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While security in critical facilities settings has always been
a concern, today’s operating environment demands that security
issues be elevated to greater levels. Regulatory and prudent management
factors have traditionally driven security concerns and programs,
but emerging issues such as new forms and frequencies of threats,
and judicial determinations of liability for security breaches,
have moved security issues at critical facilities onto the agendas
of boards of directors and senior executives at many organizations.
In addition, security is rapidly becoming a competitive advantage
in a number of industries, as customers and clients have become
more sophisticated in their demands regarding how their information
is safeguarded from unauthorized access or use.
Security thinking and programming must be broadly conceived. It
must address the site, the equipment, the applications, the people
and the information that comprise the internal and external world
of a critical facility. Every factor which impacts the ultimate
supply/service chain to the customer should be considered. Moreover,
security compliance programs should be defined, implemented, routinely
evaluated and updated for changing conditions. This white paper
is intended to identify important security considerations relevant
to both the mission critical operations and to the critical mission
of the enterprise.
It is important to define security as it relates to these facilities:
Security is the extent of protection undertaken against a threat
such as the unauthorized access, disruption
of operations, theft, corruption of information, or physical damage
to an organization’s personnel and assets.
Security, just as uptime and reliability, is a threshold concept
that must be pervasive through-out an organization and can achieve
a competitive advantage, in many situations. Firms need to have
in place regular, third party security audits as a part of a prudent
management. Security controls and compliance programs should be
board mandated to address regulatory compliance issues. Global
best practice suggests that the most successful and reliable high-performance
facilities are those that make security a fundamental consideration
spanning the entire life cycle of the facility.
Security for a critical facility includes both preventative considerations
and multiple levels of safeguards. This white paper provides
specific and practical guidance as well as a general process outline
for
implementing these measures, including policies and procedures
to improve the protection of mission critical facilities.
The white paper is organized into two sections:
- Security Risk Assessments
- Security Planning During
the Facility Life Cycle
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