Defense By Design

JUST CONFIRMED! Well, yours truly 'will' be taking the stage this November at the Texas PRIMA state conference here in Dallas, just confirmed today.

For those not familiar, this is the state chapter for the PRIMA - Public Risk Management Association which brings together both within the public sector. Several weeks later in November I'll also be speaking at the Texas Municipal League state conference, obviously focused on leadership, so two complimentary state risk management conferences in the same month.

The nice thing with TXPRIMA is the short 2-3mi distance from me at this year's venue. My topic? "Anatomy of a Threat," which will address the pre-incident indicators that often foreshadow escalations to violence. Given this is intended for public sector professionals, you do not have to let your imagination wander too far to understand the application and relevance of this topic for this audience.

It will also include a number of and carriers servicing this sector as well as other vendors which do the same, so a great audience overall and I look forward to 'both' events!

So how and why would this apply to any or professional?

Obviously you have to take into consideration what any competitor or would-be enemy (sometimes the same) would be willing to do to sabotage your reputation or success, but what of your own people?

Mass layoffs coming up? Individual problem employee facing demotion or termination? That super-friendly and helpful employee always going out of their way to garner your favor… or trust? What access does such trust then lead to, possibly unsupervised and/or unrestricted? Sometimes the threat is much closer to home, unfortunately.

I have dealt with so many instances of embezzlement, corporate sabotage, data breaches and retaliation committed by internal staff over the years, and many, many of the cases share eerily similar traits, patters and red flags. Some were self-initiated (retaliation, greed or need), others only quasi-willing (bribery) and others morally/ethically/criminally compromised (blackmail). But if those associated don't even know the "dots" themselves, how are they to connect them prior?

As smart as your technology may be in certain instances of surveillance, whether related to physical or data security, nothing beats smart 'people' that understand how potential threats begin and what pre-incident indicators they often exhibit.