5 Ways to Protect Your Business from Internal Crime

Unfortunately, a significant number of reported fraud or thefts from companies comes from an internal source. When hiring, it is important that not only can the successful candidate carry out their job but they are honest and trustworthy. Although internal crime does not impact every business, all businesses should implement ways to protect their business from internal crime. Here, we discuss some of the most effective methods 

Check that your physical security is sufficient 

Carry out regular checks that your physical security is up to scratch. Even if you have robust barriers and gates to form your perimeter security will not help the threat of internal crime. Therefore, you need to consider additional physical security measures that complement the perimeter measures. For example, use CCTV cameras where possible and other surveillance methods. Even the fact that the CCTV is in place can sometimes be enough to deter any crime. 

Have strict access policies 

Only allow employees access to data and areas that are directly related to their job role. If they do not need to enter a certain part of the building in order to carry out their daily tasks, then they do not need to be granted access.  

Ensure your building is maintained  

You need to ensure that your business’ premises are maintained correctly. Doing so not only makes the business look more professional and clean, it helps keep everything in order and easier to keep on top of. This is especially important for those businesses that have a lot of equipment, devices and stock. Not having them tidy and in an organised manner can lead to problems as it could mean you are unaware if things start going missing. If you have a robust and accurate system, you can avoid any internal theft. If the theft still occurred, you would be in a better position to realise quickly and sort out the security breach.

Have strong policies in place 

When it comes to protecting a company’s assets, both physical and data, then companies should ensure that they have detailed and robust policies in place. A major policy that companies should have is a BYOD (bring your own device) policy. In recent years, it is becoming increasingly popular for members of staff to use their own laptops and mobiles to carry out their work. Although this is convenient for the member of staff, it can cause a significant headache for a business. A BYOD policy states what is and issues allowed along with property guidance for best practices. Having these policies ensure that all members of staff are aware of the risks.

Train Staff  

Having policies in place is not enough. Although you can make employees read the policies, you have no control over how much of the information they are taking in. Therefore, employers should provide their staff with regular training. This training can go through the policies, warn employees the impact any internal crime will have, and let them know what they should do if they have any suspicions about other members of staff. Ensuring these training sessions are regular, set out thorough procedures and ensure staff know who they can speak to regarding any issues can all go a long way to a more secure and safe environment. 

What's Next?

For more information on how Gateway Automation can help keep your premises secure, please contact us on 01522 682255 for a free, no-obligation quotation and feasibility survey to assess your perimeter security equipment.

Tips on Boosting Your Physical Security

Business security needs to be at the top of the list for companies, both in terms of physical and cyber levels. Here we share some tips on boosting your businesses physical security and how it can help make the company's overall security more robust.

Device Inventory  

When it comes to cybersecurity and data protection, physical security is not always considered. However, it is just as important as a preventative measure. Businesses should keep an inventory of all the devices that contact company data. Ensuring you have this physical check-in place will allow you to keep control of the devices, learn immediately if there has been a theft and deal with it accordingly. Knowing who has what device and with what information can help damage limitation. 

Limit access to certain areas 

 It is important that members of staff do not automatically have access to all areas of the business if it does not directly relate to their job. Rooms that should only be accessed by certain members of staff should be out of bounds to other employees. There is a myriad of physical security options to achieve this. Barriers, turnstiles, and keypads are all effective ways to achieve this. 

Go one step further with biometrics 

Businesses should also consider the use of biometrics. Used alongside the traditional physical security measures, you can have peace of mind that only authorised people are entering certain areas of your business. Biometric keypads, for example, will only work for that individual, meaning no intruders can enter.  

Have sufficient security documents 

A business’ security efforts can sometimes be wasted if they are not used properly. Always train staff sufficiently on all aspects of business security through training sessions and security documents and policies. If employees are not trained correctly they may be putting the business and others at risk, potentially not even realising they are doing so. Ensure security documentation covers at least the following: 

- Door locking process and times 

- Who has what access 

- Who manages security 

- Password policy  

- Visitor Access policy and procedure 

Always update these documents regularly and hold a training session with employees ideally once a month as security methods will continue to change and people need updating. 

As you can see, these tips can help businesses improve their overall security. By using physical security, the premises are not only secure but the company’s data as well. It only takes one breach of security to severely affect a busy. Using these tips can help a company get started on ensuring their premises and data remain as secure as possible. 

What's Next? 

For more information on how Gateway Automation can help keep your premises secure, please contact us on 01522 682255 for a free, no-obligation quotation and feasibility survey to assess your perimeter security equipment.