If security continues to mature as a business function, senior management will likely ask for a set of metrics to measure performance. Security leaders should prepare meaningful metrics that inform management and improve security effectiveness.

Security leaders don’t have time. The best ones find time, or make time, for critical or strategic tasks that have a long-range payoff, but they often struggle to fit more into a workday that already stretches from dawn to dark.

In my last column I wrote about the “Human Factor” of access control and identification. I now recall several negative incidents that I experienced as a security director involving security staffs screening persons entering the lobbies of hospitals.

Duty of Care is a shared responsibility, especially in today’s global economy. As employees cross borders and increasingly work in hostile environments, increased risk is brought to an organization’s most valuable assets: its employees.

In today’s business marketplace, with the need for virtual “anywhere, anytime” access to information, most companies are mindful of the inherent security issues – threats of attacks, individual devices connecting to the corporate network, data leakage and other forms of malicious mal-intent.

One of the most crucial issues for businesses right now is managing risk. After all, risk, if left unchecked, can be a serious drain on budgets and assets. While risk comes in all shapes and sizes, identifying which incidents cause the biggest danger to your company is critical to protecting your business. Let's consider the possible economic ramifications of risk on business operation

In last month’s column, we argued that the next generation of security leaders will be challenged more than previous leaders to run their function as a business; they will be expected to align with the organization and build value through security. As they work toward these goals, they will also be faced with new risks, some of which have the potential to escalate at a stunning pace.

Sometimes tragedy creates change for the better –a sad reality that is being illustrated on campuses across the country as an increasing number of colleges mandate background screenings for students, particularly those enrolled in health science programs.