Proactive Physical Security Measures

A proactive physical security program requires the use of digitalization programs and the promotion and collaboration of stakeholder groups. A resilient organization relies on collaboration, information sharing, and the capability to develop event-driven actions such as automated emails and customized alerts that come from the digitalization and integration of various independent systems or operations.

In the same manner that a cybersecurity operations center monitors and detects cyber threats to a corporate network, the concept of a joint cyber and physical security operation center can introduce the possibility of also monitoring physical threats to the organization. Monitoring can be done through event-driven artificial intelligence (AI), digital closed-circuit television (CCTV), access control hardware, and intrusion detection systems. The inclusion of other risk-sensing and risk-prevention solutions can also be leveraged.

To provide additional insight and understanding of where the promotion and collaboration of stakeholder groups can be achieved, independent system operations can be found in the following groups: physical security, guard services, human resources, cybersecurity, crisis management, health and safety, facilities management, risk management, and other critical functions of the organization.

Using digitalization can help organizations report and reduce risk by:

• Allowing security and guard services to report incidents and potential risks in real-time, reducing human errors
• Providing risk management groups and other stakeholders with real-time reporting
• Providing bidirectional security information, instructions, and recommendations to incident-affected personnel
• Reducing carbon footprint and costs for facilities management
• Providing real-time tracking of visitors and staff
• Implementing event-to-action alerts and incident response procedures
• Reducing facility evacuation or lockdown response times
• Automatically initiating incident alerts to appropriate stakeholders
• Tracking and populating trending data and recording performance and risk indicators