How to integrate business and security operations to defend your organization

Enterprise data in most forms is increasingly valuable to your business. Maximizing or optimizing that value should be high on the agenda for security and IT leaders looking to improve their performance and efficiency. While cyber is a key priority for most business leaders, the onus is on IT and security teams to ensure security is also top of mind for every employee.

Jordan Rae Kelly, previously the Chief of Staff in the FBI’s Cyber Division and currently working as a security consultant, emphasizes that “cybersecurity will remain a top priority for C-Suites and Boards of Directors, and we will see more individuals being held accountable for organizational cybersecurity incidents, with consequences for executives in addition to companies as a whole.”

With cyber events taking place every day across key industries, no one is immune to an attack. No business can afford to take a passive approach to security either, given the multitude of vectors and threats that exist today. This is evidenced by the following recent cybersecurity incidents:

• Healthcare: recently, US pharmacies were attacked by a nation-state hacking group
• Finance: the Bank of America was hacked through its supply chain systems
• Government: governmental organizations were among those involved in the largest DDoS hack ever recorded

These events highlight the ever-changing nature of the cybersecurity landscape, and while AI is coming to assist hard-pressed security teams, it cannot be treated as a silver bullet. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai notes that AI can ‘disproportionately’ help defend against cybersecurity threats, but that all operators and managers must be aggressive in securing and defending both physical and IT security infrastructures. 

Unification also addresses the big data issue that many firms face, with a growing number of security devices feeding more data back to already overworked operators. Modern applications can aggregate and identify outliers in your data for you, providing alerts to those who need to respond at blistering speed, far beyond what a human-only team could achieve. 

Improving your cyber resilience across physical and IT security systems

Integration or a unified approach is the key focus for most organizations looking to better structure their security systems. A unified platform provides a single seamless view of all applications and security devices, while the integrated approach brings together existing and new security features. 

Most firms expand and develop over time, with a range of systems acquired for point-defense purposes on an ad-hoc basis. These are not only harder to monitor, but can also create weak points between security systems, and data silos that are inefficient and a business risk in their own right. Integrating them is a better approach, but a unified effort is the least risky and most efficient method of security management.

A unified security approach makes your security border and footprint easier to monitor through a single dashboard. It is also harder for malicious hackers or insiders to exploit weaknesses or engage in unauthorized activities via your systems without being detected. 

Integrated solutions are vital in mitigating security risks and making it simpler for the business to manage and operate security applications. Ideally, a unified solution can be deployed to simplify operations and maximise efficiency. 

How physical security data can optimize business and security operations

Most physical and IT security operations are mandated by legal, insurance, market, and other regulations:

• The security products themselves must meet certain criteria and standards (like UL 2900-2-3 which defines the cybersecurity requirements of critically connected electronic physical security systems)
• Any business working in finance or regulated markets must meet ISO/IEC 27001 to protect information systems and reduce the risks of intrusion
• All businesses working under the auspices of various data privacy and protection regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, PIPL, or the CPAA

Following the best compliance practices - with many guides published by government, regulatory boards, and other agencies - is the first step in meeting your obligations. Beyond those, you can optimize your business and security operations to refine your specific processes and meet business needs. 

Unifying physical and IT data protection services can not only improve how a company manages employees, facilities, and assets, but can also help keep them safe from both digital and real-world threats.

By putting that security data in one location, and identifying all data stakeholders, it is easier and more efficient to manage and operate in optimal fashion. Unified data provides a single vision of business security. The insights from that data can help inform practical and strategic changes that better protect the business. This approach also prevents security from being swept under the carpet or ignored at key meetings, in lieu of what some leaders may consider more pressing matters. 

Also, as security becomes a cross-departmental responsibility that includes HR, operations, maintenance, and other roles, establishing best practices is key. This supports managing access rights, ensuring privacy is paramount, and using analytics to establish safe and efficient premises. 

Where security flaws are identified, physical systems can be scheduled for replacement, and the new units can be made compatible with your unified approach and software. When considering optimization, consider the future needs of the business, the growing use of AI to analyze data, and how future systems can be added through integration. 

The future of business security

Fakery is everywhere in enterprise-focused crime. From the fake and likely-compromised sensors in low-cost security equipment to leaders’ voice and image being digitally replicated as part of financial scams, zero-trust security is a trend for a good reason. 

Linking physical and digital security means you can identify those weak points and develop a strong set of standard operating procedures to protect the business. These can add steps between physical and digital security to ensure workers are both who and where they say they are. They can also encourage workers to air their suspicions when security imagery or data does not align with other knowledge. Alongside the usual alerts of open doors, and rising temperatures, AI can be used to back up the human experience to deliver actionable alerts and strategic advice.

Whatever your current approach to physical security, today’s security is only good for today’s world. Unifying and integrating provides force multipliers that improve the depth of security and encourage improvements to make tomorrow’s security stronger and easier for both operators and the business to understand.