Strategic Security

Researchers found that when geopolitical conflict climbs, the number of valuable patents filed drops amid turnover of key scientists and inventors.

At industrial gas company Air Products, the global security operations center continues to play a critical role and add value for the organization and its stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is almost infinite data freely available, and yet, it is so often ignored because of its sheer size and complexity. So, how can security professionals sift through the information to detect fraud?

Major outdoor festivals and concerts require a comprehensive, holistic, and layered approach to security and safety that includes the inclusion of internal and external stakeholders. This process should start with a threat, vulnerability, and risk assessment.

For organizations seeking to manage risk and security operations in tenuous circumstances—including in countries or regions where there is conflict or where the rule of law has been undermined—a little guidance is more than welcome.

In the face of natural disasters increasing in both frequency and ferocity, when the lights go out businesses should look to a nearby network of neighbors to get back up and running faster.

One year after record-cold temperatures in Texas knocked the power out throughout the entire state, has the Lone Star State learned its lesson?

In a significant number of school incident after-action reports, communication is called out as a failure point in the response. In nearly all, communication is noted as an area for improvement.

Despite federal commitment to upgrade U.S. electrical grid, businesses and homeowners must still protect equipment from power surges.

As COVID-19 approaches its two-year anniversary, security and risk management professionals would be wise to reflect on past failures in hopes of making our society antifragile to future global calamities.

As the threat landscape has changed, security leaders have had to adapt. It is infinitely important that the leaders responsible for the safety and security on university and healthcare campuses comprehend and strike a balance between needs versus wants as they build their programs to respond to changes.

As pandemic restrictions ease and calls continue to defund the police, security guard firms should understand their risks before taking on high-profile clients.

Integration into the workforce environment, rather than mere patrol of it, is more necessary than ever for an accurate assessment, prevention, and disruption of threats.

When facing a lack of genuine or affordable raw material, dishonest producers used low quality or unsuitable ingredients, resulting in “an increase of illegal, counterfeit, and potentially unsafe food on the market,” according to INTERPOL and Europol’s Operation OPSON IX Analysis Report.

More than half of respondents to a recent survey agreed their CEO has received physical threats both as a result of either expressing (58 percent) or not expressing (40 percent) a position on racial and/or political issues.

Shifting regulation and decreasing consumer tolerance for corporate abuses of human rights may soon have non-compliant companies seeing both profits fall and losses in courtrooms unless they instigate a paradigm shift.

The role of open-source intelligence (OSINT) within physical security management may be an overlooked aspect in the suite of conventional security practices.

Government resources worldwide were diverted from human trafficking missions to combat the coronavirus pandemic, leaving gaps wide open for traffickers to target at-risk populations.

Security professionals need to ask themselves two key questions: Can we protect our property when the police are overwhelmed and does our company have the resources to win the communications battle?

The COVID-19 pandemic may have provided an ideal push for organizations to implement an ESRM approach to resilience and crisis management, which can multiply security’s value to the business.

Core services do not mean all services. In a private enterprise scenario, your core functions must be identified so that your continuity plan ensures at least their partial operation within the shortest amount of time possible.

Psychologically, executives will want to believe that things will go back to normal, but COVID-19 has changed that for the foreseeable future.

The globe is heating up, and so too could the risk of extreme weather events and social tensions as climate change takes effect.

Resilience is a multifaceted concept, and depending on which way you view it, you may see different challenges and stronger solutions, says Michael Szönyi, Flood Resilience Program Lead at Zurich Insurance Company.

From deciding how to handle COVID-19 to natural disasters to civil unrest to cyberthreats, executives have turned to their security teams to help keep businesses safe.

At its core, QAnon is a militant and anti-establishment ideology focused on destroying the existing corrupt world order and accelerating the arrival of a new Golden Age. When true believers turn violent, workplaces and employees are at risk.

Even as the coronavirus pandemic continues its third wave in the United States, the Las Vegas casino and gaming industry works to reopen responsibly, keeping in mind its duties to guests and employees, as well as its status as an economic engine for the state of Nevada.

Organizations need to begin to plan now for the wider rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and what policies and procedures they need to have in place.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining productivity was of high importance to organizations. Now that the pandemic has disrupted what’s typically known as the norm within the workplace, productivity has been challenged now more than ever.

The pandemic, the recession, and various protests are driving a record increase in gun purchases in the United States, and some experts are concerned about what that might mean for employees.

Do background checks provide a false sense of security? Lapses and loopholes in screening procedures have a history of coming back to haunt organizations.

While broad security efforts for top-tier global events largely lie with the organizer, host country, and governmental organizations, private organizations are not without risk mitigation options.

