for new hires (#20 $10,000/year), legal retainer / OPSEC communications & counsel (#21 $50,000/year), countersocial engineering/OPSEC training (#29 $10,000/year).
Supplies And Consumables $58K/yr
[#8, #15, #25, #26] Consumables, replacement and licensing: workstation refresh/depreciation (#8 $15,000/year), forensics license/support (#15 $3,000/year), secure disposal reserve (#25 $25,000/year), OS/endpoint & platform licensing (#26 $15,000/year).
Research And Monitoring $34K/yr
[#11, #16, #27] Monitoring, SIEM and testing: SIEM/logging and analyst time (#11 $20,000/year), periodic controlled-shutdown testing/validation (#16 $2,000/year), containment testing & QA (#27 $12,000/year).
Hosting And Licensing $30K/yr
[#17] Hosting/licensing for the Foundation Academic Service system: hosting and third-party service fees noted in #17 ($30,000/year).
Insurance And Liability $30K/yr
[#23] Insurance / liability premiums for property, cyber incidents and specialized risks (#23 $30,000/year).
Psychological Support $25K/yr
[#19] Psychological support and counseling for affected trainees/staff (#19 $25,000/year).
Logistics And Transport $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $992K/yr
87.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with no major incidents; routine monitoring, training use, and scheduled maintenance.
routine training use no anomalous self-awareness events no leaks or breaches
🚨 Minor Incident $1.0M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
A single on-site awareness event or limited anomaly escalation requiring extra forensics and overtime but contained locally.
temporary self-awareness observed forensic capture and overtime temporary hardware quarantine
🚨 Major Breach $1.4M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$400K vs baseline
An instance propagates or appears off-site requiring cross-institutional isolation, expedited hardware destruction, emergency travel and expanded legal/operations response.
off-site propagation widespread appearance on non-authorized endpoints rapid global isolation required
🚨 Political Exposure $2.0M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Public leak or legal/political exposure requiring major PR, legal settlements, reimbursements and long-term mitigation.
public disclosure or press/legal inquiry uncontrolled data leak university or government involvement
👥 Personnel 5 total
Role Count Notes
System Administrator / IT Security Specialist 1 [#12] Dedicated site sysadmin/IT security specialist (1 FTE) for patching, monitoring and emergency shutdowns.
On-call Incident Technician 1 [#13] Part-time/on-call rapid-response technician or stipend for 24/7 callable staff (budgeted as $30,000/year).
Research Scientist / Engineer 2 [#14] Two designated researchers/engineers (2 FTE) to study manifestations, write procedures and manage containment.
Developer / Operations 1 [#17] One FTE developer/ops to maintain the Foundation Academic Service and article system (salary portion).
📋 Confidence Notes
Many line items are explicitly estimated in the analyst notes (salaries, lease, hardware), giving reasonable fidelity; uncertainty remains around server redundancy choices, fleet size scaling, and low-probability major incident costs, so overall confidence is medium.
← SCP-8286 ↑ All SCPs SCP-8289 →