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Addressing the Weakest Link: Implementing Converged Security

NCJ Number
243379
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2013 Pages: 236-248
Author(s)
Azeem Aleem; Alison Wakefield; Mark Button
Date Published
July 2013
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the trend in corporate security towards merging organizations' physical and information technology security systems.
Abstract
Reliance on technology presents one of the weakest links in contemporary organizational security, as certain threats can fall into the functional gaps between physical and information technology (IT) security departments. These can be described as "converged threats" when an IT-based attack delivers an impact, such as a virus attack that halts the operation of critical infrastructure, or a physical attack on a system that compromises the security of data, such as an intruder or dishonest employee installing devices on computers to enable the stealing of electronic data. The aim of this article is to present and reflect on a converged approach to organizational security risk management as a means of addressing blended threats. The authors discuss this idea of converged security in the context of wider trends towards enterprise-wide approaches to risk management, and present a model demonstrating how converged security can be undertaken without a fundamental restructuring of these two key functions. (Published Abstract)