As schools navigate reopening, school security professionals warn that information sharing is more critical than ever in detecting early warning signs of potential violence.

As attention on human trafficking grows, forced labor related to debts and recruitment schemes haunts supply chains.

Global lockdowns forced supply chains to hit the brakes. Cargo thieves hit the gas.

As the global economic slowdown heightens vulnerabilities, the European Union is beefing up its defenses against transborder financial crime.

The world is entering a decade of rage, unrest, and shifting geopolitical sands. Security leaders need to understand the factors behind mass protests to accurately predict them and mitigate their effects.

Dr. Jo Robertson, author of Executing Crisis: A C-Suite Crisis Leadership Survival Guide, shares her top five rules for leading an organization through turbulent times.

The wide scale of the coronavirus pandemic, which has touched six continents, presents a wide stage for corruption, backroom deals, and fraud.

“The push for companies to show what they are doing for the greater good will only intensify through the lens of the pandemic; the public will want to know whether companies put people or profits first during this global crisis,” says Allison Wood, an associate director at Control Risks.

As much of the manufacturing industry in Mexico has continued operations classified as essential throughout the federally mandated quarantine, businesses are facing unique and acute challenges.

An unusual combination of sustainability, safety, and security aids Radisson in becoming a more trusted member of both global and local communities.

Critical infrastructure owners are increasingly creating remote connections to their operational equipment—potentially introducing unforeseen vulnerabilities.

Cathy Lanier, senior vice president of security for the National Football League discusses how the coronavirus pandemic redefined the phrase “game changer” and how she’s already looking at what lies ahead.

The number of people affected by floods worldwide will double in the next decade, according to new analysis.

The United States is taking a multi-prong approach to preventing intellectual property theft. But it needs international partners to succeed.

From documentation to witness statements to video surveillance, learn what lawyers and expert witnesses are watching for in negligent security court cases.

A long-term push for digital transformation paid off for Microsoft’s security department when COVID-19 disrupted global operations.

Employees are an organization’s most valuable asset. Businesses that implement robust and sustainable strategies to take care of their people during the COVID-19 pandemic will fare better than those that do no not.

As organizations reopen their facilities, they must be aware of threats that may arise from a lack of human presence during shelter-at-home orders, such as the opportunity for Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks.

There is no one perfect business case for all new security projects. Finding the best approach requires a shift in perspective and the right supporting evidence.

Harding University Assistant Director of Public Safety Kevin Davis discusses how security at his school managed the pandemic-related campus closure and what they doing to prepare for what comes next.

Security leaders have a chance to use previous rare tragedies—such as terrorist events or natural disasters—as a catalyst to improve their organization’s resilience.

At this time, there is tremendous value in briefly pausing to reflect on the organization’s COVID-19 journey to date and conduct an “in-flight” incident review as a means of optimizing the approach going forward.

For international business services company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), managing business continuity and crisis response to the coronavirus pandemic has tested its international, regional and national capabilities. However, key steps—such as the early creation of a dedicated task force for information sharing—have driven a more streamlined, agile crisis response.

Security directors add value when they find data-based leading indicators that can help an organization prepare in advance for the risk factors unfolding as a result of COVID-19.

An increase of both telework and insider attacks, leaders need to reorganize how they spot warning signs and mitigate potential attackers.

The more personal a problem is, the less willing people are to report it. But when domestic abuse threatens to escalate into workplace violence, early warning is essential.

As news proliferates yet public interest wanes, security leaders face myriad challenges to present accurate, timely, and actionable information to key decision makers. Here, two CSOs share their tips for communicating and influencing perception during the pandemic.

Using an ESRM-based approach can help organizations re-emerge after facing major, pandemic-induced disruptions.

Research from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that face recognition algorithms’ accuracy rates vary widely based on the subject’s age, race, and gender.

This initial report in the ASIS Foundation's pandemic research documented the security themes that emerged as COVID-19 forced lockdowns and caused economic freefall. All of the practitioners participating in the project emphasized that staff, customer, client, and contractor safety was paramount.

Convention centers have played an important role in regional pandemic response. Here are some lessons learned from those put into use so far.

This short segment excerpted from a webinar describes the travel risks the pandemic exposed.

Security professionals are often considered essential personnel who must report to work during the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s what employers need to know to ensure staff is prepared to be at the job site.

The preparation involved in enterprise security risk management (ESRM) enables organizations to act decisively and confidently in times of crisis.

More organizations are shifting to allow employees to work remotely. Now is the time for enterprise risk managers to strengthen programs against new vulnerabilities unique to telework.

