3 Major Things to Secure Your Small Business

Disaster managers around the world are taught to protect critical infrastructures, such as electricity, telecommunications, etc. These things are essential to keeping the economic wheel turning. There are 3 major things that are critical to entrepreneurs, their smartphones, vehicles and office.

I remember an entrepreneur lost her phone and didn't know what to do. After replacing her phone days later she realized that an email was sent to her contacts requesting money because she was stuck in a foreign country and her credit card made unknown purchases. She lost clients as a result and now has a plan in place if her phone is missing.

1. Smartphones
Every entrepreneur has a smartphone. Sometimes we forget how important our smartphone is to our business. Smartphones contain a wealth of data, such as contacts, passwords, credit card information, pictures, social media, and more. Losing, damaging or getting your smartphone hacked will have negative affects on your business. For entrepreneurs, investing in cloud services and 'find my phone' app are quite useful for retrieving precious data. Also having a contingency plan for when communication is down can keep you in touch with important clients.

2. Vehicles

Transportation is important. Either getting to work, clients or doing personal errands requires that you travel. If your vehicle is stolen, damaged or in an accident, it can cost your business money. Getting the right insurance coverage can solve a lot of your vehicle situations.

3. Office

Whether you work from home or at a commercial lot, securing your business location is a must. A secure environment makes you, your staff and customers feel safe. It takes more than just putting up bars and security cameras. Entrepreneurs need to know about crimes and power outages, and how to respond to emergencies.

5 Things People Wish They Knew About Security

Save More Money With These Security Tips

There are many ways to lose money in business these days if you aren't careful, and sometimes, even when you are careful. Many people know that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure yet we normally fall short on prevention and the cure cost a pretty penny.

In this light we present to you some tips that business wished they knew about security.

Rethink The Way You Look At Security

Businesses should rethink the way they perceive safety and security. Most businesses are looking for a security guard (doorman), hiring persons with no training to keep intruders out. They neglect the safety of the staff, customers and security against internal theft. Seeking a professional who can add layers of defenses for both, internal and external theft, business continuity and crisis management is the best bet. The most valuable thing to a startup business isn't the money, it's creating a lasting clientele. So Take the time tom employ proper security measures to protect your investment.

Save For A Rainy Day

Businesses mostly put this task off for another day, and every day after becomes another day. It takes little to put a set about of money aside in the event of an unforeseen event. In fact a business minded person can set that money aside in a bank and earn interest.

Setting Security Budgets

Once businesses have established their security needs they can they direct money towards that goal. Focusing on that goal eliminates wasting resources and manages your money effectively.

Track Your Spending

Some businesses lose track of where their money goes. This can lead to wastage or theft. Keeping track of your budget helps you to mitigate loses, examine details and reduce wastage.

Prioritize Your Challenges

Prioritize your security challenges by knowing which threats are more probable and critical to your business operation. If you can address the most critical need first then you would successfully mitigated the most costly disruption, saving your business time, money and effort.

Beyond the Perimeter

I just read an article by Brennen Hannigan, General Manager at IBM Security about cybercrime and his solution to combating it. Although his article is predominately about cybercrime, I saw a few things that stand out in relation to security in general.

I agree with the concept that security needs to be driven by intelligence, leadership and policy. A static security strategy is not enough to keep up with the modern criminal. "The bad guys have become better and better at cybercrime for three main reasons: they collaborate, share technology, and practices"[security intelligence, 19/3/15]. This no different traditional crimes as well.

Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO stated, "Without integrated security solutions that use analytics to find threats before they attack, your organization is compromised" [security intelligence, 19/3/15]. When individual security products work alone they are easily compromised. Several security products working together and led by intelligence makes for a defense that is more effective and proactive.

Theft is a big problem that requires an intelligent solution. March Resilience aims to drastically improve a companies security program by solving current issues, preventing future event and protecting critical assets.

Find out more about how March Resilience can help you today.

Real Security vs Security

Some time last week the Batman vs. Superman trailer hit the internet and there was a rave. Batman, a mere human billionaire that uses his technology, skills and resourcefulness against a super-being, gifted with every super ability a human desires.

Talking with a few people about the trailer they began picking Superman as the victor, questioning how a mere moral can defeat such a super-being. That is the same thinking some people have about modern security systems. Commercial entities have been convinced that an alarm system, a guard or a security camera system are the super being of security. They praise it and forget about their entire security concerns, but as the Batman vs. Superman trailer shows it's nothing but a 'false god'.

Batman, in my analogy, represents the foundation of real security. According to wikipedia, "Batman has no inherent superhuman powers; he relies on his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and athletic prowess." Using knowledge to target existing threats, and using skills, technology, etc. to solve them is the fundamentals that make real security. Not to mention Batman had an array of utilities and support to help him solve him problems. A real security system is multifaceted, relying on systems that work together to form a super team, like Batman and Robin.

There are no Superman solutions in security. That one security program that addresses everything and can be applied to any situation. Every security problem is unique. Understanding the problem and building solutions are the keys to producing real security that is effective and efficient. 

Political Containment

Today I read an article about a politician being sued by another politician for defamation of character. This isn't out of the ordinary. Also in that sued are the newspapers that reported the claims of sued politician.

Scenario: An individual is arrested by the police. It is alleged that individual called high public figures who then used their authority to squash the incident and release said individual.

"A lie is the truth, absent relevant information."

With that said, I'll assume the allegations are true and examine the vulnerabilities of this scenario.

1. The scene of the arrest contains information why the individual was arrested, what was said, who arrested him and witnesses. That information can point to a victim or public disturbance.
2. The police contain the above information including exact time and reason for arrest.
3. The individual's phone. Call logs, phone company logs, contact list.

Those are only 3 vulnerabilities attributed to the individual. Then comes the complex web of vulnerabilities that may connect to him to others through this event. 

Containment should be about identifying and mitigating those vulnerabilities.

Blue Sentinel is committed to meeting your security needs. Always scanning for new information, analyzing it, and designing countermeasures to protect our clients from known and unknown threats in the Bahamas.

"[M]ale for questioning reference to fraud (RBPF, Daily Crime Report)".

 What countermeasures are you employing to prevent fraud? How effective are they?

"[M]ale[s] for questioning reference to Armed Robbery (RBPF, Daily Crime Report)".

What prevention strategies is your company using to protect itself from modern armed robbers tactics? How secure is your establishment really?

"[M]ale for Stealing by Reason of Employment (RBPF, Daily Crime Report).

 While cameras watch the external perimeter, what countermeasures do you have that protect your establishment from internal theft?

Sources:
RBPF Daily Crime Report

Blue Sentinel is about prevention. This is an alert to persons operating in the Centerville area, New Providence, Bahamas. For more ways to prevent loss contact us. We'd be happy to assist.