Security may be defined as any concerted effort taken in order to protect persons and organizations from any harm or destruction. Companies and organizations have heavily invested limited resources in personnel, buildings, communication infrastructure, data storage facilities and business processing plants to enable such organizations run business. Ensuring that such investment is safe from any destruction is the primary concern of managers. In the United States, security has always taken considerable amount of resources from organizations however this has since changed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Security has now taken a central concern for both government and organizations. Security services have become extremely sophisticated and complex backed by exhaustive legislation both at the federal and state level. This research sought to understand the steps taken by organization to secure assets and the role of security managers in the same.
Security Theoretical Foundation
In determining the manner in which organizations should address the issue of security, it is important to discuss the theoretical foundation of security. An important theoretical foundation of security is that crime will always exist as it is one of the social anomies that plague a natural society . According to Fischer, Fischer, Halibozek, & Green (2008) crime exists due to presence of a suitable target and an opportunity to perpetrate the crime. This implies that for crime to exist there has to be a target of the crime and appropriate opportunity to perpetrate that crime. Additionally a crime requires that an offender with ill intent should be in a position to exploit the opportunity. This is basically the triangular relation of crimes, that is, a linkage between a victim, offender and opportunity for crime to abound . Thus it is upon an organization to either eliminate the opportunity or target of the crime to be able to stem the occurrence of crime
Role of Security in Protecting Organization Assets
An organization needs to employ proper security services to ensure the protection of the assets. Such service is a multifaceted and interdisciplinary concept of security management. A security management department of an organization should employ the use of technology, criminal law, civil law, investigations, policy formulation, psychology, sociology and business management scheme in protecting assets and personnel. Recent effort taken by several organizations is employing high end technology such as biometric system, smart security cards and restricted access to sensitive sections of the organization. Proper security measures ensure that organization assets are only accessed by authorized personnel. An organization also takes upon itself to sensitize its personnel on security and how to keep the workplace secure and free from accidents. Organization security also cooperates with government security to ensure it security enforcement is within the constitution.
In the past few years, organization security goes beyond physical security. Cyber crime has taken a more central stage in world business. Today, several businesses rely on electronic trading and wire transfers of money in a new business concept referred to as e-commerce. However, this electronic business paradigm presents one of the most vulnerable targets for crimes. E-commerce transactions always take places over computer networks which can be easily attacked by various network security schemes. Protecting information systems now takes central concern for these businesses
Roles of the Security Manager
A security manager is required to ensure the safety of organization assets and the well being of personnel. To do this, Ortmeier (2009) subdivides the essential functions of the security manager into three broad categories. These are physical security, personnel security and information security. Physical security refers to any effort taken to ensure that tangible assets such as buildings, vehicles, electronic devices and organization plants and fixtures are safe from destruction. It is the role of the security manager to ensure that enough resources are employed in having security walls, locks, secure building designs and surveillance systems. Alarm systems have also been used in the past for purposes of alerting the security team upon unauthorized intrusion.
Under personnel security, a security manager ensures that all personnel such as employees, customers and guests associated with the organization are protected. A security manager could use surveillance systems and deploying safety measures such as fire extinguishers and first aid kits at accessible locations. Some sophisticated security measures for important personnel such as armored transport and additional personnel are used. Dignitaries and important government leaders fall in this bracket. The security manager should be aware of these reliable security measures and employ such measures.
Information security is multifaceted discipline that security managers now handle. Businesses, national security organs and organizations now rely on information communication system to conduct operations and collect intelligence. Loss of such confidential information could be tantamount to loss of business. Security managers now employ a vast collection of cyber security standards to ensure the safety of such information
A security manager could be trained in several aspects and this training is varied in the context of security level. For instance, an information security expert would need to undergo sophisticated training in cyber security at a very high intellectual level. Conversely, physical security personnel and managers may undergo a different kind of training.
In conclusion, security is now a core aspect of our society, every government and organizations understand the importance of security. Proper investment in security technology and personnel is paramount.
References:
Burstein, H. (1994). Introduction to security. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Fischer, R., Fischer, R. J., Halibozek, E., & Green, G. (2008). Introduction to Security. Boston : 2008.
Ortmeier, P. (2009). Introduction to Security. New Jersey : Prentice Hall.
