Organizations are not always as protected from risk like they think they are.
Security threats tends to evolve and change with technology and general societal trends. While these threats adapt, learn, and evolve to exploit new vulnerabilities, not all organizations are adapting alongside the shifting threat environment. Other threats often just get forgotten about or overlooked when putting together a security policy. Read below for some of the most common gaps we see in security plans.
Ignoring Fire Risk: Organizations often spend a lot of time installing and updating security systems that prevent theft, vandalism and other threats from humans. Most forget about security systems that help to protect the business from other risks – most notably fire security. With over 105,000 fires occurring in commercial properties between 2017 and 2019, fire risk is still very real. Instead of waiting until it’s too late, make sure to check your fire alarm system, fire evacuation plans and carbon monoxide monitoring system to see if they’re up to date. If not, it’s critical to update your fire safety systems immediately.
Ignoring Background Checks: We are starting to see more and more security incidents occur from within businesses as opposed from external threats. Current employees, contractors and anyone else with access to a potentially vulnerable system can be a threat. While we understand most organizations want to put trust into their workforce and partners, it’s never a bad thing to do some background due diligence beforehand. At AHS Security Consulting, we think doing background check due diligence prior to hiring can be a first step to mitigating potential internal security problems.
Ignoring Security Training: It’s common for many to think that a security system is to prevent threats to an organization. We certainly wouldn’t diminish the importance of security systems, but they don’t qualify as a full solution on their own. Without adequate training from all parties on what to do in various scenarios, it’s difficult to actually execute on a security plan to truly mitigate threats. Security training can include everything from consulting security personnel at an access point on how to react to an attempted break-in to teaching managers how to deal with a hostile employee situation. There is no “set it and forget it” security system that can cover all the bases of threat prevention, and since individuals at all levels must be trained.
Ignoring Building a Master Security Policy: Most organizations have separate security protocols and plans in place for different security threats.On top of this,they have separate people or divisions managing the various aspects of their security. After a while, security can become disjointed, outdated and compromised by differences in policy.It’s because of this that we are such strong proponents of building a security master plan, which can help fix the problems associated with a disjointed security policy.
There are many security threats that get overlooked by organizations, but these four are some of the more common issues we see. Not all security problems can be fixed by adding an alarm system or camera system – this is why arranging a consulting meeting with certified experts such as those at AHS Security Consulting, is so valuable.
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