Amid floods of information, sales pitches, shifting risks, and staffing challenges, how are enterprise security leaders keeping up during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Crisis response hinges on two factors: what the organization does and what the organization says. When these halves align, it results in trust and a more positively received and effective response.

Experts offer advice on creating an organizational culture to prevent sexual harassment.

As employees take advantage of business travel to venture out on leisure time, organizations debate what services to provide.

More than 30,000 kidnappings occur globally, and business travelers are prime targets.

The decisions you make today to mitigate the threat of the coronavirus pandemic will have significant impact on your operations in the future.

Most organizations have activated incident management teams; fewer had practiced for an emergency situation in the previous 12 months.

Brian Ishikawa, senior vice president and director of corporate security for the Bank of Hawaii Corporation, shares how the coronavirus has impacted the bank's business continuity.

The chief information security officer for Fullerton Health, based in Singapore, discusses his organization's experiences dealing with the pandemic.

Scott Stewart from Stratfor explains how security professionals can leverage their creative problem-solving skills and preparedness to diffuse panic and secure operations and assets during the coronavirus pandemic.

New research finds that the world is not prepared to prevent or respond to a global pandemic. But lessons learned from previous outbreaks can help address vulnerability gaps.

In light of potential shortages and rising value of personal protective equipment (PPE), healthcare security professionals can take additional steps to protect these newly high-value items and shore up supply chain vulnerabilities.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is currently facing a triple threat: Ebola, measles, and militant attacks.

The European Union’s privacy regulation poses new challenges for investigators looking to carry out their work.

The world has changed since the 2003 SARS outbreak. Has your pandemic preparedness plan changed with it?

Lebanon, Chile, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Colombia are just a few of the many countries thrown into tumult recently by civil unrest, and these situations have many ramifications for security professionals.

As wildfires grow more volatile and unpredictable, business continuity managers around the world are scrambling for creative solutions.

China is stealing intellectual property on a grand scale, posing economic and national security threats to the United States.

When it comes to food defense in manufacturing and processing facilities, personal grievances can trigger widespread public health impacts.

The size, scope, and frequency of recent natural disasters are pushing U.S. agencies to reevaluate their mass care preparedness.

In considering future trends and demands, focus on four key areas to increase adaptability enough no matter what lies beyond the horizon.

New research by the ASIS Foundation indicates that full convergence of physical security, cybersecurity, and business continuity is not commonplace.

Economic sanctions remain an oft-used security tool, but they are far from foolproof. Recent research examines what types of penalties usually get the best results.

Hotel security teams are dealing more and more with potentially damaging social media posts and videos, finding a way forward by relying on fundamental training and cooperation throughout an organization.

Tarah Wheeler shares her thoughts on convergence and responding to security incidents at GSX 2019.

Some employers are dropping marijuana testing from preemployment screening as research on impairment continues.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) releases a new strategic framework for countering terrorism and targeted violence.

School administrators and security leaders face increasingly complex and multidimensional bullying problems.

Some security professionals believe converging functions under one umbrella might save money, but it’s not the top benefit for departments that have taken the plunge.

The opioid crisis in the United States has crossed socioeconomic, geographic, and political lines, affecting a broad swath of the American population—including the workforce.

To avoid emotional, knee-jerk responses to tragic events, security professionals turn to research to ensure strategies are effective.

Adopting a successful ESRM program often requires a full understanding of ESRM – its components, contexts, and complementary strategies.

U.S. officials work with state and local partners to rebuild trust and enhance election security after Russian interference in 2016.

Working with studios, associations, and third-party providers, content creators and owners are constantly trying to prevent the next blockbuster breach.

As houses of worship face increasingly violent threats, faith-based organizations are getting creative in their pursuit of security resources.

Through focus, patience, and non-linear thinking, malicious actors create new paths into organizations. Defenders can use attackers’ tactics against them.

After mass shootings, bombings, cyberattacks, and more, is security fatigue starting to take its toll?

As security officers take on more proactive roles, they face potential legal ramifications from overstepping their bounds.

Not all security recruits need to be security experts. With the talent gap widening and necessary skill sets skewing toward business acumen, leaders are looking to other industries or departments to find fresh insight.

As natural disasters increase in frequency and force, supply chains lengthen, and interconnectivity raises complications, traditional business continuity doesn’t cut it anymore.

Transnational criminal organizations are using improved connectivity and technology to discover new pathways to profit and stymie investigators.

As the measles outbreak spreads in the U.S., security professionals and healthcare providers reassess how to keep business travelers healthy.

After disasters and conflict, culture can play an irreplaceable role in resilience and recovery for cities and organizations.