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ASIS International | Advancing Security Worldwide
Advancing Security Worldwide
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Getting Proactive with Protective Intelligence
Eighty-seven percent of security, legal, and compliance executives agree that investment in technology to advance physical security effectiveness and mitigate violent threats is necessary for the future of their company, according to a recent study from the Ontic Center for Protective Intelligence.

Adjusting Security Awareness for Remote Work Hygiene
As the lines between work and leisure time become increasingly blurred and employees use company-issued devices and resources for personal use—such as social media, online shopping, and even telehealth—the potential for cyberattacks is ever present.

Public–Private Partnership Case Study: OSAC
Nearly three decades ago, the U.S. government grew increasingly concerned of the potential negative impacts of rising globalization and terrorism on U.S. corporations with international operations, giving rise to the creation of the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).

Looking Ahead: Shifts in Training Needed for Security Guard Use of Force
The differences between training and learning will require a major shift in preparation and standards for armed security officers.

Answering to Abuse
With more employees working remote and from home, companies’ have become increasingly liable once a victim informs them that he or she now works and lives with the abuser.

The Chief Security Strategist in an Age of Uncertainty
The contemporary CSO has to understand the geopolitical dynamics of the 21st century. In an interconnected and a globalized world, a crisis in one part of the world will have profound cascading effects on organizations on the other side of the globe.

Shared Successes: Building Collaborative Professional Networks
Where do I start? It’s a common refrain, whether it’s coming from a young professional just entering the security industry, a former law enforcement officer building her first private sector SOP, or a security industry veteran preparing to combat a new crisis. Fortunately, few of these paths need to be walked alone.

Change is the Only Constant: Lessons Learned from Uber
After five years, six managers, and three promotions, Carla Gray shares her insights and guidance for security managers operating in both global enterprises and agile, rapidly growing startups.

Embracing True Diversity in Times of Crisis
The business case for diversity is stronger than ever. A 2020 report found that companies that foster gender diversity are 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies that don’t.

Training Security Guards to Identify Sex Trafficking Victims
Child sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar a year business. Besides the moral obligation to combat domestic minor sex trafficking, businesses are criminally and civilly liable as facilitators for indirectly, but knowingly, profiting from the venture in reckless disregard to use of a minor.

Measuring Employee Engagement During a Crisis
For companies to maintain a motivated, productive workforce, organizations need to find the best methods to gather and interpret employee feedback, including from remote workers, and make changes accordingly, experts say.

Accelerationists Rising: The State of U.S. Hate Crimes
Rising hate crimes in the United States show the increasing threat of accelerationists in white supremacist groups.

Q&A: Essential Takeaways from the 6 January Riot at the U.S. Capitol
As U.S. federal law enforcement agencies warn of a potential wave of armed protests across the United States in the coming week, members of the ASIS International Extremism and Political Instability Community share lessons learned, analysis, and preparedness advice for the days ahead.

Conspiracy and Consequences: When Mass Delusions Come to Work
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.

Q-Speak: The Language of QAnon
Knowing the basics about QAnon, as well as the terminology and beliefs of this movement, can help security leaders recognize when someone is being led down the rabbit hole and possibly becoming a risk.

Developing a Layered Defense to Harden Facility Security
Hardening is an offensive security measure; it stops the fight before it starts.

Leading from Afar: Remote Management Lessons from CSOs
As organizations double down on remote work policies, security leaders shift their management, communication, and mentorship styles to foster team wellness and personal resilience.

The Vaccine Is Here, Are You Ready?
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.

Travel Safety eLearning: A Reasonable and Practicable Alternative to In-Person Travel Risk Mitigation
As companies begin readying their workforce for a new normal in anticipation of use of widespread COVID vaccine, eLearning can offer a safe, flexible, and perhaps more efficient method of ensuring business travelers are appropriately versed in risk mitigation wherever they go.

Crowd Avoidance: COVID-19 Spurs Interest in Smoother Security Lines
If security screening lines are too crowded, many Americans said in a recent poll that they would abandon plans to attend an event or enter a facility.

