You are the Global Corporate Security Manager for a multi-national financial institute based at Canary Wharf, London, UK. Your firm employs approximately 5,000 people, with office locations in fifteen countries, and a financial turnover in excess of £1bn in the financial period 2014/15. You have been tasked with project managing security and risk issues relating to a proposed new office in Birmingham, UK. There is a significant capital expenditure budget for all security requirements.

The business conducted in the proposed building will be trading in stocks and shares, and there will be no communication with the public; nor will there be any access allowed for non-company personnel. The workforce will comprise approximately one hundred personnel. In your final report you will be expected to demonstrate an effective approach to a number of considerations, using the format:

o This is what I looked at

o This is what I saw

o This is why it is important

o These are my recommendations

You will need to consider a number of issues, applying learning concepts taught during the Security Management training course which you have recently attended. The considerations are:

o Location

o Building

o Recruitment

o Technology

o Information Security

o Disaster recovery and business continuity

1 Location

In terms of the location for the proposed office, there are two distinct areas of focus and concern:

a. Country: The UK is an extremely attractive country in which to create new investments. However, politically the country is constantly in a state of flux due to a number of variables. Economically the UK is still the global powerhouse that it has been for the last one hundred years, and there is little doubt that investment will continue. For a number of reasons, threats from general crime and terrorism are high, particularly from Islamic fundamentalism, with the attacks against the London underground in 2005 being a prime example.

b. City: Politically, Birmingham is at the centre of all debate in the United Kingdom, and the economy is strong. Employment levels are high, with a sound mixture of skills, qualifications and experience. Crime rates in Birmingham are higher than the national average, with crimes such as car theft, burglary and street robbery taking place. It is further assumed that white collar crime and IT fraud in particular, are increasing year on year. The location of the proposed new office base will be found in a high-rise environment, with clusters of business units not dissimilar to the finance house in which the new operations will take place.

2 Building

The first issue to be taken into account when the proposed building is being considered is the size of the property. The building will have a footprint of three thousand square meters. It will consist of the first three floors of a twenty-five-story building and have controlled access to the front and rear ground floor (you would be responsible for access control). The complex is twenty years old, is in a good state of repair, and is covered by a planned maintenance service. The owners of the building provide electronic access measures, but the swipe system is old and is in need of replacement. Other control measures in place consist of CCTV, Intruder Detection Systems (IDS) and security lighting. All systems in place are in a poor state of maintenance. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) should be considered as the complex is located in a busy city centre area surrounded by other high-rise buildings and will have heavy traffic.

3 Recruitment

The security and risk culture in the company is inclined towards risk adversity, with an emphasis on cost effective risk control measures, which include the recruitment of high caliber security staff. The potential requirement will be for an onsite Security Supervisor, an Assistant Security Supervisor, and a team of onsite Security Officers, either in house or contract. The first issue to be addressed is the question of current skills, both within the company, and externally. Do you have the means to recruit people with the required skills from within? If not, are there opportunities to recruit former police officers or servicemen? There may be opportunities for recruitment from academic institutes, perhaps students who have studied at either Bachelors or Masters level who require work experience.

4 Technology

In terms of technology, there are a number of issues which must be considered; not least the question of whether technology provides the solutions to potential problems identified at the location in question. If you do decide to investigate the utilization of security technology, you must prove that such equipment is fit for purpose and is cost effective resulting from a cost benefit analysis calculation.

Consider the following applications when debating security technology.

o CCTV - digital or analogue; types of recording, monitoring and transmission.

o Access Control - internal and external; swipe, proximity or bio- metric.

o Intruder Detection Systems - internal using duel tech or PIR; external; perimeter, buried or line of sight.

Security Lighting - Internal and external; flood, low/high pressure sodium, halogen. Can the above individual systems be sufficiently integrated to contribute to the concept of defence in depth?

5 Information Security

Effective Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) are crucial for the existence and development of any business. It is part of your remit to assess the effectiveness of the current ISMS, advising where necessary any recommendations which may enhance the current system. In order achieve this you will need to carry out an ISMS risk assessment.

As part of your overall report, explain how you will approach such an assessment, and what your approach will be to the following key risk areas. o Assets to be protected o Threats

o Vulnerabilities

o Likelihood

o Impact

o Countermeasures

6 Disaster recovery and business continuity

Amongst the threats identified is the likelihood of a terrorist attack against either your building, or adjacent building which would impact your operations. If a successful attack does take place you will need to be in a position to recover operations at quickly as possible, resuming business activities at the optimum rate. Consider what disaster recovery plans will cover, and what business continuity advice you will offer the board and include this in your final report.

Conclusion

The final report should reflect your approach to opening a new office in Birmingham, employing the skills learned during the Security Management course. You must supply objective advice which relates to the following:

o Location - What are the issues of operating in Birmingham?

o Building - Is the building discussed fit for purpose?

o Recruitment - What is to be the make-up of your security team?

o Technology -Technology is available, but once again, is it fit for purpose? If not, what advice will you be offering?

o Information Security - How and to what standard do you plan to protect the very sensitive information and data to be held in the new office?

o Disaster recovery and business continuity -

Describe what actions you will advise the board of directors to take in relation to disaster recovery and business continuity

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Fllwing rh shuld be dted t ening new ffie fr multintinl finnil institute in Birminghm UK 1 Ltin This is wht I lked t The UK is n extremely ttrtive untry in whih t rete new investments Hwever litilly t... View the full answer