In place of attempting to review a year that – in view of COVID-19 and its widespread negative impact across the globe – everyone is glad to see fade into the distance, Alistair Enser takes the opportunity to assess the current state of play in the security business sector and consider what its constituent practitioners and organisations can and must do to help out in 2021

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South West London’s Kingston University stands tall in the Higher Education sector for the way in which it has positively embraced security to achieve an open and safe campus environment. As Guy Ferguson explains, the institution has done so thanks to salient guidance and support from the Metropolitan Police Service and Police Crime Prevention Initiatives

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‘Be a part of history’. That’s the tagline for the latest research project spearheaded by the International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO) in collaboration with Perpetuity Research. As Peter Stiernstedt explains, the basic aim of that project is to more clearly define the role, responsibilities and duties of today’s security officers while also taking full account of the perceived complexities therein

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By his own admission, working in the security sector for the last 25 years has been incredibly fulfilling for Paul Harvey, who continues to meet and engage with talented individuals in both the public and private sectors thanks to his new role at Ward Security. Here, he charts his career development path, outlining the need for continual learning and precisely why becoming a Chartered Security Professional is so important

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Andy Beale seeks to impart some practical guidance on how security function management should perform, while at the same time providing advice on ways in which to ascertain whether or not a security company is a good employer. The security sector is somewhat broad in nature and that can make quality assessment a little more difficult, but it’s certainly not an impossible task

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Training and competence within the construction sector and related industries have been brought into sharp focus in the wake of Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety conducted in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. What do the desired outcomes look like for the security and fire systems markets? Trevor Jenks outlines the detail

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Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sites such as water supply facilities, nuclear power stations and oil refineries are the life support systems necessary for a country to function. People rely on them for clean water, reliable power and fuel. For this reason alone, they could serve as targets for terrorists seeking to disrupt vital services for thousands – if not millions – of individuals. With this in mind, Andy Gent reviews the latest thinking around CNI security

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While cyber attacks are high on the list of security threats at present, preventing unauthorised physical access to a critical infrastructure site, for example, or to critical areas within a site remains vital. Heads of security need to consider both physical and network security in tandem as they’re equally important when it comes to the protection of people and assets, asserts Ben Linklater, not to mention maintaining business continuity and resilience

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Recently, Security Matters’ Editor Brian Sims interviewed Mark Rees, managing director of UK-based security camera manufacturer 360 Vision Technology, about how the company has coped with the issues raised by COVID-19 and also the future of video surveillance, wherein the ongoing use of mobile and rapid deployment public space CCTV plus the increasing role played by specialist consultants are part of the mix

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Evidence suggests that more and more organisations are now moving their surveillance systems into the cloud. With this ‘Cloud CCTV’ boom in mind, Frank Crouwel takes a closer look at why this is happening and offers some timely guidance for security professionals such that they can make sure cloud migration plans are adequately thought through ahead of implementation

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HANWHA TECHWIN has detailed what the surveillance solutions manufacturer believes will be the Top 5 key trends for the video surveillance industry during 2021. Those trends cover Artificial Intelligence edge-based solutions, open platform, the cloud, cyber security and finally data protection and privacy issues.

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2020 WITNESSED a seismic physical, economic and cultural shift among global organisations as businesses necessarily adapted to working during a pandemic. When COVID-19 brought sweeping changes to the way in which we all operate, communicate and do business, cyber criminals were in the wings waiting to seize any opportunity they could to exploit security weaknesses for monetary and disruptive gains. Is that trend going to continue in 2021? Safi Raza offers his views on the matter.

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WHEN THE COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March last year, few industry commentators would have predicted the enormous impact it has since exerted right across the world and, indeed, every vertical sector. With that as the backdrop, Johan Paulsson examines the trends that we can now expect to see developing across the physical security sector during 2021.

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‘BE A part of history’. That’s the tagline for the latest research project spearheaded by the International Foundation for Protection Officers (IFPO) in collaboration with Perpetuity Research. As Peter Stiernstedt explains, the basic aim of that project is to more clearly define the roles, responsibilities and duties of today’s security officers while also taking full account of the perceived complexities therein.

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WHEN THE World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, organisations had to adapt and change the way in which they operate – and fast. As those changes took place, cyber criminals followed suit because the modern criminal is constantly evolving in line with shifts in online behaviour and trends. With all of this in mind, Simon Eyre focuses his attentions on the trends we can expect to witness across the cyber world in 2021.

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ULTRA-HIGH resolution, multi-directional, 360⁰ or PTZ? With system designers now having so many options to choose from when it comes to specifying the most appropriate surveillance cameras for monitoring large areas, Uri Guterman provides a helpful and timely overview of the merits of some of the most suitable camera formats.

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MANUAL PROCESSES such as using spreadsheets to design run-sheets, passing paper run-sheets to drivers and crossing off the jobs by hand as they’re completed in the Control Room, could be costing security companies dear. Using technology to streamline these tasks can save hours each week in administration, enable firms to provide a better service to customers and keep members of staff happy. Paul Ridden explains how local and regional security businesses can make use of tech to improve many aspects of their operation.

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WITH 20-PLUS years of events sector experience to date, Rachael Shattock was appointed Group event director at the Nineteen Group (with responsibility for International Security Expo, International Cyber Expo and International Disaster Response) in early 2020. Here, in conversation with Security Matters, Rachael focuses on the necessary pivot to all three events running under one banner in the online domain.

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UNEXPLAINED WEALTH Orders were first introduced on 31 January 2018 by the Criminal Finances Act 2017, which itself amended the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Here, Nicola Sharp considers the attention afforded to them in today’s world and places a strong emphasis on the fact that they can indeed be challenged.

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EACH YEAR, the increasingly sophisticated criminals of the cyber world pose new and very real threats to the financial services sector, making it a prime target for cyber attacks. As Safi Raza explains, the pace of digital acceleration and the continuous development of new technologies offers a constant challenge for financial firms. It’s a challenge made even greater by the global pandemic.

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