What are the major challenges faced by the security sector for 2021 to respond to COVID-19
continued
The pandemic has seen a whole raft of unfamiliar risks and tasks brought to the fore.
At the outbreak of COVID-19 we saw a mass exodus from the office, and seemingly overnight companies around the world had to readjust their priorities to deal with the new threatscape.
Yet, despite the vulnerabilities caused by the pandemic, one of the biggest security concerns moving into 2021 is not actually to do with the pandemic.
State-sponsored attacks are becoming increasingly common and more sophisticated, with Microsoft finding activity from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is on the rise. When you consider the fallout from the WannaCry attack or, more recently, the attack on the Kudankulam nuclear plant, it’s clear this kind of espionage has the potential to cause real damage as political tensions escalate. This means physical and cyber security vendors need to be doing everything to ensure no back-doors into networks. From cameras to access control, we need to be on alert.
The US restrictions on high-risk vendors are already having knock-on effects in other markets. We’re seeing companies unable to operate in the US investing tremendous amounts of resources in Europe. As a result, the European market has been flooded with state-of-the-art technology at rock bottom prices – leaving competitors unable to keep up. But this raises the question – if profit isn’t the motive, what is?
Even if you disregard the inherent vulnerabilities of Chinese technologies, there are other practicalities to consider. If more governments were to follow the United States’ stance and impose bans, it would leave organisations using the technology out of pocket and defenceless.
Moving into 2021, organisations must be proactive and bring a new level of scrutiny to the risks associated with the technologies they deploy.
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At the beginning of 2020 would it ever have been thought a security officer’s role to screen people for high temperatures or to count people entering a lift?
The longer the need to encourage compliance with safe working practices remains, the greater the risk that becomes the prime role or a distraction from the reasons security were there in the first place.
Low occupancy has generated new risks that will continue into 2021. It greatly reduces the chance of staff reporting suspicious behaviour or insecurities seen. Similarly, floods and faults are less likely to be spotted early without the natural surveillance of building users. Both are areas for security to help mitigate filling the void with thorough, vigilant patrolling.
Keeping people at all levels in an organisation up to date will remain a significant challenge given the abundance of ‘official’ guidance and the frequent changes to it. A good example here would the Government ‘Working Safely’ document. Essential reading, it was first published on the 11May but subject to 28 updates so far.
Risks directly linked to frequently changing ‘official’ information include confusion and fatigue over restrictions. Confusion risks mistakes over rules and procedures, fatigue risks conflict over compliance with them. The ongoing challenge for security staff will be continuing to stand firm against complacency and reacting appropriately to those overlooking or flouting safe working practices.
Lastly here, the once vibrant office environment is increasingly a lonely place for some, for others a visit is a rare experience. As face-to-face contact diminishes, security staff could be the consistent presence to identify people at real risk. The sector is alert to this with both general awareness and more specialised mental health ‘first aid’ rapidly being introduced.
The biggest risks for the security industry into 2021 are those that haven’t manifested themselves yet.
However, there are a few trends those in the industry should be conscious of as the COVID- 19 pandemic has shattered our traditional perception of ‘normal’.
As we live with empty offices and business districts, home working, reduced community visibility of the vulnerable, in an environment of increasing polarisation both political and around civil inspired causes, with increasing global instability with Russian and Chinese adventurism, terrorist threat morphing and hostile state and criminal networks opportunism, the threat landscape is changing.
Isolation and lockdown give terror groups increased opportunity to groom the vulnerable, to motivate and train them to have them working to a more coordinated agenda when things ease. They lack oversight in communities because of lockdown and isolation and that terror is not just islamist, but also extreme right wing. The terror threat is growing through exploited isolated vulnerable individuals lurking like a hidden cancer.
Home working is giving cyber criminals and advanced persistent cyber actors so many more opportunities to research and properly target attacks, to exploit vulnerabilities that would never exist in any single controlled network and to steal IP, compromise individuals and datasets. Malicious cyber actors will continue to have a field day though 2021 if remote working continues as the norm.
The legislative foundation for the wider security community will likely develop dramatically in 2021 with the anticipated Protect Duty, or Martyn’s Law, being introduced. We will also probably see something to replace or amend the 1990 Computer Misuse Act to make it 2021+ relevant and discussions around a new Official Secrets Act to bring it into the 21st century.
We can continue to say with confidence, we live in interesting times.
Paul Dodds Country Manager, UK&I Genetec
Neil Moscrop Senior Project Manager, CIS Security
Philip Ingram MBE Founder Grey Hare Media
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