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A safe return to international business travel?
transportation of organisational assets, both tangible and intangible, poses a risk of interception and theft and from an espionage threat perspective, an adversary is aware of the vulnerabilities of an unfamiliar location or situation where the usual home country security protocols cannot be followed or maintained. With the conditions of resumed business travel as we’ve already explored, any international business requirement is likely to be more critical and involve personnel handling more sensitive assets and conducting more sensitive conversations and the adversary will be very aware of this shift.
When advising organisations on safe international business travel, we advocate three key disciplines: briefing, discretion and being environment-aware.
Briefings
Being well briefed on how to keep assets secure and location-specific risks and factors are essential for any business traveller, especially so for any employees who had not received such training or advice pre-pandemic but equally for seasoned travellers who need risk updates.
Disseminating foreign travel advice from local government and gaining insight from corporate travel partners are one level of education, but many organisations are now going further to build and share their own
© CITY SECURITY MAGAZINE – AUTUMN 2021
local threat assessments cross-company. Discretion
The mantra for any business traveller should always be discretion. It can be easy to become exposed or overly relaxed when abroad, and time-old espionage techniques such as honeypot traps continue today as the adversary preys on these vulnerabilities. The case in 2020 of a US defence linguist charged with sharing highly sensitive national defence information with a member of Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah with whom she shared a romantic interest shows evidence of this risk . As well as being discreet at in-person events, the dangers of sharing information via social media and professional networks have been highlighted of late, and the US NCSC ‘The Nevernight Connection’ video showcases this perfectly.
Environment-aware
As well as specific country or city risk factors, the business traveller should maintain a heightened level of awareness around transport hubs, hotels and third-party venues where their usual organisational security protocols are not in place. The use of hotel safes, storage and hardware are best avoided, as is leaving any device or asset in a hotel room. Measures such as providing clean IT equipment can be advisable for locations and situations considered high risk.
www.citysecuritymagazine.com A shift in security service resourcing?
For many security professionals, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented some challenges in respect of maintaining key security service delivery as their preferred or contracted suppliers have been unable to travel themselves. For some organisations, this has forced them to review their sourcing models and focus on more local solution providers for protective services to avoid future travel risk and disruption. However, for certain fields and specialisms, it can be difficult to find reputable providers and apply the same best-practice sourcing criteria across countries.
TSCM, for example, is a notoriously unregulated industry. It is important to find a provider that applies industry-leading standards and uses highly trained personnel and specialist equipment to give the same level of threat assurance across all operations and projects to ensure you are protected.
Emma Shaw MD, Esoteric
esotericltd.com
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