Page 22 - Security Today, May 2017

PHYSICAL SECURITY
THE ROLE
OF PIAM
Addressing IT Pros’ physical security challenges
By Don Campbell
The proliferation of networked devices has increasingly brought IT to the table when discussing physical security. In many or- ganizations, IT departments not only have a voice at the table, but are also respon- sible for deploying and managing physical
security systems. According to a recent research report, IT professionals would like to have even greater involvement in the pre-deployment process—preferably from the very be- ginning—to ensure that any new physical security solutions will be compatible with existing infrastructure.
Best Practices
IT security best practices developed separately from physical se- curity practices, and had a head start on addressing the kinds of electronic and cyber security issues that are at the forefront of to- day’s security landscape. Because of this, physical security system management practices, for example, could benefit by incorporat- ing some of these learnings to move beyond the complex mix of
tools and inefficient, error-prone manual processes that have been used in the past.
Among the key physical security challenges IT pros identified in the recent Spiceworks study conducted on behalf of Quantum Secure are cost, complexity, ease of deployment and integration. To address these issues, IT practitioners indicated they are look- ing for intuitive solutions that offer ease of use, seamless integra- tion with other solutions, streamlined compliance processes and the ability to deploy the latest technologies to keep security at the forefront.
Physical identity and access management (PIAM) solutions provide the features and functions to meet these requirements and overcome IT professionals’ physical security challenges. For example, by using automation and the ability to collect, collate, store and analyze data from multiple disparate security and non- security solutions, PIAM systems provide IT pros with a single user interface for centralized management and reporting. This approach is much more streamlined and efficient than working with these systems separately.
PIAM platforms can also bring logical access management into the physical security world to provide a 360-degree view of identities in a single, fully interoperable and integrated platform.
NS8
0517 | NETWORKING SECURITY
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