Softening the Impact of a Hard Insurance Market
The year 2020 started inauspiciously with a hard security insurance market in the United States. This meant security firms experienced rising premiums and tightening underwriting guidelines, largely due to concerns about claims, costly legal settlements, and risk management in the industry. These issues were only exacerbated by the emergence of COVID-19 and civil unrest.

Surging Gun Sales Could Soon Become a Workplace Concern
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.

Managing Stress, Leading, and Serving Through Crises
Crises are by nature unpredictable and uncertain. Our brains process uncertain and unpredictable events as life-or-death threats. During a crisis, one of the key steps to manage our stress and our emotions and to foster our perspective and analytical reasoning is to de-shame.

Emerging from the Ashes: How Aviation Security Rises After COVID-19
Airports have seen a drastic reduction in international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Once traffic resumes, however, security screeners will need to hit the ground running.

Protecting Shops from Looting
Beyond retail shrink caused by shoplifters, internal thieves, or fraudulent returns, retailers are also aware of the risks posed by those taking advantage of chaos from mass protests that have become regular occurrences in 2020.

Leading with Empathy: Fostering Engaged Workforces
Much like the world we live in, the security business has changed, and the lessons gained serve as a powerful reminder that to be effective in our industry, we need to evolve as leaders to get the best out of our people.

Rethinking SOC Functionality and Cost
Considering the global shift toward more service-based providers and platforms for physical security, it can be argued that the overall cost of protection is being reduced.

How to Avoid Eight Diversity Recruiting Mistakes
Employers are re-evaluating workplace diversity at their organizations, starting with being more thoughtful about recruiting from a broader range of talent. However, these efforts are not without pitfalls.

Monitoring Remote Workers
Monitoring tools can track productivity and guard against security threats, but employers should weigh the benefits against the legal risks.

Three Steps to Avoid Security Theater
Not all risk mitigation measures are made equal. When managers deploy countermeasures without first understanding and addressing the company’s own specific risk posture, they are contributing to “security theater”—a concept that refers to security measures that make people feel more secure without doing anything to actually improve their security.

Four Principles for Leadership for Security and Safety in the New Normal
Extreme challenges present opportunities to do things better. Leaders are at a major inflection point, affording the chance to reroute connections and revise how they lead industries, endeavors, and teams—which has implications for safety and security.

Change Drivers: Organizations Face Supercharged Activism
“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.

Navigating the Impacts of COVID-19 in Mexico’s Manufacturing Sector
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.

COVID-19: The Rise in Domestic Violence
Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, a less-publicized public health crisis is surging across the globe—domestic violence. This guide for employers can help address employee needs and workplace concerns during remote work and return-to-work settings.

Your Hiring Assessments Could Get You in Trouble
Hiring assessments can be a slippery slope for employers, especially when they rule out protected employees and create disparate impact.

Remote Terminations: Special Considerations During COVID-19
Terminations can be triggers for workplace violence in normal times. With COVID-19, these are not normal times, and an organization that needs to lay off staff should account for the unique stress its staff is already enduring.

Virtualization and Empowerment: Microsoft’s VSOC Revs Up During COVID-19
A long-term push for digital transformation paid off for Microsoft’s security department when COVID-19 disrupted global operations.

Ready for Reentry?
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.

Implementing Split Operations to Improve Resilience During a Disease Outbreak
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.

How to Protect Company Data When Laying Off Remote Workers
Laying off employees is always painful, but having to do so when they are completely remote adds a new wrinkle: What should employers do to protect the company's data on laptops and other devices when letting remote workers go?

Adaptability Helps University Deal with Pandemic's Uncertainties
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.

Conducting COVID-19 "In-Flight" Incident Reviews
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.

A Guide to Employee Temperature Checks
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) gave employers the green light to take employees' temperatures to try and ward off the spread of the coronavirus. But will taking temperatures really work?

Q&A: Agility and Planning for Multinational Pandemic Response
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.

How to Anticipate Pandemic-Influenced Risk Developments
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.

