A Comprehensive Guide from Justin Cooper, Toro's Physical Security Consultant:
In today’s threat environment, ensuring your physical security measures apply a balanced approach is paramount for safeguarding assets, people, and property. As a physical security consultant, my goal is to help clients understand the importance of a balanced approach to security and risk mitigation, and how to implement it effectively.
This short guide will explore the key components of balanced protection, share best practices, and offer practical insights to enhance your overall security strategy.
Many security breaches stem from vulnerabilities in physical security, such as inadequate access controls into buildings and failure to secure devices. It is estimated that breaches caused by human error, which can include physical security failures, impacted nearly 392,466 businesses in 20231.
When planning and designing physical security, it is important to adopt the following three key principles to ensure your security is resilient to threat:
- Protection-in-depth
- Balanced protection
- Minimum consequence of component failure
The blog focusses on Balanced Protection and how applying all three of these principles gives our clients a more in-depth understanding of how the various security components work together to create a cohesive system.
Understanding Balanced Protection
Balanced Protection refers to the concept of achieving equilibrium within a security measure to ensure comprehensive and effective protection where the strength of each component is the same. For example, installing a strong door and door lock into a weak door frame would create vulnerability within the overall system. When put under pressure the door and lock will hold firm, but the frame will break, and the door will open. Similarly, if the door, lock and frame is strong but the adjoining wall is weak, the attacker will break through the wall since that would be the path of least resistance. The objective of balanced protection is to ensure each component is as strong as the other.
Unfortunately, sometimes things stop working as they should, and our security measure will become weak or fail. For example, the door lock may stop locking. When we design the security measure, we must think about how a failure of one component will not hinder and stop security from doing its job. We call this Minimum Consequence of Component Failure. If the door leads to an area containing valuable property we may decide to install two different types of locks. If one lock fails, the other will still ensure the door locks and can continue doing its job.
You may have heard the term “security is like peeling back the layers of an onion”. Security cannot rely on one security measure alone, instead requires multiple security measures to protect your assets, people and property. Unfortunately, security measures can often be defeated if the attacker knows how, has the time, resources and skills to defeat them. This is where we apply Protection-in-Depth because simply put, “the more hurdles the attacker has to jump to reach their objective, the more likely they are to give up or be detected and apprehended”.
“Think of it like a choir all singing in harmony” The key is ensuring that each component compliments the others and works seamlessly together within the overall system.
How Balanced Protection works
Balanced protection is built on four key pillars: deter, detect, delay, and respond. These pillars guide the implementation of best practices and ensure that all aspects of a security system work seamlessly together to prevent breaches. A well-balanced approach integrates physical barriers, access control, surveillance, people and response protocols into a comprehensive security solution.
The Pillars of Balanced Protection
Now, let's break down how each pillar contributes to balanced protection.
1. Physical Security Measures
Physical security measure includes barriers, access controls, and surveillance systems to deter and detect unauthorised access. Key components include:
- Perimeter Security: Fences, gates, and barriers create a physical boundary to keep intruders out.
- Access Control Systems: Keycards, biometric scanners, and security personnel manage entry to controlled areas.
- Surveillance Cameras: CCTV systems monitor and record activities, providing valuable evidence and deterrence. Smart CCTV systems can be used for access control and intruder detection.
2. Technological Safeguards
Technology plays a pivotal role in modern security strategies, enhancing physical protection with advanced tools:
- Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): These systems detect unauthorised access or breaches in real time.
- Alarm Systems: Alarms alert security personnel and building occupants of potential threats or emergencies.
- Cybersecurity Measures: Protecting digital assets with firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software is essential for a holistic security approach.
3. Procedural Controls
Procedural controls ensure that security policies and practices are followed consistently. Effective procedures include:
- Security Training: Educating employees about security protocols and response procedures helps in maintaining vigilance.
- Incident Response Plans: Having a well-defined plan for various scenarios ensures a swift and organised response to incidents.
- Regular Audits and Drills: Conducting routine checks and simulations helps in identifying weaknesses and improving preparedness. When these procedural controls are consistently implemented, they help create a security culture that complements physical and technological safeguards.
Best Practices for Implementing Balance Protection
With the key pillars in mind, it’s crucial to focus on implementing best practices to make your security system both effective and adaptable.
1. Security Review and Risk Assessment
The first step in creating balanced security is conducting a comprehensive security review and risk assessment. Identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities allows you to prioritise risks and allocate resources more effectively. This ensures that your protection efforts target the most critical areas, avoiding unnecessary spending on low-impact threats.
2. Integration of Systems
Integrating physical and technological security systems helps create a unified defence and improves protection-in-depth. For example, linking your surveillance cameras with access control systems provides real-time monitoring, allowing for faster responses to potential threats. A fully integrated system enhances the overall effectiveness of your security, streamlining both prevention and response efforts.
3. Continuous Improvement
Security is not static – it requires constant evaluation and adaptation to keep pace with evolving threats. Continuously reviewing, testing and adapting your security measures ensures that your security remains effective to your current threats. Constantly training, testing and upskilling your staff in your security controls is paramount to preventing security incidents.
4. Balancing Cost and Benefit
Finally, it’s important to strike a balance between the cost of security measures and their benefits. While strong security is essential, over-investing in specific areas that provide minimal benefit can be counterproductive. A well-thought-out approach ensures that your security measures are not only fit-for-purpose but also cost-efficient.
Balanced protection is about creating a well-integrated and relevant security capability to protect your assets, people and property. By doing this your business and brand will be stronger. As a physical security consultant my job is to understand your business and security situation, identify the threats and impactful risks, and help you to implement relevant and effective security measures. Following a balanced protection approach better enables me to do this for you.
Contact us today to discover the power of a balanced security solution.
1. https://www.independent.co.uk/advisor/vpn/live-data-breaches-and-stats