The Manager's Handbook for Corporate Security

Establishing and Managing a Successful Assets Protection Program

Edward Halibozek, Gerald L. Kovacich

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780128046135
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Gestión

The Manager's Handbook for Corporate Security: Establishing and Managing a Successful Assets Protection Program, Second Edition, guides readers through today's dynamic security industry, covering the multifaceted functions of corporate security and providing managers with advice on how to grow not onlytheir own careers, but also the careers of those they manage on a daily basis.

This accessible, updated edition provides an implementation plan for establishing a corporate security program, especially for those who have little or no knowledge on the topic. It also includes information for intermediate and advanced professionals who are interested in learning more about general security, information systems security, and information warfare.

• Addresses today's complex security industry, the role of the security manager, the diverse set of corporate security functions, and skills for succeeding in this dynamic profession
• Outlines accessible, comprehensive implementation plans for establishing asset protection programs
• Provides tactics for intermediate and advanced professionals on the topics of general security, information systems security, and information warfare
• Offers new perspectives on the future of security and evolving expectations of security professionals

Part I

The Old and New World of the Security Professional

Outline

Part I. The Old and New World of the Security Professional

Chapter 1 It’s a New Century and a New World

Chapter 2 New and Old Threats to Corporate Assets, and What to Do About Them

Chapter 3 A Short History of Corporate Security and Law Enforcement

Chapter 4 The Corporate Security Profession

Part I. The Old and New World of the Security Professional

This part will address the environment in which all corporate employees, in particular those responsible for leading the corporate assets protection program, work—as well as introduce the corporate security profession. Understanding today’s global environment is vitally important, because those responsible for the protection of corporate assets—the managers of the corporation, all employees, and their corporate security manager (CSM) and staff—are often too busy deep down in the trenches trying to just get the job done. They fail to look over the top of the trenches once in awhile and see where the “enemies” (competitors and miscreants) are and what they are doing. In today’s global marketplace environment, one must also understand the trends, incidents, and changes in the world and their impact on assets protection. Today more than ever, what happens at the other end of the world can cause an assets protection crisis throughout your corporation, often in a matter of nanoseconds.

In this part, we take the approach of going from the view of the corporate global working environment through the threats to corporate assets that must be mitigated in order to successfully protect them. We offer a limited historical perspective so you can see how we got to where we are today. Hopefully it will get you to thinking about the past and present, and projecting that into your future working environment. It will hopefully also help you focus on and plan for the asset protection possibilities of the future. After all, to be prepared for the future when it arrives, you must start now.

This part also provides a short historical perspective of the security profession and also the relationships over the years with law enforcement professionals. After all, law enforcement professionals must be considered as an integral part of the assets protection team. “Serve and protect” is their motto, and that applies to doing their part also to protect corporate assets.

Throughout history, the role of the security professional has evolved into what it is today. However, the security profession continues to change. Some changes are evolutionary and some may even be considered revolutionary. Those who are responsible for the protection of corporate assets, from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) down to every corporate employee, should understand the nature of the threats to corporate assets and their part in protecting those valuable assets. Everyone in a corporation is involved in the protection of corporate assets; therefore, one must look at corporate assets protection and corporate security in that way. Leadership for protecting corporate assets comes from the top down, with the CSM being the “in-house consultant and technical expert” for the corporation. However, when it comes to protecting corporate assets, everyone in the corporation is in this together; everyone must know that, accept that responsibility, and act accordingly.

Chapter 1

It’s a New Century and a New World

Abstract

The corporation or security organization that does not look ahead at the trends in society, technology, business, global competition, criminal justice systems, crime, and any associated rapid changes will not be able to meet the needs of its customers. This point cannot be stressed enough. You must understand this growing and rapidly changing information-driven environment. Understanding it better than the competition gives you a competitive edge in the business warfare arena. Remember also that security is a service and support profession. The competition of the security professional is the criminals and assorted miscreants who ply their trade from around the globe.

If you do not think today’s global competition is a form of business and economic warfare, then you are fooling yourself and are doomed to failure. Your global competitors are at war with you and they aren’t taking prisoners. Some will use any means at their disposal, including stealing or compromising the valuable assets of your corporation, to gain that competitive advantage, and many are doing so with the backing of their government.

