We frequently think of security as an issue involving physical threats to people or property. However, a number of other threat categories can also have serious implications for a business or other orgnaization. Each of these deserves a moment's thought.

Personal threats are certainly critical as they directly affect people's lives and health. Health and safety threats can include obstacles or other unsafe conditions (such as snow or ice) on your property, or substances (germs or chemicals) that may be carried in the air or water. Physical attacks and other such crimes by others are clearly a serious threat, as are the intrusions that may make these possible. These are all serious threats that can be prevented and/or minimized through the use of appropriate security systems.

Threats to inanimate material objects are also of concern. Some of these threats involve the loss of property, through theft (including shoplifting and retail or wholesale "shrinkage"), while others involve harm to property, such as vandalism or sabotage. In most cases, these result ultimately in monetary loss, in order to replace, repair, or restore the affected items. Again, there is an opportunity to benefit from taking appropriate security measures.

Legal threats are becoming increasingly important in our litigious society. These include legal liabilities to the persons or property of others for whom you may become responsible because you employ them, because of their presence on your property or their use of your products or services, because of issues of regulatory compliance on your premises or at your remote worksites, or because of yor responsibility for one-time events your company conducts. Workmen's compensation fraud is an excellent example of a threat of this nature. Systems which document the use of appropriate security systems and which record the actual conditions at the time of an incident can serve as important tools in your defense against such claims.

Economic threats also exist, in many cases more subtle than those mentioned above. There are many instances when an organization's economic success may be threatened by inefficient workflows and business process that hamper cost-control measures. These threats may be underlying causes of material or legal threats (by providing opportunities for theft or shrinkage, or fraud), of they may simply make the business unnecessarily expensive to run.

Most companies are not equipped with knowledge and expertise for dealing with all the examples of threats cataloged above, but they face these issues nonetheless. Fortunately, such expertise exists, and is available for hire.

ASCC and its partners can provide security consulting services in a number of areas:

• Threat vulnerability and risk assessment
• Technology assessment and recommendations
• Security awareness training
• Grant awareness and alerts