FREE online courses on Corporate Espionage - What can be done about it - Physical Countermeasures

Physical countermeasures deal with the security of information that exists in a physical form e.g:

Documents

• Paper (hard copies)
• Computer disks

Facility security

Paradoxically, it is the one, which is most frequently overlooked. Time and time again, ‘attackers' breach physical security in ridiculous ways and make off with priceless information.

• Lock up ‘controlled information'; filing cabinets, desks, drawers – all have locks. Get people to use them
• Use password protected screen savers, password protection in general, log-out before leaving.
• Keep desks cleaned; no important papers should be lying around, even in IN-BOXES
• Managers should regularly walk through office halls/corridors, looking for those little security lapses.
• Install ‘locking-cables', so computers/servers are hard to physically remove.
• Control photocopier usage - keep it (or them) where a senior officer(s) can see who's operating it/them.
• Strict entry restriction to record room; maintain   register, password e.g. as in Bank locker room access!
• Security reminder notices can be tastefully displayed in many places, from washroom to parking lot.
• Make two-process (vertical and lateral) paper shredders widely available.
• Perimeter/ main gate locking up/ vigil: all entrances to facilities, office complexes or warehouses must be tightly controlled. Restrict number of entrances/ exits to only one where feasible (bearing fire-hazard emergency escapes in mind).
• Consider use of closed circuit TV cameras: these are relatively inexpensive and easily installed (labor productivity/pilferage is also thereby easily controlled).
• Monitor unusual off-duty hours coming and going of ‘staff' – this will discourage those persons with wrong intentions, and genuine hard workers won't mind.
• Verify (by driving license/ election/ID card) identity of signatory. People have gained access to important offices by signing in as ‘Donald Duck'!
• Guards should:

·                     Closely study/ approve access badges

·                     Patrol facilities/ boundary walls, looking for anything unusual

·                     Notice lights on in offices at unusual hours, and check

·                     Question people who appear to be in areas outside their ‘security clearance' limits

·                     Notice/ memorize descriptions/car number plates, of visitors or (loungers outside premises) after working hours.

Milk food Manufacturer

The offices of a major milk foods manufacturer were broken into several years ago – the thieves were amazed at their luck. Marketing strategies, ad campaign details, countrywide sales data analysis, miscellaneous records, everything was lying around unlocked. Systematically, over the weekend, almost all of it was removed, the security guards being given a forged letter on a stolen letterhead to support the claim that they were shifting some operations to another business complex. Was it coincidental that soon, two major milk-based breakfast foods were launched and captured good market share? No one's admitting anything.

An auto lamp manufacturer who had spearheaded halogen bulb technology/ production in India was so security conscious that even a well-planned ‘attact' was thwarted right at the gate itself. Rival manufacturers had no recourse but to chalk out their own collaboration strategies for halogen bulb production.

Guards should be able to spot things of value - a harmless-looking bunch of papers in an old newspaper may just be the project report for a new product. A senior officer, on his last day of work at a defense installation, was nabbed carrying out important papers in his briefcase, which related to some sensitive electronic early warning systems' modifications, being introduced in airbases. [Conduct ‘dummy' exercises to keep guards alert].