Someone once said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, that certainly applies to our current environment. Not much has changed over the years when it comes to human beings’ basic instincts, what we want out of life, our inherent drive for personal freedoms, and the like. However, when we combine our human instincts and desires with technology, we find that we keep doing the same old things but in a technology-based environment. And when it comes to targeting corporate assets, this certainly holds true.

The new world is rapidly changing due to technology, and yet human instincts and spirit remain the same, as does the drive for the competitive edge in business. The 21st century has ushered in a vastly new environment from the environment at the beginning of the 20th century. Global competition aided and driven by information- and technology-based nation-states and corporations is rapidly increasing.

Nation-states appear to be waning and the “sovereign individual” is fighting for its place in the world. The nation-state will not go quietly into the night. Whether the nation-state or the sovereign individual prevails, businesses will be threatened. To maintain control, gain power and market-share, and beat the competitors, nation-states and businesses are using information and technology as the new instruments of business and economic warfare.

All this offers much greater challenges to the CSM than those of the past. This global environment calls for a neo-CSM, one who is globally aware, relishes the fast pace, and enjoys high technology and competition with the world’s miscreants. If that does not describe you, may we suggest that you consider a career change and allow the vacancy to be filled by one who fits that description.

Keywords

The world of the security professional; global perspective on security; global business environment; global competition; nation-states relation to the business world; impact of information technology on global businesses; Chief Security Officer challenges & skill set; corporate security manager challenges & skill set

Globalization has served to undermine the role of the nation-state as the sole determinant of a society’s well-being…¹

Henry Kissinger.

This chapter introduces the reader to the global, technology-driven environment in which all corporate employees must work. The global marketplace, global competition, and the impact of high technology are discussed.

Introduction to the New World

You may be wondering why this book about corporate assets protection begins with a discussion of “our world.” Quite simply, it is because we are usually too busy to see the forest from the trees, so to speak. In others words, we spend so much time in a reactive mode dealing with the daily security tasks, crises, office politics, and our jobs, that we fail to see what affects our working world. We fail to see that what is happening a world away today will have an effect—usually adverse, it seems—on our ability to protect corporate assets tomorrow. So, we seem always to be reacting to events that have happened instead of spending much more time, as we should, planning for possible adverse events that will affect our ability to protect corporate assets a day, a week, or even a year or two from now.

When we are not prepared, we do not have adequate contingency plans in place. Consequently, we react to problems in a crisis mode. When reacting in a crisis mode we can’t provide assets protection as quickly, as efficiently, and as effectively as would have been the case if we were prepared in advance for the events that have taken place. So, let’s look at the world around us, past and present. This will help us understand the environment in which we must successfully establish and manage a corporate assets protection program.

If you talk to some of our more senior security professionals, many will tell you that today’s world has grown very complicated. Many long for the simpler days gone by. Some even hearken back to the days of the horse and buggy—no television, sitting around listening to the radio—and reminisce about how people were independent, governments were smaller, and there was much less crime and violence in the world. Those were the good old days when security meant a friendly guard at the gate who physically checked badges and who tried to make sure no one walked out of the door with some physical assets of the corporation in their lunch pails. Some are for opting out of today’s business world and seeking the slower pace of a more isolated and rural life, and well they should.

Today’s corporate security manager (CSM) must be able to understand and work in a global, fast-paced, multithreat, high-technology environment. Please note: the title of corporate security manager (CSM) is used throughout this book. It is also used by corporations and commercial organizations. However, another title often used for an organization’s most senior security professional is Chief Security Officer (CSO). For the purpose of this book, both titles are interchangeable. The CSM of today believes that, as the song goes, “these are the good old days.” We are in the midst of evolutions and revolutions throughout the world. Evolution of humans into taller, stronger beings with an ever-expanding awareness of the world we live in and extended life spans. Moreover, Transhumanism seeks to transform the human condition by developing and creating sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capabilities.² We also have evolutions in the great experiments of societies, such as the concepts of human and civil rights and democracies along with the ability to communicate instantly on a global scale. These evolutions do not come about without conflicts. These conflicts are often between those who want to maintain the status quo—especially those in power—and those who want not evolution but revolution, rapidly changing how things are done.

Well, you can wish all you want for simpler times, a slower pace, and fewer problems in the world, but wishing won’t make it so, and, quite frankly, it all depends on one’s perspective. To many of the younger security professionals who have grown up with computers, since infancy and who can’t remember wh...