Physical testing – for
sensitive positions. Recently Police unearthed a forger with hundreds of blank
degree certificates, rubber stamps, seals etc. It was a thriving ‘fake degrees'
business.
Moles (or long-term operators,
more commonly found in intelligence espionage (of the James Bond variety) can
also be stopped early in their careers.
Identify garrulous/ gossiping
spouses and control them
Employee hotline to HR (often
a preferred substitute to security) to give advance warning of employee
disgruntlement/ erratic behaviour.
Have an informer among own
staff – unwritten law. This will give information about sensitive personnel/
other issues. Needs to handle with extreme caution.
Deactivate computer accounts of Departing staff: One sacked employee of a
defense related project managed to delete a huge database just because no one
had bothered to deactivate his computer account.
HR
to inform security and front office when an employee quits – there was an ease
of an ex-air force officer who took off with a jet from a base merely because
all other pilots accepted him openly. No one bothered to look beyond his uniform
or old ID/pass.
Register for allocating/operating systems: This will also create a formal
record, including tracking information backup. A cleaning boy/tea boy in a MNC
office in Mumbai had become so adept that one-day he got the main server booted
up and for all practical purposes had the system at his mercy. Don't
underestimate staff intelligence IQ.
Categorize employees into ‘regular', ‘on contract' or ‘temporary' and make sure
this information is prominently visible on name badges. There was a case in an
airport where a temporary employee in canteen was found loitering on the tarmac!
This makes a mockery of security arrangements.
Access to Visitors to your premises must always be restricted, as far as
possible. Every visitor is a potential threat. Limit what they see, hear and
read. There have been cases where visitors have gained access to offices of
Secretary, Government of India/Minister, simply because they used to come there
earlier when the Minister's P.A was well known to him. Visitors have to be
thoroughly screened.
Most contracted services like security and clearing/garbage
removal, operate for long periods when all have gone home. This is a most
vulnerable “back door”. Ensure your screening specifications are followed during
recruitment or one day you may pay a high price. A pair of cleaners managed to
open the managers safe in a Bank, and could have opened the strong Room had it
not been double locked (the other key was the Head Cashier's). Bank guards are
usually from non-combat army units and are usually neither very physically fit,
nor trained in security/combat.
