Security Thought Leadership: in conversation with Martin Gill

Smart cities have long been heralded as a definitive opportunity to harness technological developments for business efficiency and human contentment. In some quarters they appear to be discussed as an unqualified good. But are they? Where there is technology there are risks of security weaknesses, and the bigger the strategic use the greater the potential for calamity, don’t smart cities provide f...

Every June, the LGBTQ+ community across the globe organises a range of events to shine a light on the LGBTQ+ community. It is timely then to assess what is happening in the security sector. Are tangible and progressive actions being taken to be truly inclusive? Are the right sort of collaborations taking place and how are they faring? This webinar we will discuss: In what ways and how is the LGBTQ...

There are well established advantages to using robots in security roles. For example, they can independently perform programmed tasks with minimal human oversight, including conducting routine patrols and doing so cost effectively, more productively than humans since they don’t get tired or bored, and work more safely in hazardous environments. But they can lead to job losses, the initial investme...

Healthcare fraud is a massive problem, the scale of which is only best guessed at, the FBI estimates ‘tens of billions of dollars’, are lost annually in the US, in England alone the government estimates well over a £1 billion was lost last year. The word ‘fraud’ in fact disguises a wide range of criminal acts that vary greatly involving staff (sometimes working with third parties) including GPs an...

It is good business to be seen to be supporting the ‘green agenda’, and certainly bad news follows or is likely to follow an organisation that is not committed. But how would we know? Do security professionals really care and if so how is that reflected? The ‘environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)’ concept is becoming more renowned but in what ways is it different and what are the ba...

The 24th July is national security officer day chosen as it is the 24th day of the 7 month, and security officers work 24/7. We have heard on previous Thought Leadership webinars of the enormous amount of work and progress that has been made in improving the working conditions and the image of the frontline worker. But what are the next big steps? How can the current shortcomings be addressed? Is...

In a previous Thought Leadership webinar we considered the protection of the national infrastructure from a physical security point of view, here we consider it from the viewpoint of cyber. Clearly, attacks take different forms, and there have been some high profile examples, such as the ransomware attack on healthcare, EMA (European Medicines Agency), the recent Colonial Pipeline Co incidents to...

This session is sponsored by Lodge Service https://lodgeservice.com/ It is not unusual in any sector to generate buzz words and phrases that catch on. Security is no exception. ‘Profit protection’ can be presented as one example. When ‘security’ seemed old hat, especially (but not exclusively) in retailing, there was a focus on ‘loss prevention’. For many that missed the point, it was negative lea...

Science can be considered as a process that generates knowledge and then organises it so that findings – in the form of testable explanations and predictions about a subject – can be tested. While science generally has a long history the subject area of security has a much more recent past and so therefore does security science. Yet this is key to building a credible body of knowledge, itself a pr...

Cryptocurrencies, typically created using blockchain technologies, are available in digital form only and provide a different way of trading that is generally presented as being ultra-secure, but is it? After all we know that the wallets cryptocurrencies are stored in can be stolen if passwords are not secured. If the cryptocurrencies are kept on centralised exchanges they can be hacked a problem...

Previous webinars have indicated that around the world countries face very different challenges in having a professional security sector, one that workers choose as a preferred career of choice, one clients’ view in favourable terms, and one that partners such as the police want to collaborate with. We also know from previous webinars on Kenya that the sector has its own challenges although there...

Recent decades have witnessed a growing recognition of the importance of giving victims a voice in the criminal justice process generally and in bringing their plight to the awareness of offenders specifically. Forms of achieving this vary, but one central tenant is enabling victims to meet those who offenders against them. Such meetings have the potential to enable victims to make offenders aware...

At all levels and in all areas, personnel working in the security sector are outstanding performers, they are expert in what they do, professional in their approach, and appreciated and valued by their stakeholders. They provide a reference point and the BeNeLux is widely heralded as being at the forefront, a locale that others in the world look up to. The issue and the challenge then is how does...

Any dictionary will help determine the difference between ‘data’, ‘information’ and ‘intelligence’, and there are many different types of each. They can all contribute to what is defined as an ‘incident’ so often the starting point for generating the attention of security personnel. So how well do we understand the importance of ‘incident reporting’? What constitutes a good incident report, and wh...

The security sector is at the forefront on interactions with the public, and at a time when there is international anxiety, there are risks that need to be managed. We have heard in previous webinars about how the pandemic has seen abuse against frontline workers rise in some areas and take different forms, from coughing over security people to blatant attacks. What have been the lessons learnt, a...

It is becoming more widely recognised that fraud is now recognised as the most common offence type in many countries (including the UK) but is not seen as a priority by governments or law enforcement agencies. It is often still seen as victimless, and yet the available research evidence paints a depressingly serious picture about the consequences. It is far from obvious that the consequences of fr...

Mindfulness and meditation have become centre stage in strategies used by organisations as diverse as the military, business, sports and prisons to help people better understand themselves – by better managing their inner self – as a route to enabling people to live more satisfactorily. The benefit to business is obvious; it has the potential to drive up performance. Some argue this is to misunder...

Corruption is a global problem, endemic to many countries, largely invisible, has a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable, undermines legitimate businesses, feeds organised crime, and is estimated to be extremely costly. The impacts are more severe and wide ranging than this but what is clear is this is a massive and insidious problem. How then is it to be tackled? In practice the types of cor...

Digital identities are commonplace, but progress has not lessened concerns about security, far from it. There remains a challenge in ensuring that digital identities are managed in a harmonised way that satisfies a range of (ever evolving legal/regulatory) requirements. Online, multifactor security is essential, but there are different views about what constitutes being ‘secure’ or indeed what ‘fa...

The aviation sector is widely identified as having been acutely wounded by the Covid-19 virus, albeit this is far from the only challenge it has faced. Commercial uncertainty as a result of Brexit is one issue, the 737 MAX scandal is another, while the dangers of cyber threats to aircraft remain very real and terrorist threats ever present. In all this what has been happening in airport security?...

The status of corporate security directors: has the pandemic changed perceptions of the leaders of security? Previous work has noted that in the corporate hierarchy security professionals sometimes find themselves at a disadvantage because they lack the business acumen and experience compared to other corporate professionals. This lower status has a knock-on impact in being less well placed to def...

Security consultancy plays an important role in generating improved performance; an essential role in filling gaps in organisational knowledge; and a key role in adding to corporate expertise. Yet, while Covid-19 has changed the security landscape focus on the role of consultants has remained under the radar. Are opportunities increasing, decreasing or remaining stable? How has working from home a...

The exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain is a largely covert activity with enormous implications. Modern slavery involves the exploitation of children as well as adults, and it takes many forms, for example, sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude. The Global Slavery Index (2018) suggests over 40 million individuals are currently victims of modern slavery. In...

Managing the impact of suicide: colleagues, clients and society The security sector is uniquely exposed to the impacts of suicide. A significant proportion of workers in the sector are ostensibly at higher risk; namely, men, who receive low pay, and have low job security. In addition to being the potential victims of suicide, and suicide bereavement, some workers in the industry will be exposed to...

There has been much discussion about the move to digital transactions as a more convenient way of conducting business (personally and professionally). But we know that there are security risks in digital transactions, and the move away from using cash has implications for some economies and some people; it is far from an unqualified good. In this webinar we examine the relative risks and benefits...