In this April 2015 issue of Security, find out how to keep your enterprise resilient after a disaster in 2015. Also discover how to strike a balance between design basis threats and active shooter threats and see what's in store for the 2015 RSA Conference.
Spring is here. And it could not have come soon enough, after a particularly difficult winter for most of the U.S. Record-setting snow falls, flooding, and extreme cold temperatures plagued businesses, homeowners and travelers from November through March. Businesses shut down, flights were grounded, and many people were forced to hunker down and stay home.
The character Don Quixote became legendary tilting at imaginary giants that were ultimately just windmills dotting an expansive countryside. His cause was noble, but his efforts were fruitless and completely misguided.
Speaking of a supply chain security challenge, one of United Iron and Metal’s warehouses is outdoors in a hard-scrabble urban neighborhood of Baltimore, and it sprawls over more than 20 acres with one boundary chockablock against railroad tracks. Unwanted visitors were a relentless headache... until John Creighton, the director of security at United Iron and Metal, did something about it.
Hospitals, assisted living centers, nursing homes and other healthcare providers are under constant pressure to keep their facilities safe while managing costs. In addition, they need to manage constant visitor traffic, open access in multiple buildings, hectic emergency departments, confidentiality requirements, governmental standards and patient satisfaction surveys. To effectively deal with all these issues, more and more healthcare institutions are opting to outsource their physical security services.
As enterprise security executives, we are largely trained to focus our security plans toward a Design Basis Threat (DBT) – the most likely or credible threat(s) to a site, weighted by probability and impact of successful attack. Primarily this focus is aimed towards three common categories: Insiders, Outsiders and Outsiders with Connections to Insiders.
Even though Wilson Kipsang focused on winning the race, wireless video, among other security efforts, covered his back at the recent New York Marathon. Turn on a kitchen light, and thank a wireless camera for keeping the electric utility’s substation up, running and pumping out those kilowatts. And that No. 8 bus to work? Passengers can lean back in their seats knowing security personnel can view the inside scene in real-time all along the route.
The 2015 RSA Conference provides security professionals access to myriad keynotes, educational sessions and solutions for today’s cybersecurity risks. Whether you’re headed to San Francisco for the conference April 20-24 or you’re observing cybersecurity trends from your office, here is a sampling of some of the trends, products and services showcased at this year’s event.
According to frequent headlines in the press, cybersecurity is an issue that has seized the attention of corporate boards and the executives who report to them. The reality is probably more nuanced. Although the largest companies in some sectors are engaged in extensive risk management efforts, the broader business community in the middle market remains at best uneven in its response, says Matthew F. Prewitt, partner with law firm Schiff Hardin in Chicago, chair of Schiff Hardin’s data security and privacy team and co-chair of the trade secrets and employee mobility team.
The ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in Paris in January and the threats against shopping malls in the U.S., Canada and the UK by Al-Shaabab highlight threats that call for more fully integrated surveillance solutions to enhance security. The horrifying Paris attacks demonstrated that, while various forms of video were available to record the attackers’ movements during and after the attack, the video wasn’t being made available in real time or near real time to help law enforcement’s response to the attack.
We have been following the same cybersecurity approach, more or less, for over a decade. Yet, most everyone agrees that the problem continues to grow worse. Perhaps we are not on the right course. Maybe we are operating on false assumptions. The following list (to be continued in next month’s column) is meant to promote a dialogue about what, in my view, are widely held cybersecurity myths.
Does your organization have an active program that conducts reference checking on employees before they are hired? Ownership of the pre-employment vetting process does not often reside with the security function within the organization. Some companies outsource background checks to third party organizations to share the task. Many of these policies are impacted by legislation, and limitations can be imposed on the use of various vetting methods.
This digital forensics tool enables investigators and security professionals tasked with handling risk management and fraud detection to gather evidence in the field more easily.
To better protect proprietary or sensitive data, enterprises can utilize this fingerprint-area scanner, which plugs into a USB port and can be used to authenticate users at the device.
More than 40 percent of respondents in an Experian Data Breach Resolution survey said that they feel that monitoring financial transactions for fraud is too time-consuming, and 71 percent of respondents say they rely heavily on their bank or card issuer alerting them to fraud.
These thermal sensors can be installed into any location up to two meters away from a single S15D core unit due to flexible video cabling, weatherproof design and a tiny footprint.
This post-installation video analytics tool enables enterprise security leaders to perform quick and precise analytics on recorded video from security video DVRs, NVRs, IP cameras, NAS devices and more.
Insight from architects, building managers and tenants, as well as studies on pedestrian behavior, influenced the design of this turnstile system, new this month.
The newest version of security management platform Security Center includes a way to help enterprise security leaders attain greater security system performance through efficient views of ultra-HD and megapixel resolutions through GPU-accelerated video decoding capabilities.
This series of storage solutions allows businesses to scale, access and archive data at petabyte volumes, which is ideal for backup/archiving, media editing, video surveillance, virtual environments, content delivery and more.
Enterprises currently using proximity card readers, as well as those using smart card readers, can now add biometric authorization to their verification process without having to implement biometric readers.
This technology allows enterprise security leaders to retain their original investment in the wiring and cabling infrastructure of their existing surveillance system while upgrading to 1080p Full HD (2.1MP) cameras.
Complete with two radios, two mounting brackets and two Power over Ethernet injectors, this point-to-point kit is designed to quickly and cost-effectively create simple wireless links
This wall-mounted trauma case provides the simplicity of a fire extinguisher and the functionality of an AED to enable “Immediate Responders” – citizens, coworkers, community members – to apply life-saving interventions in an emergency
One in three U.S. hospitals reported an increase in violence and assaults in 2014 despite widespread rising security budgets, according to a survey of 380 hospital administrators, chief security officers and staff by Guardian 8 Corporation.
THIRTY-FOUR PERCENT of students say they are aware of an individual who poses a risk to their school, according to Awareity’s 2014 Student Safety Report.
THE 10TH ANNUAL SECURITY 500 Survey is now available online at SecurityMagazine.com/Security500Survey. This annual benchmarking report is designed to give security executives a view of where they stand within their sectors as well as in the industry as a whole.
Only 20 percent of payment card-accepting companies complied with the full set of international security standards in 2013, according to a new report from Verizon. The 2014 PCI Compliance Report looked at how hundreds of retailers, hospitality companies, financial service firms and other organizations followed the standards established by the PCI Security Standards Council.
Cyber-attacks are escalating in their frequency and intensity, and pose a growing threat to the business community as well as the national security of countries.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is starting a new research effort to help CISOs better manage cybersecurity within critical infrastructure companies. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Schneider Electric SE are early members of the consortium, according to MIT.
The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) members have been developing a school security assessment tool and a set of school security guidelines to be revealed at ISC West this month. The living document will provide specific recommendations (especially regarding the use of electronic security equipment) divided into “layers” (parking lots, main entrances, classrooms, etc.) and then again into tiers (depending on the level of resources a given school has available).
Security professionals are unable to keep pace with cybersecurity threats against companies as external and internal threats mushroom from both known and emerging technologies, according to a Trustwave survey.
The Security Industry Association announced the topics of its panels for the upcoming SIA Government Summit, to be held June 8-10, 2015, at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Emergency code terminology used to notify staff in healthcare facilities about an event that requires immediate action varies greatly from one facility to another in Pennsylvania. Healthcare facilities are encouraged to standardize codes for increased patient safety, according to a Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory article.