Introducing the Topic
During the pandemic worldwide, many companies, large and small, successfully switched to work distantly, and thousands of offices remained empty due to a lack of demand. Many organizations faced with the new reality were concerned about the possibility of various thefts, burglaries, and other forms of unauthorized entry into their workplaces. Due to this, there is a need to ensure the physical security of equipment and other assets of the enterprise. To solve the security problem at unoccupied and unattended facilities, it is necessary to introduce technologies, preventive and detective controls. The countermeasures will fill the gap in the business continuity planning and provide reliable protection of the facility, especially since the digital world resources provide new opportunities, including security.
Cards and IDs
- Currently, for access control, various types of cards and identifiers of varying degrees of complexity of the device are used, differing in the presence of additional capabilities.
- Smart cards “provide great flexibility in access control;” the large storage capacity allows for recording the fingerprint or iris of the rightful cardholder. (Thompson et al., 2018, p. 79)
- The whole procedure takes about half a second, and the card does not even need to be removed from the wallet.
Combination Locks
- These devices are reliable, but the level of protection they provide is limited by passing or guessing a password.
- A combination lock usually allows entering many different codes, giving each user an individual one.
- To increase the security level of this access system, it is necessary to periodically change the codes; this is not particularly difficult, and using combination locks provides some security, performing the functions.
Biometrics
- Highly reliable, affordable biometric verification tools – primarily by fingerprint – are coming to the fore in the security arsenal.
- Biometric identification is used not for identification by searching for a match in the user database but for verifying a person identified using technologies of personality recognition categories (Yang et al., 2019).
- Identification is carried out by card / PIN-code, and then verification by fingerprint is performed.
Photography and Video Surveillance
- Cameras can record vehicle numbers at checkpoints and, combined with step sensors, photograph people in essential areas.
- CCTV cameras installed covertly or openly can be used to conduct surveillance indoors or in the area adjacent to the building as a deterrent and for subsequent analysis of incidents (Goyal et al., 2017).
- In the case of unoccupied facilities, remotely controlled cameras are most relevant. New technologies make it possible to automate due to using software that detects changes in the television picture.
Sensors and Alarms
- Implementing an alarm system and its sensors is a good way to control the facility; motion, heat, and contact pairs sensors are used to detect door openings.
- Additional types of sensors can be used in the CC alarm systems – laser barriers, step, touch, vibration sensors (Tseloni et al., 2017).
- An excellent option would be if the sensors are connected to the network, it becomes possible to remotely monitor and control movements from access control devices.
Summary
Unoccupied and unattended facilities need to improve systems for ensuring the physical security of equipment and other assets of the enterprise. At the moment, there are many effective ways to monitor the workspace without being in it. The above measures of the permit regime, video surveillance, and alarms can be considered detective since these are the leading technologies of our digital reality to ensure physical security. The problem and its solution require an integrated approach with an analysis of all risks and requirements. The combination of various identification methods is needed to increase the level of reliability.
References
Goyal, S., Desai, P., & Swaminathan, V. (2017). Multi-level security embedded with surveillance system. Sensors Journal, 17(22), 7497-7501. Web.
Thompson, R., Tseloni, A., & Tilley, N. (2018). Reducing burglary. Springer.
Tseloni, A., Thompson, R., Grove, L., Tilley, N., & Farrell, G. (2017). The effectiveness of burglary security devices.Security Journal, 30(2), 646-664. Web.
Yang, W., Wang, S., Hu, J., Zheng, G., & Valli, C. (2019). Security and accuracy of fingerprint-based biometrics: A review.Symmetry, 11(2), 141. Web.