Encompassing A World Of Security Awareness

Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Richard Lefler

Did someone once say that all security is local? Given our expanding global economy, in any case, local can be anywhere.

Today's corporate presence encompasses a widespread mosaic of foreign countries and varying business needs. Goods manufactured in China enter the global supply chain destined for delivery via one of the millions of shipping containers to locations in Europe, the Americas, or elsewhere around the globe. IT services and call centers are located in countries far from their potential customers, but are tied together in global communication networks that allow for cost-effective communication anywhere at any time. Sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry move to outsourcing clinical trials in foreign countries using outsourced companies that specialize in conducting these trials. Both manufacturing and the service industries over the last 10 years have witnessed extraordinary changes in how and where a company obtains parts, manufactures, ships, maintains network services and provides customer assistance. The changing environment challenges the management of a security program as risks to the company are no longer limited to the traditional gate-and-guard approach

The present-day Chief Security Officer (CSO) must embrace these corporate changes and must create awareness and security programs that stretch far beyond the “fence line” that we once knew. Suppliers are developing services in the security arena that expand the “situational awareness” needed by a CSO to monitor how risk issues impact the company. For example, one company provides a “geo-relevant-information-alert” service that allows the CSO to input critical sites, including company facilities, key suppliers, outsourced IT centers, temporary locations of sales meeting, and so forth. As an event unfolds, the information is loaded into a geographical system that triggers a series of update messages to the company's command center, explaining the emerging event and the distance from the highlighted site, thus providing rapid early warning for the CSO and staff to notify business units and implement mitigation plans. Notification can be tailored to e-mail, telephone or Blackberry as the customer needs.

Another supplier deploys a system of sensors for video coverage that provides for expanded circles of awareness around a facility or site, for example, a major seaport. Intelligence from the deployed sensors enhances early detection and focuses on emerging threats, thus increasing chances of using delaying tactics and likely improving the response needed in the emergency. The sensors add immense value to console operators by calling attention to any changes beyond the “normal state.”

Both examples demonstrate the availability of emerging tools to improve the value security provides to a corporation functioning in a global economy. For the CSO today, creating awareness programs that provide early detection of arising risk issues allows a company to get to the head of the line in mitigation management. Rapidly identifying security problems reduces potential losses to stakeholders and can be a huge advantage in a competitive business arena.

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Richard A. Lefler is a Security Executive Council Emeritus Faculty member and the managing partner of the Business Security Advisory Group. He previously held positions with American Express as a vice president for investigations, vice president for worldwide security and chief security officer. This article is presented in cooperation with the Security Executive Council (https://www.csoexecutivecouncil.com)

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