Security Survey

A security survey involves an analysis of a company’s facility, personnel, and assets with the aim of evaluating its potential risks and creating measures to protect them. This analysis ensures that an organization does not come to a standstill during a potential crisis. In fact, a security survey should be an integral part of a company’s security program as it enables the gathering of valuable information that is critical to the design and implements appropriate security systems. Risk assessment is a vital factor in security survey and is a determinant in formulating the security systems. This essay aims to discuss how risk assessment applies to security survey.
The first step of security survey is intelligence gathering. It involves gathering information about the organizations such as its operation and objectives. Risk assessment falls in this level and its done to identify potential targets to any form of attack or tragedy (Houlis, 2015). The targets may be property, information or people that will be lost or feel the impact of the loss in case of a threat. After identification of targets, the probability of the threat and the effect is calculated. Different companies face different threats, but overall risks may include theft, arson, break-ins, robbery, software or program sabotage among others. The risk analysis requires the company to identify all its critical assets and their value based on criticality. Criticality refers to the impact that the loss of an asset will have on the firm (Broder & Tucker, 2011).

This concept is an effective method of conducting a risk assessment. It is not only based on the cost of replacing that particular item or asset but also the increased insurance rates, cost of downtime, cost of putting in place temporary assets.
The second step of the security survey process is obtaining more details on the organization. For instance, the location of their buildings. This stage can also be considered as part of risk assessment in that it provides more ideas on threats that might occur. Case in point, the location of a building, maybe around a high-crime area or a flash flood area. Therefore, issues such as theft, robbery, natural disasters will be some of the threats to consider for this particular company. Some other details collected in this stage are the history, condition, and structure of the building and its boundaries. This information may shed light on the risks that may be caused by the weaknesses of the building. The weak structure may cause the building to collapse or not withstand natural disasters. This step of assessment is usually supplemented with architecture design drawings of the building, police records of crimes in the area and historical data from owners of the company. The final survey stage involves evaluating the security systems already in place to determine how to improve them. Regarding the risk assessment information and the additional information about the organization, system security is designed to ensure maximum protection.
In conclusion, risk assessment is a fundamental process in security survey. In fact, it is what enables the whole survey process. It involves identification of all the critical assets that are vulnerable to threats according to criticality. The threats are determined, and the probability and the impact of potential attacks are measured. Evidently, risk assessment contributes to the creation of an efficient security system that will mitigate the risks faced by an organization.
ReferencesBroder, J. F., & Tucker, E. (2011). Risk analysis and the security survey. Elsevier.Houlis, P. (2015). How to Conduct a Risk Analysis and Security Survey to Protect Your Assets? IFSEC Global | Security and Fire News and Resources. Retrieved 25 January 2018, from https://www.ifsecglobal.com/how-to-conduct-a-risk-analysis-and-security-survey-to-protect-your-assets/