How to Reopen Your Mail Centers
In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, many companies shut down their offices and told people to work from home. As they begin to reopen, companies will face several major hurdles in their mail centers.

Hiring Blitz by Big Security Firms Continues, Despite Record Unemployment
With U.S. unemployment now at record levels, Allied Universal and G4S are swimming against the current by hiring tens of thousands of new security professionals.

Q&A: Managing Perceptions, Expectations, and Information Fatigue in a Pandemic
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.

Resetting the Business After the COVID-19 Pandemic
Using an ESRM-based approach can help organizations re-emerge after facing major, pandemic-induced disruptions.

Security’s Role When Buildings Are Repurposed as Temporary Medical Facilities
Convention centers have played an important role in regional pandemic response. Here are some lessons learned from those put into use so far.

Leadership in the COVID Crisis: The Importance of Building Personal Resilience
Effective leadership in the current crisis requires prioritizing your mental well-being alongside that of your employees.

Coronavirus and Conflict: The Pandemic’s Potential Global Impact
The coronavirus pandemic could stir further global destabilization even after the virus is contained.

Travel Risk Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic
This short segment excerpted from a webinar describes the travel risks the pandemic exposed.

Q&A: What Employers Need to Know About Essential Workers and PPE
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.

Organizations Make Key Standards Freely Available
ASIS, ANSI, and others open access to certain standards to help organizations in their pandemic response.

Q&A: How Security Teams are Adapting to Closures
Almost one-fifth of the world is under some form of lock down. Here’s how those measures are impacting security teams protecting services and sites.

Q&A: CSO Perspectives on COVID-19 Response
Amid floods of information, sales pitches, shifting risks, and staffing challenges, how are enterprise security leaders keeping up during the COVID-19 pandemic?

COVID-19 in West Africa: A Security Manager’s Perspective
As the pandemic spreads through West Africa, a seasoned manager in Nigeria discusses the implications for security.

ESRM and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The preparation involved in enterprise security risk management (ESRM) enables organizations to act decisively and confidently in times of crisis.

Remote Work Considerations in the COVID-19 Age
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.

Japan Declares State of Emergency, No Lockdown for COVID-19 Response
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a monthlong state of emergency yesterday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In Crisis Communication, Start with Empathy
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.

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Impacts Security Service Firms
The pandemic has increased demand for security among many, and officers are being challenged with new duties and tasks.

How to Add Pandemic Response to Business Continuity Plans
The decisions you make today to mitigate the threat of the coronavirus pandemic will have significant impact on your operations in the future.

Q&A: How the Bank of Hawaii is Responding to COVID-19
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.

BCI Study: State of Organizational Business Continuity Plan Implementation
Most organizations have activated incident management teams; fewer had practiced for an emergency situation in the previous 12 months.

Q&A: Security’s Role During Pandemic Response
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.

Pandemic Impacts HR issues
Whether employees are working at home or on-site, employers should be aware of various workplace and employment issues raised by COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

Report on COVID-19 Response from Asia Pacific
The chief information security officer for Fullerton Health, based in Singapore, discusses his organization's experiences dealing with the pandemic.

Global Demand Puts Pressure on Healthcare Supply Chains
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.

Casino Resort Tactical Response Teams
How are casinos maintaining the softness required for guest services while simultaneously keeping up a tough front against an increasing number of public attacks?

Key Elements of Pandemic Readiness
The world has changed since the 2003 SARS outbreak. Has your pandemic preparedness plan changed with it?

K9 Teams Press “Paws” on Healthcare Violence and Crime
Whether de-escalating potentially violent scenarios, managing crowd control, or simply acting as a visual deterrent, highly trained K9 security teams are playing an important role at U.S. hospitals and medical centers.

The Rise of eCommerce Fraud
The use of stolen customer information to purchase goods is becoming an even larger threat to online retailers.

The Rising Cost to Insure Security
A rash of large insurance claims in the United States has been reshaping the security insurance market, especially regarding security guards and guarding firms.

