What Is Physical Security?
The rules and procedures used to safeguard an organization’s tangible assets are referred to as physical security. This might include networks, data, hardware, software, and people. By limiting access to locations or networks, putting in place safeguards against environmental threats, or stepping up security monitoring, you may preserve physical security.
Why is physical security important?
Protecting people, property, and machines with physical security is essential. It keeps unauthorized people away from crucial data and sites, preventing such assaults. Although some firms just have physical protection at the front entrance, you can protect against several dangers by layering physical security measures. Together, these layers reduce hazards to the company, organization, people, and information by establishing a safer physical environment.
How to maintain physical security
It may be layered in a variety of ways. Typical physical security measures used in an organization include the following:
Access restrictions
To restrict who has access to certain places, such as those that could include confidential data and equipment, you might implement access controls. Locks, security personnel, key card systems, biometric systems, and other techniques may be used to do this. Lockdown procedures and an alert system to signal the building’s compromised condition should be in place in the event of a breach.
Surveillance systems
Install video cameras to monitor the property and identify suspicious activities. In an occurrence, these devices may collect evidence and discourage.
Disaster management systems
In certain places, protection against natural catastrophes including earthquakes, floods, storms, and fires might be crucial. Building reinforcements, data backups, fire suppression systems, and raised levels may all be part of this.
Security testing
Regular testing of security systems is necessary to make sure your business is being sufficiently protected. Businesses may use this as a “test run” to evaluate how they handle security risks and identify any areas that could need improvement. Organizations may put new rules in place in the event that an actual event happens if processes don’t function well during testing.
Using SecOps to Unify Defense by Connecting IT and Physical Security
In order to integrate IT and physical security into a unified defense plan, organizations are using Security Operations (SecOps) as digital transformation continues to change the technological environment.
There are special difficulties when digital networks and physical security systems, such as access control and video management, come together. By dismantling organizational silos and encouraging cooperation between teams that have traditionally worked on different domains, SecOps mitigates these risks and builds a strong defense against contemporary threats.
The shifting security landscape
Cybersecurity and physical security have always had distinct teams, resources, and procedures. However, these lines have become more hazy due to digital improvements.
The security environment of today is linked, with physical systems often being controlled by digital networks. For instance, once-separate access control and surveillance systems now operate as part of larger company management networks. Although this interconnectedness makes systems more useful, it also makes them vulnerable to hackers.
By promoting a unified strategy that views digital and physical security as interconnected, SecOps solves this. Given the intricacy of technological ecosystems, such cooperation between physical security and IT teams is essential to combating changing threats.
Achieving a holistic SecOps strategy
Despite the benefits of SecOps, there are still issues since IT and physical security organizations have distinct goals and perspectives. While IT teams oversee digital systems and networks, physical security teams are mainly concerned with reducing physical risks. Organizations must establish teamwork and connect these areas in order to have a solid security posture.
There is more to adopting SecOps than just technological integration. Professionals in physical security need to be aware of how physical and cybersecurity systems are becoming more interdependent. This change necessitates a proactive approach to cyber event response, acknowledging that physical security might be jeopardized by digital intrusions.
For instance, if an access control system is the target of a cyberattack, a SecOps team may swiftly eliminate the danger by stopping the impacted systems and determining where the assault originated. Organizations may react to such situations more quickly and efficiently by integrating real-time data from digital and physical sources.
Technology as the backbone of SecOps
SecOps uses a number of technologies, such as unified security platforms and hybrid-cloud solutions, to connect the capabilities of IT and physical security organizations.
It is seeing an increase in the use of hybrid-cloud. Fifty-one percent of organizations have used cloud or hybrid cloud systems for security operations, according to the Genetec State of Physical Security Report 2024.
SecOps can effectively combine IT and physical security and centralize data management using hybrid solutions. SecOps teams may create customized technology stacks that meet operational requirements by striking a balance between on-premises and cloud storage.
In the meantime, SecOps requires unified solutions that combine intrusion detection, video management, and access control into a single interface. These solutions standardize data security while enabling real-time physical risk assessment.
Security is further improved by cybersecurity features like multi-factor authentication, encryption, and health monitoring tools on these sites. Underpinned by a strong network architecture, unified systems also facilitate cooperation and minimize weaknesses, encouraging a coordinated defense plan.
Putting SecOps to work
More than just cutting-edge technology is needed for effective SecOps. Cross-functional teams with knowledge of both physical security and IT are required. Teams are in line with the purpose of the larger organization with to this skill integration, which guarantees thorough security coverage. To effectively handle both digital and physical threats, SecOps integrates procedures, instruments, and tactics.
Centralized visibility, which allows IT and physical security teams to monitor and respond to problems instantly, is a fundamental component of SecOps. A unified view from a common dashboard enables teams to see patterns among occurrences.
For example, suspicious behavior by an unidentified person in a restricted location may occur concurrently with a network breach. This combined situational awareness improves reactions and guarantees that events are examined from many perspectives.
Additionally, automation is essential to SecOps since it expedites responses and reduces delays, particularly in high-stakes situations. Organizations may automate critical security procedures while preserving operational transparency with to modern task management technologies. Automation minimizes possible harm by ensuring that teams react quickly to hazards.
Enhanced interdepartmental collaboration
With the use of management solutions that centralize communication and information exchange, SecOps places a strong focus on smooth departmental cooperation. These systems decrease human error and promote quick reaction times by dismantling silos, especially in emergency circumstances when delays might be expensive.
SecOps provides an integrated approach to organizational protection as the lines between digital and physical security become more hazy. Through collaboration and cutting-edge technology, SecOps enables organizations to efficiently address today’s complex security concerns by bridging the gap between IT and physical security systems.
Adopting SecOps requires physical security personnel to embrace the confluence of the cyber and physical worlds and go beyond their usual roles. This change improves security, protecting resources and creating a more secure atmosphere for all parties involved.
A robust, cohesive response to contemporary threats is produced by SecOps, which not only fortifies defenses but also synchronizes physical security operations with an organization’s larger digital transformation objectives.
