Total Safety: Combining Digital and Physical Security

digital data

The average cost of a data security breach worldwide is $3.86 million. Physical product losses due to theft, aka shrink, costs retailers $100 billion. These numbers continue to grow as criminals become more sophisticated.

There is such a thing as a heavy-handed approach when it comes to security. If your security follows a predictable route, digitally and physically, criminals will exploit it. The key to a successful, comprehensive security strategy is communication.

This means having both your digital and physical security on the same page at all times. 

Overlapping Security Roles

What does it mean to combine digital and physical security departments? Building a fortress around the perimeter while blocking weaknesses in the network. Picture a would-be thief snooping around on your company’s files and pulling up building layouts, staff schedules, and etc.

They take this valuable information and apply it to when, where, and how to hit your physical stores. The only way to defend against these attacks is by combining your resources and increasing your efficiency. This gives you better security while saving money on mistakes or wasted redundancy.

There are a lot more details on how all this works, but we’re going to try to get to the meat of the argument for combining security.

Consistent Results

Both cybersecurity and loss prevention securities are constantly evolving. As new technology comes out, new tools are needed, as well as new training. By consolidating your security detail, your policies and methods of implementing changes stay consistent. 

Business security systems need to have a level of competence to allow law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to do their jobs. If a crime is committed and you can’t figure out why or how it occurred, you’re a sitting duck. The more educated your staff and contractors are, the better the leads are for legal action.

 

So much intellectual and property theft comes from inside leaks. This is why, no matter how good your firewalls and security guards are, there’s always a weakness if security is compartmentalized. They won’t be able to see the patterns or footprints leading up to a breach.

Personal and Company Security

Another reason why traditional security is no match for modern criminals is the holes in-between monitoring. When you start dealing with smartphones, tablets, and laptops everywhere, a standard firewall is not enough. 

Browsing the web opens up doors for criminals via cookies and internet exploits. There are plenty of reasons why your business should use a VPS, too. A VPS is a great example of having an all-encompassing layer of security that removes redundancies. 

It’s much easier to consolidate management positions and security equipment when you’re covering both personal and corporate sides. Protection from the end-user is crucial when assessing security. Physical and technical security have to know how all of this works.

Knowledge of Technical Applications

As a prerequisite to improving security, both sides of the security spectrum must know how these things work. Physical security must know how and why smart badges function the way they do. If not, they will easily get fooled by hacks and social engineering tricks.

IT specialists also need to know the layout of their buildings. Working with tunnel vision, focusing only on what the monitor displays is asking for trouble. Physical security needs those extra pairs of eyes to point out suspicious behaviors. 

Besides, the less tech-savvy guards aren’t going to know how to profile the nerdy IT guy who regularly accesses the databases. Only when other technically-savvy employees notice something different can physical security collaborate access schedules and etc. 

Balancing Budgets

A benefit that speaks out to every Fortune 500 company out there: reducing overhead costs. It’s a lot easier to balance the budget of one security team than two. Oversight also becomes better, with fewer leaks and redundancies.

The security department that is responsible for all layers of security will build trust with the CFO and CEO. As efficiency increases, costs decrease. More money gets invested in the areas that need improvement, rather than reactively tossing money on specific teams.

Cybersecurity teams cost the biggest banks in America $500 million a year. Guess what happens when a data breach happens to a single security entity? More money gets invested in all aspects of security, not only servers. 

These data breaches often happen due to multiple failures in security, not one server vulnerability. The more egregious cases of poor/no encryption aren’t included here. Assuming all industry standard cybersecurity exists, you’re still vulnerable from an insider attack.

Something as simple as a single fiber optic line running into a data center can become a point of entry if physical security is incompetent. It’s called “loss prevention” for a reason. Theft of products, IP, and data are all equally damaging to companies.

More About Hybrid Security

After learning more about digital and physical security strategies, things start to sound like common sense. Well, a lot of technology used today is common knowledge, so the bar needs raising. Security guards whose only skill is unlocking doors or being an intimidating presence are going to become extinct.

Physical security guards who can relay useful information to IT, and vice-versa, are the biggest threat to criminals. They rely on exploiting weaknesses in properties that are outside the knowledge of security teams. When those teams work together to suss out criminal behavior, valuable time and money are saved.

Upgrade your business’ security and protect yourself from all sides. Head over to 0spam.com to learn more about this new era of advanced security. Read their guide on how to know when you’ve been hacked and how to defend against attackers.

Learn. Adapt. Prevent crimes before they happen.