What is the modern "Floppy-Based" router based on?

[Leo Mauler]

I was going over some of my old links (in backup CDs)
and found this interesting link to creating 1.680MB
floppy disks for use in floppy-based routers and
gateways:

http://www.trevormarshall.com/byte_articles/byte19.htm

This made me think about the whole concept of the
PC-based router/bridge.  Floppy disks have the
write-protect tab on them, making them easily switched
(provided you have direct access to the PC) from
write-protect to run the router, to flipping the
write-protect tab for editing the router, and then
flipping it back to write-protect once you are
finished with the edit.

What can the modern PC-based router use to duplicate
this nice combination of security and ease of editing?
 You can duplicate the security (and possibly make it
better) with a write-once CD-R, but to make changes
you have to write an entirely new CD.  ReWritable CDs
aren't a good idea precisely because they have no
"write-protect tab".  The same might go for a memory
key, since there is no "write-protect tab" for a
memory key.

I've been taking training classes with Cisco routers
recently, and the one issue they all seem to have is
that if someone manages to get past an interface
password and then a configuration password (two words:
"social engineering"), even without physical access to
the router, they can change (and access) what they
like.  While I've been told there are ways around the
write protect tab, it seems to me that having some
form of physical write-protect on the media used to
store configuration files would be a good idea for
modern routers.

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