Page 52 - Security Today, August 2017

We See You
Do you know who’s lurking beyond your cameras?
BTy Robert Jones
he last major advancement in commercial perimeter security was the introduction of CCTV cameras. While this technology addressed some of the surveillance needs associated with facility protection, it failed to fully address the challenges posed by threats outside of
your immediate view.
Today, we continue to guard our facilities with fences, cameras,
and access control systems, a growing market anticipated to be val- ued at $37.43 billion by the year 2021. But does this anticipated in- vestment make sense, and does it really equate to better security than we currently have today?
The answer is no because current protection strategies focus too heavily on protecting a facility’s physical perimeter rather than pro- tecting the facility itself. Until the industry alters course, money will continue to be wasted and vulnerabilities will continue to be exploited.
Securing a perimeter is about more than just the physical bound- aries of your facility or asset. It means effectively being able to detect threat activity early enough to allow an effective response before you are at risk of suffering loss.
Traditional perimeter security measures are reactive, not proac- tive, which results in a rushed and ineffective threat response. While these solutions play an important role in defense, they are insufficient and must be augmented with other systems to improve their overall efficiency and effectiveness.
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Thinking Ahead
A select number of organizations are beginning to think ahead and im- plement these proactive solutions. Less attention is being given to the latest and greatest technology, and more energy is being spent develop- ing a security plan that provides an advance warning of threat activity.
The perimeter intrusion detection systems market, a subset of the larger physical security industry, is seeing continued growth as a result. It’s forecasted to reach $5.82 billion by 2021 with a compound annual growth rate of 7.1 percent over the 5 year period following 2016.
Driving factors for this transition include a growing risk of ter- rorism, continued problems with immigration, increased government regulation, advancements in video surveillance technology, and a de- sire to reduce the amount of man-hours needed for security. Tradi- tionally, false alarm rates have been a limitation to the adoption of these intrusion detection systems but new technology is emerging to counter these perceptions.
While many security professionals are looking to adopt a more proactive security plan, there are countless organizations still caught in the past who should be rethinking their perimeter protection.
Security strategies are not something that can be changed over- night. For these lagging organizations to truly be effective in provid- ing security, they must understand threats better and do everything to get out in front, anticipate, and defend against their next move rather than the previous one.
PERIMETER SECURITY
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