Since I did not open the doors as requested, the sound of the window bursting came crashing into my ear. The kidnappers used a large sledgehammer to smash the driver’s side window. Two blows were all it took!
Surviving Lockdown 3.0
No matter who you are, everyone has been affected by the pandemic, hopefully, all of us out there are surviving but no doubt there will be some that may be struggling more than most.
A New Standard for Travel Security
As Executive Protection professionals we are constantly caught between a rock and a hard place. We do our best to provide our clients with the best possible protection while dealing with resistance and objections from the boardroom, PAs or the client themselves. Now if there was an international guideline for a travel risk management standard that addressed everything from hotels to air travel and ground transportation, it would require compliance from organizations and simplify our task significantly. The good news is, there now is and it is planned for launch in the summer of 2021.
Human Intelligence Could You Be The Next Target?
When you step into a new role where you have routine access to classified information, have access to large amounts of cash or other assets/valuables, or deal with sensitive business information, you may become the target of human intelligence or HUMINT. In light of this, this article covers the different aspects of the threat of human intelligence to keep in mind from the point of view of a corporate setting or government contract.
In the Midst of Chaos
By now many of you have seen the photos and videos of the protestors turned rioters storming the US Capitol on the day of the Congressional Certification.
Executive Protection 2.1
William Shakespeare said, “Defer no time, Delays have dangerous ends”. What we do now in these trying times, we will either profit from or suffer from. Why is it that some survive these times in our industry, and some do not? What steps can be taken to avoid a crisis in your employment status?
Online Health Check for Protectors
As security professionals you may be an attack vector to your client if you do not maintain basic online security controls. At the very least you should be in a position to provide basic advice to your clients in order to help them stay secure.
Drivers & Bodyguards
Now, here me out. If you’re managing security projects it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have to deal and work with security personnel, bodyguards, and drivers that are not part of your team or company. Dealing with unknown personnel can be very problematic due to their potential lack of professionalism and egos.
Behaviors & Anomalies
In the previous article (Baselines of Behavior, Issue 53), we spoke about the four major behaviors: dominant, submissive, comfortable, and uncomfortable. These are the most prevalent and easiest to categorize and I gave you the means to identify each one. However, identifying the behaviors is not our main goal. Creating a baseline of the behaviors and then looking for clusters of anomalies is the goal. These anomalies highlight changes within the individual’s emotional state around a specific topic and can be crucial for us, as security professionals, to identify a threat early enough to counter it.
Social Media Policies
Anyone who works for you and has their work title/position linked to your company represents your brand and is responsible for your reputation. They can also be a liability for you and may become the weak link of your company and their online activities are such that your competitors can use it against you.
Keeping Your Edge: Is Unity In Our Profession Dead?
As the President-Elect wrapped up his speech, now joined onstage by his extended family, my attention was on the members of the United States Secret Service who were close by. I thought of these men and the job that they were tasked to do. Not knowing them personally, I wasn’t aware of their political affiliations, were they a Democratic like Biden, or a Republican, rooting for the current President, Trump? They, like every other citizen of the country, were allowed to cast their votes, and could have picked either, or none. However, at that moment, on that stage, I don’t think it mattered. These agents, surely knowing the risk associated with the occasion, were focused on the task at hand: The safety of their protective charges, no matter their personal political affiliation.
Phishing Phenomena on the Rise
As with many methods used to manipulate, they do not try to argue someone around to a position in a rational manner; instead, they are designed to elicit and exploit emotional responses.
Phishing is a whole family of different attacks designed to manipulate a target into performing actions against their best interest, usually disclosing information in some way or carrying out fraudulent transactions. Within that family of different types of phishing we have:
Crisis Management and Social Media
Effective crisis management invariably involves social media, whether the organization is a large multi-national or a small hometown business. When a crisis erupts, the effective use of social media should be seen as a key priority to counteract the crisis.
Clients Should You Trust them?
There needs to be a healthy relationship with your clients, you don’t want to let them dominate you, and you don’t want to try to dominate and control them.
Boundaries must always be made clear as this works to protect you and your client’s interests. Clients are not your friends, they are clients paying you to provide them with a service, and if boundaries are ignored, it can undermine any respect in the business relationship.
Emotional intelligence
In today’s lifestyle and business dynamics, solving emotion-related problems is equally crucial in both personal and professional settings. In a professional context, we deal with complex problems and must work as a team to provide the most efficient solutions for our principals or clients.
Value Driven Integration – Women in Protection
If you are a woman in the industry and you aren’t struggling, you have a duty to mentor others. However, I do understand that sometimes it’s difficult simply because you’re not quite sure how you got there yourself! The increased participation of women in protection started a while back but has gained more momentum recently; keep it going! We’re all on the same team.
Securing Smart Home Devices
Smart home technology is a rapidly growing consumer and business product. Here are some figures that show projections for the growth of these devices, as well as current numbers
Foot Steps Episode 5: Mike Smith
Describe your professional journey?
I played on the Georgia State Patrols basketball league then joined the reserve sheriffs, I then did freelance security with 2 Georgia state troopers that started a company. I took a hiatus and actually became a barber while still doing security work on the side. While cutting hair I ran into someone who gave me a window of opportunity which led me to land a 6 figure contract. My company SS consulting specialized in threat assessments and advances but I didn’t just limit myself to that. I would land other contracts doing different types of security. The reality is, it’s who you know vs what you know.
Other Side of The Desk
The nuances of each detail vary, and the protection packages are tailored to fit them. For instance, each and every day, educational institutions are presented with their own unique set of security challenges.
Unfortunately, the US, as well as other countries, has experienced too many tragic incidents on school campuses. While these incidents are usually carried out against individuals without personal protection, what happens when there is a Protective Detail in the area? If we looked at the differences between school security personnel (also known as “resource officers”) and executive protection, would there be a clear distinction from the perspective of teachers and faculty of the educational institutions? How is close protection viewed when it comes to halls of education? How does the staff feel about an armed EP professional on the school ground or even in class?
Kidnap & Ransom – Finding a Resolution
If you’re travelling to today’s hostile environments as an International actor, anywhere from Mexico to Afghanistan, and all the bad places in between, it would be madness to go without K&R insurance coverage, especially as it helps to reduce your overall insurance costs of travelling to these places.
