Credit Card Fraud - The Hotel Risk

One of the points raised in the Business Travel Workshop which takes place as part of Security Management Stage 2 is the risk of business executives on assignment overseas having their credit cards compromised and then being arrested and missing their flight because they do not the funds to pay for their hotel bill. Ironically, it may be hotel which is the source of the card details compromise!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/business/06road.html?_r=2

Even ARC’s MD, David Cresswell, has had his business credit card cancelled by the issuer while abroad, due to suspected fraud on his account. To add insult to injury, he was then the next day stranded overseas by the Iceland volcano! He avoided languishing in a Spanish jail because he had personal credit cards with him as a precaution. The best advice is to instruct all overseas travellers to take more than one card, keeping one for emergencies only.

The next Security Management Stage 2 Course takes place in the UK, 11-22 October 2010. Click here for details, or email Janet.

Time to Get Your Masters Degree in Security Management

If you have completed Security Management Stages 1-3 now is the time to get your post-course tasks submitted to David if you wish to be eligible for the university September intake. David will be compiling the list of September distance learning entrants later in July. If you think you can be ready in time, please contact David immediately.

The next university intake will be in January.

Bringing University-Accredited Security Management Training to You

Postgraduate university-accredited courses such as Security Management Stage 1 have now been delivered in over 10 different countries, in Europe, The Middle East, The Indian Subcontinent, SE Asia, and Africa.

Sometimes the courses are conducted as “open” in conjunction with local partners, and other times they are arranged directly with a specific client. Either way, you can be assured that the courses are run to the same high standard by the same, fully-qualified security management trainers you will be familiar with from our UK courses.

To discuss how we can bring such training to your company, or country, contact David.

ASIS Physical Security Guideline

The ASIS Facilities Physical Security Measures Guideline identifies the main physical security measures that can be applied at facilities to safeguard or protect an organization’s assets—people, property, and information. It outlines eight main categories of physical security measures used to protect facilities: physical barriers; physical entry and access control; security lighting; intrusion detection systems; video surveillance; security personnel; security policies and procedures; and crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). The emerging field of security convergence is also addressed.

All ASIS Standards and Guidelines can be downloaded from the ASIS Bookstore.

Physical Security is covered in detail on the core-skills, university accredited Security Management Stage 1 course. For details click here or email Janet.

The World Economic Forum Has Published Its Fifth Annual Global Risks Report

By consulting a group of experts and academics across the world throughout the year and relaying their findings in this annual report, Global Risks 2010 seeks to provide political and business leaders with a framework for further discussion of a risk landscape that is ever more complex and urges a consideration of the longer term, global implications of risks in areas beyond their immediate focus.

The report can be downloaded from http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/globalrisk/Reports/index.htm or by emailing David.

This report is one of a number of risk management publications that will be examined in the Corporate Risk Management session of the strategically-focussed Security Management Stage 3 Course, 10-21 May 2010. For course details go to http://www.arc-tc.com/pages/university_acredited_sm.asp#sm3 or email Janet.

A Timely Reminder about the Insider Threat

A British Airways worker was arrested in March on suspicion of raising funds for a terrorist attack. The alleged plot to raise funds for a terrorist attack – possibly on an airline – is thought to have been uncovered following a tip-off.

The employee was among 800 staff dealing with passenger bookings in one of BA’s two UK-based call centres. Staff can access to details of thousands of flights and are familiar with basic security procedures.

A useful guide on how to manage the risk of insider threats can be obtained from the website of the the UK's Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure.

To access the document, click here.

Choosing the Right Lens for Your CCTV Camera

Courtesy of Boundary Surveillance Ltd

One of the difficult problems when setting up a CCTV system is choosing the right lens for your cameras as different lenses give different fields of view, and different levels of zoom. Some of the higher-end lenses also offer features such as Auto-Iris, and manual zoom/focus adjustment. Choosing the wrong lens can lead to a camera monitoring too small an area, or conversely not having enough zoom to capture events with clarity.

CCTV is covered in detail on the postgraduate-level university-accredited Security Management Stage 2 course. The next course takes place in the UK 11-22 October 2010. for details click here for the ARC website or contact Janet.

How to Earn the MSc Professional Practice in Corporate Security Management

Many of the delegates attending the Security Management Stage 2 course presently are actively working towards a Masters degree in Professional Practice in Corporate Security Management. The knowledge input for the degree is delivered on Security Management Stages 1-3, which constitute three accredited modules out of the total 6 that make up the degree.

On successful completion of Security Management Stages 1-3, delegates then enrol as distance learning students of Middlesex University with which they undertake a transitional module, then a research proposal, and finally a 12,000 word dissertation.

Roger Coutain, BP Trinidad and Tobago, is the first ARC delegate to be awarded his degree.

For more on the scheme, contact David.

Security Scanners at Airports - Use Set to Increase

Security Scanner is the generic term used for a technology that is capable of detecting objects carried under clothes. Several forms of radiation differing in wavelength and energy emitted are used in order to identify any object distinct from the human skin.

In aviation Security Scanners could replace walk-through metal detectors (capable of detecting most knives or arms) as means of screening passengers because they are able to identify metallic and non-metallic objects including plastic and liquid explosives.

When a Security Scanner clears a person, in principle no further searches or screens are necessary. Today walk-through metal detectors' weakness in identifying non-metallic items require screeners to undertake full body hand searches in order to achieve comparable results, as was demonstrated on 25 December 2009, when a passenger attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit with explosives hidden on his body.

Security Scanners are controversial, in both their need to expose passengers to radiation, and their ability to see the body form under clothing, and the European Commission has reported on this issue to the European Parliament. To access the full report, go to:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air/security/doc/com2010_311_security_scanners_en.pdf

New Maritime Security Magazine and Association

Letter from Peter Cook, former delegate on Security Management Stage 2......

David,

I was a student of yours when I did the Security Management Stage 2 Course and Fraud course with Chris Taxis in July 2007. I have moved on and I am now an Independent Maritime Security Consultant. I am in the process of setting up the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI) and as part of that we are publishing a magazine focused on maritime security (attached, with links below).

http://www.em-defence.com/PDFs/Maritime_Security_Special.pdf

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1n71t/MaritimeSecuritySpec/resources/index.htm?referrerhttp://www.yudu.com/item/details/141342/Maritime-Security-Special-

Intruder Alert: 'Smart Dew' Will Find You!

A remarkable invention from Tel Aviv University — a network of tiny sensors as small as dewdrops called "Smart Dew" — will foil even the most determined intruder. Scattered outdoors on rocks, fence posts and doorways, or indoors on the floor of a bank, the dewdrops are a completely new and cost-effective system for safeguarding and securing wide swathes of property.

For more information, go to: http://www.physorg.com/news157288786.html