Businesses: Do you know your physical security weak spots?

Weaknesses in business security are something that criminals are always keen to exploit – and indeed, will actively seek out. So, assessing where your security vulnerabilities lie and taking action to reduce the risk is an important step in keeping any business secure.

Here, we’ve put together a list of some of the most common security weak spots, so you can assess how your current security measures up. For more advice and support on how to keep your business secure, get in touch with our experienced team here at Venture and we’d be happy to help you.

CCTV blind spots

CCTV (closed circuit television) that captures high-definition images in real time, is one of the most popular deterrents when it comes to crime. Not only can it be successful in dissuading criminals from acting, but it also provides valuable evidence to assist police and prosecutors in the event that a crime against your business occurs.

Unfortunately, CCTV is only of value if it’s installed in the right areas of your business and captures all of the action from a number of strong vantage points. As an absolute minimum, you should have CCTV covering all entrances and exits to your building, both externally and internally, as well as loading bays and car parks.

If you have CCTV installed around your business premises, review its positioning to make sure there are no areas where criminals can avoid detection. It’s no good having a well covered front entrance, if a criminal can simply break in through a side window out of view.

You should also ensure that all your devices are working correctly and that any date or time stamps are up to date, as these can help to corroborate police investigations by placing criminals at your business at a verifiable time, which could be counted as crucial evidence, should the need arise.

Secure locks and install access controls

Doors, windows, fire escapes and loading bays, which all enable direct access into your building, are one of the biggest security weak spots, so ensuring these entry points are as secure as possible is key.

Doors that are left ajar or unlocked are essentially an open invitation for criminals to walk right into your business, while ground floor and lower-level windows offer another tempting opportunity for criminals to gain easy entry to your premises.

As a bare minimum, you should fit insurance-approved security locks to each access point in your building and avoid leaving windows and doors open. If they are opened, they should never be left unattended and must be secured before the building is left unoccupied.

You could also elect to have physical shutters or bars installed, which you pull down and secure at the end of each day, which would prevent anyone from gaining access, even if a window were to be broken or tampered with.

Another great way to improve security for access points into your building is by installing some form of digital access control system, such as a keypad or swipe card system. These measures provide a secondary degree of security to control traffic flow into your business.

Employees

Employees are one of your business’ biggest assets and a key part of growing your operation, but the people you employ can also be a major weakness in your company’s security. In fact, social engineering, the act of manipulating or tricking a person by deception, is fast becoming one of the biggest criminal threats to businesses.

Many people think they are clued up or switched on enough to catch a social engineering attempt in action, but any well-meaning employee can be caught out. The nature of this type of security breach is highly sophisticated and preys on the human need to be helpful. All it takes is for a person to show up pertaining to be a delivery driver, workman or a customer asking to use the bathroom, to gain access to areas of your business that are usually off limits to the public.

Similarly, social engineering isn’t always an in-person charade. Most social engineering actually occurs online, with criminals impersonating known businesses or legitimate organisations, in order to gain access to sensitive information or money. Just as with physical security breaches, this kind of remote breach can have devastating consequences.

The key to tackling the growing issue of social engineering in business is awareness. Educate your employees about the risks and put systems in place that prompt employees to stop and think before acting. If a stranger shows up at your place of business claiming to be there legitimately, ask to see some ID that confirms their story. Likewise, if you receive an unsolicited email requesting a change of account details, put a call into the business before acting (Google the number never phone the one on the email) to ensure the request is genuine.

Your business surroundings

One final consideration when it comes to assessing weaknesses in your business security is the external environment. Changes to the immediate area surrounding your business might appear incidental at first but could easily create a new security weakness that didn’t exist before.

Prime examples of how your environment could impact your security include the surrounding businesses vacating, leaving you isolated and with fewer people in the vicinity, or scaffolding being erected to the outside of your building that allows criminals to gain access to higher floors. These changes might not seem significant, but they introduce new security considerations that could expose your business to new threats, if only temporarily.

One way to make your environment safer is to bring in security patrols or static guards, who can be present at those times when your business is closed and most at risk of a break-in. Having a physical presence on site, if only for the short-term, can be a highly effective crime deterrent, one that is easy to put into place with a third-party security provider.  

Need help addressing your security weaknesses?

At Venture, we work with businesses based across Andover, Salisbury, Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton, Fareham and the surrounding areas, providing a range of professional security services.

Whether you’re looking for static guarding, mobile patrols, key holding and alarm response, or support with the locking and unlocking of your premises, we can help.

To find out more about or for a quote, please call us 01264 391538 or email [email protected]