Physical security rises up Indian risk agenda

According to the research, a large number of companies feel the existing security standards, legal, regulatory and compliance frameworks in the industry are not adequate to support corporate security requirements in India. PwC reports that a majority of the survey respondents felt that that Indian industry is not fully equipped to promptly respond to natural disasters. This is a clear indicator for organisations to take a “serious look” at business continuity and crisis management strategies of organisations that are needed to effectively respond to natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, it says.hideThe good news according to the survey is that many Indian organisations have woken to the implications of physical security during the past few years. There has also been a conscious effort from organisations, through additional and proactive measures, to ensure better safety arrangements, report PwC India and ASIS. Five years ago, physical security assessment was rare. But, today almost 46% of the organisations surveyed in India conduct a physical security risk assessment once a year. Some 17% do it monthly, found the survey. Dinesh Anand, partner and leader, Forensic Services India said: “Over the past few years, corporate India has witnessed a steady increase in the number of physical security threats and breaches. While we have very little control over occurrences such as floods, earthquakes and terror attacks, we do have control over the ways we can safeguard our businesses and people against them. Unfortunately, physical security takes a back seat in business operations and most of the steps taken by organisations are reactionary rather than preventive. Organisations need to pay attention to the potential physical security risks and do something about them.” Mr Anand added: “It is critical for security professionals and management to be aligned and work together to identify potential strategic security threats and prepare a plan for resilience and sustenance of their business. There is a strong need for public-private partnerships and the involvement of industry veterans in the policymaking process, besides the need for setting up a compliance standard for baseline requirements and benchmarks for physical security. The Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005 also needs to be reviewed.” Cybercrime and corporate espionage were rated as two of the most serious threats to organisations in the coming years. “This indicates the need for stronger collaboration between the domains of cyber security and physical security on account of interlinkages between the information and physical world,” concludes PwC India in its report. Terrorism is the second important threat, according to the survey. “Organisations need to beef up their training and awareness programmes and work in close collaboration with the law enforcement agencies,” adds the consulting firm. The survey’s authors conclude that the physical security environment in India is still evolving and there is a wide gap between government policies and their implementation. PwC reports that the provision of “actionable security intelligence” was considered a key enabler by a majority of the respondents. More than half of the respondents (54%) reported the need for “stringent but simplified” laws and regulations for industry and promotion of the use of common industry practices. “Corporate India is waking up to the need for having robust security-related programmes in place and this is also leading to growing demand for strategic threat advisers,” concludes PwC India.

Physical security rises up Indian risk agenda

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