Managing Risk for World Youth Day
Every three years, millions of youth from around the globe make a pilgrimage to see the Pope. This poses unique security challenges.

Q&A: John Kelly on China, Partnerships, and Border Security
At GSX 2019, Marine Corps General John Kelly (Ret.) sat down with Security Management to talk about how the United States is grappling with issues that the country faces today and will continue to deal with in the future.

Data Privacy, Information Management, and Security: Adjusting to a New Normal
Stakeholders can work hand in hand to protect against insider and external threats and reduce the risk of data loss while simultaneously improving data protection and streamlining processes.

Protecting Soft Targets without Hindering Culture
How do you protect a soft target—a restaurant, a museum, a park, or a city street—without taking away from its beauty, cultural value, or intended use?

Lessons Learned from the Notre Dame Fire
In the aftermath of the Notre Dame fire, security professionals should assess similar risks to their institutions.
Tomando Vuelo
En el condado rural de Grant, Washington, el personal de servicios públicos no sólo protege las subestaciones remotas: también ayuda a responder a los llamados de emergencia de la comunidad.

Newsroom Shooting Highlights Challenges of Securing Open Offices
An open office environment and a barricaded exit made it impossible for Capital Gazette employees to flee an active shooter.

Video: Charleston International Airport Modernizes Security with Pivot3
Along with a recent renovation, Charleston International Airport invested in a new state of the art IT system to support operational efficiencies, including for its security, surveillance, and access control systems.

How the “Artificial Intelligence of Things” is Transforming Video Security
The Internet of Things is best understood less as a revolution in and of itself—and more as a transition toward an even greater revolution that we call the Artificial Intelligence of Things, or AIoT.
Cuatro Desafíos Para La Seguridad de La Aviación
Para las agencias de seguridad y policiales, el desafío es llevar a cabo las labores del primer respondiente al mismo tiempo que se identifican amenazas de grandes consecuencias para las operaciones de aviación.

On-Premise vs the Cloud
In recent years, the cloud has transformed how physical security systems are controlled and managed.

Bully Bosses Can Inflict More Damage with Negative References
Employees trying to escape a bullying boss may be surprised to learn that their workplace nemesis is providing negative job references.

The Science of Organizing Security
One critical success factor to advancing asset protection in large corporations is what I call the "technology" of organizing to secure a company's people, critical information, and business strategy.

Access Control for Healthcare and Nursing Facilities
Healthcare and nursing home facilities have special requirements for access control.

ASIS Physical Security Council Reacts to YouTube Shooting
The ability of the shooter to gain access to YouTube's office courtyard via the parking garage raises questions about the building's physical security.

Four Trends That Will Shape Recruiting in 2018
This year, more employers hope to make progress in building inclusive workplaces through diversity recruiting efforts and will continue to experiment with new interviewing and selection techniques.

Starting from the End: Creating a Master Security Plan
When building a master security plan, start at the end.

Securing Special Events
Whether hosted at a sports arena, outdoors, a convention center, or elsewhere, security practitioners are frequently called upon to provide support to large-scale events with sizeable crowds.

Florida Governor Unveils Major School Security Plan In Wake Of Shooting
Florida Governor Rick Scott announced a major school security plan in the wake of a high school shooting that left 17 dead.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Five steps businesses can take to mitigate the security risk posed by a remote workforce.

