Business Security Information

This week I stopped by what use to be an auto dealership in a city near where I live and saw some examples of good and bad security that I thought I would share with you in this post.  While there, I took some pictures to illustrate what I saw.  If you look closely at these pictures, you will see that the business installed a metal barrier which  prevents vehicles or other equipment from easily being taken from the lot.  It is a simple design of steel piping that is secured in the ground with the openings to the lot being protected by a sliding gate made from the same material.  The steel posts in the ground are close enough that even if the top steel piping was removed, it would not allow a vehicle to be driven between the steel pipes.  Not placing posts close enough together is a major problem in most dealership lots I have evaluated.  The pictures show a good example of how to do it right without making the barrier an eyesore.  In addition, the business secured the steel piping in the ground with concrete and even formed a raised concrete lip, making it difficult to remove individual steel piping from the ground even with the right type of heavy equipment.  Please note:  this type of lot protection is good when you are trying to prevent theft of vehicles or equipment, but additional security is required if you are trying to protect against parts theft.

While trying to catch up on some of my reading this week, I came across an article from the December 14, 2009 edition of Forbes magazine which discussed computer-controlled vending.  A vending machine is equipped with an add-on box which captures all the transactions and transmits the information back to the company.  The boxes can also send an e-mail or text message when a vending machine sells out of an item.  This type of electronic device saves the vending company money in lower fuel costs and more efficient use of their manpower.  If you are interested in learning more, you can check out the website for Cantaloupe Systems .

I have written numerous articles covering the different elements and aspects of security, but one issue I have never touched on is the importance of having quality information to make good security decisions for your business.  Quality or complete information is key to any business decision including security issues, but most businesses fail to track security incidents or issues at their company.  I have worked with a lot of small and medium-sized businesses over the years, and I have not run into one yet who does.

A couple of weeks ago I went with my family to get some pizza.  It was one of those day we had been rushing around and just wanted to get some good hot food, so pizza it was.  Like most food service businesses, this one had a security camera system that was visible as soon as you walked into the store.  While I was standing there waiting for our pizza, I started looking at the positioning of the security cameras.  What I noticed was that the security cameras covered the cash registers and other employee work areas, but the camera system did not cover the customer area in front of the checkout area.  With this positioning of the cameras, their purpose seemed to be just to monitor employees work and to address internal theft issues.

Well, I really do learn something new almost every day.  I was reading an article in Forbes magazine  the other day about a robbery prevention technique that I had never heard of before.  I thought I would share it with you in this article.

Greeting a Bank Robber

Some banks are now using greeters, like Wal-Mart does, at the entrance to the bank as a robbery prevention tool.  The theory behind this technique is that most criminals do not want to be noticed.  Supposedly if a bank employee looks the criminal in the eye and says hello when they walk into the bank, the criminal no longer has that psychological edge of anonymity and confidence they need to commit the crime.

If you have not heard yet, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is changing the date they will start enforcing the Red Flags Rule.  The enforcement for this rule was to start last week on November 1, 2009, but has been delayed by the FTC until June 1, 2010.  This was announced by the FTC on Friday, October 30, 2009.

I just got done watching this short video (2 minutes) on installing a security door plate on a residential door with a wood frame.  It showed how this security plate could provide another layer of security against a criminal that tries to break in by kicking down your door.  As you watch, you will see that the door leads to what appears to be the speaker’s home office.  Although many commercial structures have metal doors with metal door frames which do not need security door plates, I have seen numerous offices and other commercial buildings which have exactly the same type of doors with wood frames where security door plates would have helped reduce the risk of someone kicking down the door.  Also, note that the security door plate helps the deadbolt lock resist such an attack (the door entry lock or door handle lock really is not affected by this security measure.)  Along this line, I would recommend that you install deadbolt locks on your exterior doors if you have not already.  Make sure any exterior door locks you use are resistant to lock bumping (read the definition and watch the videos on lock bumping to understand the dangers from this type of attack).

The Red Flags Rule is part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003.  As discussed in my last article, “Complying with the Red Flags Rule”, businesses that are financial institutions or creditors must comply with the rule.  So, how do you know if this applies to you?  The definition of a financial institution is pretty straight forward and includes state or national banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions and any other institution that directly or indirectly holds a transaction account belonging to a consumer.  This transaction account is a deposit account or an account from which a consumer can make payments or transfers to third parties.  The definition of a creditor is a little more obscure.

Before I start this article, I want to say this is strictly an opinion piece and may not be directly related to the emphasis of this site which is security for small and medium sized businesses.  I do think the basic premise of the article will be relevant to any business, not just a company that has ships on the high seas.

When I first began my career in security, perimeter protection was the hot topic.  Physical security usually involved security fencing, razor wire, alarm sensors and, depending on what you were protecting, maybe even mobile patrols.  For computer security, this involved protecting the main entry point to your network with firewalls, intrusion detection and other software or hardware devices.  Today, with so many different entry points as well as interconnected networks, there is no set perimeter to protect.  There are exceptions to this, but think about VPN connections, extranet connections, supplier networks and others that you connect with or you allow to connect to your network.  Some networks have a variety of third party vendors providing or maintaining portions of the business network. Depending on the security setup of other networks that connect to you, your perimeter may include other entry points you really don’t know about or have control of.