Encuentra el Incendio
Pero, además de los magníficos panoramas del campus, el personal de seguridad de la universidad se encontró contemplando frecuentemente paneles de incendio que no funcionaban correctamente.
Recent News & Book Reviews
Book Review: The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison: America’s First Female Foreign Intelligence Agent
A good spy story filled with impossibilities, The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison: America’s First Female Foreign Intelligence Agent, unpacks Harrison’s life and accomplishments.
Book Review: Handbook of Loss Prevention and Crime Prevention
The sixth edition of Handbook of Loss Prevention and Crime Prevention draws on the expertise of more than 25 contributors to survey the security field.
Book Review: Hunting Whitey
Hunting Whitey documents the FBI’s 16-year hunt for a Boston crime boss.
Book Review: The Art of Resistance: My Four Years in the French Underground
At age 98, Professor Justus Rosenberg published a memoir—his part of the story of Nazi Germany’s bid for world domination that ended in defeat. Gracefully written and exceptionally edited, Rosenberg gives us a chronicle of heroes and survival, valor, honor, and courage.
Book Review: Crisis in the Red Zone
Crisis in the Red Zone describes the Ebola outbreak of 2014 and the lessons learned from it.
Pandemic-Based Risk Mitigations
A U.K.-based security risk consultant shares a collection of risk mitigations gleaned from the COVID-19 pandemic that security managers can include in future planning.
Global COVID-19 Resources by Region
In an effort to connect security professionals worldwide with the most relevant guidance and statistics, ASIS has compiled this list of resources, broken out by region.
Pandemic Influenza Continuity of Operations Template Instructions from FEMA
U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidance to assist organizations in developing a Pandemic Influenza Continuity of Operations Plan.
Book Review: The Birth of the FBI
Meticulously researched, The Birth of the FBI: Teddy Roosevelt, The Secret Service, and the Fight Over America’s Premier Law Enforcement Agency is also a fast-paced, engaging narrative that describes the origins of U.S federal law enforcement.
Today in Security History: Shays' Rebellion
A 1787 rebellion over taxation led to the development of stronger national law enforcement and judiciary systems in the United States.
Today in Security History: United States Marshal Robert Forsyth
On 11 January 1794, U.S. Marshal Robert Forsyth was the first federal law enforcement officer killed during an adversarial action.
Book Review: Killers of the Flower Moon
Readers join Special Agent Tom White as he uncovers a conspiracy—a culture of killing—that exploited an outdated guardianship system prohibiting Native Americans from administering their own wealth.
Today in Security History: Special Agent Tom White
In 1923, Osage leaders requested U.S. federal government assistance investigating murders of tribal members in the Oklahoma oil fields. The BOI assigned one special agent.
Book Review: The Pinks
The Pinks: The First Women Detectives, Operatives, and Spies with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency is loaded with undiscovered history and told in an easily read, engaging style.
Today in Security History: Detective Hattie Lawton
In 1862, mixed race detective Hattie Lawton was recruited to join a secret Union intelligence agency.
Today in Security History: Detective Kate Warne
In 1856, Allan Pinkerton hired Kate Warne—the first female detective to join the Pinkerton Agency.
New Survey On Video Surveillance Trends Launches
Security Management magazine is partnering with Pivot3 to conduct research on current trends and practices in video surveillance
New Survey on Crisis Management Opens
Crises that organizations face come in many forms, from workplace violence to weather catastrophes.
Survey to Explore Use of Mobile Forensics Technology
Security Management magazine, with partner MSAB, has commissioned a survey to examine current trends and challenges in deploying mobile forensics technology.
New Survey on Active Shooter Preparation Opens
Everbridge, in conjunction with Security Management magazine, is conducting research to uncover trends in active shooter incident preparation.
Survey to Analyze Trends in Executive Protection
Participate in a survey on executive protection trends and challenges.
Response to Article: “Evolving Biothreats”
Biodefense strategies remain a critical priority issue both in the United States and internationally.
Book Review: Practical Aviation Security, Third Edition
Studying the past and looking ahead at the challenges of the future will help current and future practitioners to prepare and confront those who wish to do harm.
European Salary Survey 2017
With support from ASIS Europe, SSR conducted a salary survey of European security professionals.
Former U.S. National Security Advisor Pleads Guilty To Lying To The FBI
Former U.S. National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the FBI.
Las Vegas Shootings: What it Means for Security
Security Management spoke to Jeffrey A. Slotnick about the deadly shootings in Las Vegas and the event's significance for active shooter preparedness and physical security.
Soft Targets: What Security Professionals Can Learn From the Manchester Attack
Think of soft targets like a bullseye with rings around it. Picture an airport where security needs to start prior to the secure area. If the airport is the bullseye, security needs to start in the parking lot, baggage delivery, at ticket counters.