Sunday, March 22, 2015

Week 10 Blog Response

Hello and welcome to the Security Administration blog. Below you will find questions pertaining to the text, the course, or the security industry. Please select and answer/respond to at least one of the questions before Midnight Wednesday. To promote full coverage of the topics, try to respond to a question that has not yet been responded to. Place your answer/response in the comment section. To ensure clarity repeat the question in your answer/response, e.g. "3. List common assets that may be at risk at a company and some risks that can cause loss to these assets. Are there other tangent risks to these assets? Common assets that may be at risk include…" Next, reply to at least one of your classmate's answer/responses, below their comment, before Midnight Sunday.

1. Define the structured inspection and contrast it with the non-structured inspection.
2. Discuss the role of statistical tools in program management.
3. List common assets that may be at risk at a company and some risks that can cause loss to these assets. Are there other tangent risks to these assets?
4. What factors would raise or lower the probability of any of the risks identified in chapter 17 of the text (p. 167-175)?
5. Describe a layering mitigation strategy that you could put into place for any of the risks identified in question #3.  


Direct any questions or concerns to me at EMatthews@Park.edu

16 comments:

  1. Define the structured inspection and contrast it with the non-structured inspection.

    A formal inspection is usually preceded by an announcement and the unit under inspection prepares for the event, including extra housekeeping activities that wouldn't normally happen at that time. to make it more important, a senior executive may be present during the inspection.

    An informal inspection is usually the result of a long and firmly entrenched inspection program, which is understood by all and accepted as part of the organizational life. The inspections have been stripped of all of the external trappings of importance, but their functional importance has not been lessened in any manner.

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    1. Mr. Justin,

      I believe that you may have missed the question on this. While what you have said definitely bears consideration and, I think, may indeed play a part no matter what kind of inspection there is. However, I believe that the question is asking about the section of text directly succeeding the portion that you referenced.
      I believe that the more to the point answer would encompass something of the following:
      A structured inspection, as opposed to an unstructured inspection, is one that moves systematically, perhaps even rigidly, from one designated inspection area to the next and from one inspection point to the next. There is, of course, examples in the text, and Appendix B is a "Security Vulnerability Survey" which, according to the text, could easily be used for a structured inspection.
      An unstructured inspection, in contrast, would approach the location in a more random manner, with less methodical attention to small specifics. According to the text, the experienced eye of a top security professional would note at a glance, without following a checklist, things such as weeds and other vegetation against fences and buildings would need to be cleared.
      Personally, I think that both of these inspections, structured and unstructured, have their place in security. While the structured inspection is most definitely more thorough, the unstructured inspection can often accomplish the major portion of the inspection with a much less invasive manner involved. Additionally, unstructured inspections are typically much faster, which allows them to be conducted more often, thus allowing major, or pertinent issues to be take care of much more expediently.

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  2. 4. What factors would raise or lower the probability of any of the risks identified in chapter 17 of the text (p. 167-175)?

    In order to raise the probability of any of the risks identified in chapter 17 of the text, the best way would be to ignore all preparations, plans, programs, warnings, or other ideas and concepts concerning risks. Essentially, have no sort of plan, program, no concept of security, safety, nor risk.

    In order to lower the probability of any of the risks identified in chapter 17 of the text, the best way would be to devise a risk program. According to the text, this would include four steps:
    1. Risk Analysis
    This is when the risks are identified and noted down for assessment.
    2. Risk Assessment and Rating
    This is when the risks identified in the previous step are look at thoroughly and given a value bringing into consideration their probability, their potential damage, and anything else that might have a bearing on the individual risks.
    3. Risk Mitigation
    This is when the previously identified, assessed, and rated risks are then given solutions to either eliminate, reduce, or insure against their potential occurrence. This step is very reliant on the assessment of the risks as risks that are probable, or that could cause much damage must be placed first and must be given the most stringent countermeasures.
    4. Risk Reporting
    This step is when all of the previous finding, mitigation steps, and any other pertinent information is summed up in a report document for management. This step should not only be part of initial risk identification, but it should also review risks that have been mitigated previously and have not been touched for a time (i.e. there should be periodic reviews and reports of all risks, past and present).

    Aside from these four steps, which of course call all be broken down into more in depth parts within themselves, there is always a need for attentive, diligent, and well-trained security personnel.

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    1. I would go so far as to say that all personnel need to be attentive, diligent, and well-trained. Confucius once said, "It is better for fast food worker to flip burger properly, than for security officer to take report on third-degree burns." This can be properly applied to any personnel within the company.

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    2. Mr. Justin,
      You definitely have a point here. It is indeed much better for an incident to never happen, through proper training and attentiveness, than for an incident to happen and use a pristine, state of the art response program.

      Though I am not sure Confucius was around when fast food chains were......

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  3. 3. List common assets that may be at risk at a company and some risks that can cause loss to these assets. Are there other tangent risks to these assets?
    A. Common assets that are at risk within a company include people, facilities, property, and reputation. Risks that can cause a loss to these assets include criminal behavior, terrorism, man-made disasters, and natural disasters. Another risk pertaining especially to a company's reputation, which is not criminal behavior but will surely get an employee fired, is an employee speaking/posting badly about their employer both in person and on the internet.

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    1. Reputation is big one, your rep can be destroyed within a matter of seconds if something were to happen to your company. It's definitly important to protect it.

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    2. People are definitely the first asset to worry about because they tie into everything other asset you listed. People own the property and people work the facility. Furthermore, people dictate the reputation that your business will have.

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  4. 1. Define the structured inspection and contrast it with the non-structured inspection.

    According to the text and Ch 16 PowerPoint a structured inspection is one that moves systematically, and from one designated inspection area to the next and from one inspection point to the next. This is basically in order from one area to another area until each area has been inspected. The difference between structured inspections and unstructured inspection is less organized and just follows a simple plan.

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    1. I believe that structured inspections are the best inspections prior to unstructured inspection because structure is key. People usually tend to easily follow structured plans because the plans are specific and guided. Having any situation or item being unstructured can lead towards confusion. Organization can reduce problems.

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  6. Discuss the role of statistical tools in program management.

    The statistics in program management reflects what a program is or is not doing. The statistics compare results month by month, years compared to previous years by month, and cumulative year to date. Statistics must be used or else the value of the statistics will be lost.

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    1. I like this perspective on how to use the statistics. I learned more then what i had found out

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  7. 1. Define the structured inspection and contrast it with the non-structured inspection.

    A structured inspection is one that moves systematically, and from one designated inspection area to the next and from one inspection point to the next. The difference I would say between the two is less one is organized and the other is not.

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    1. I would add that like you said BJ that the structured is a systematic inspection. It is more likely that each inspectionis going to be the same each tiem. The difference with unstructured is that the inspection are approached in a more random manner, with less methodical attention for specifics

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  8. Discuss the role of statistical tools in program management.

    Statistics being a key tool in program management is extremely essential. They are a key tool for achieving successful operational management. They are used in many of the Security managers functions including budget requests and justification ,security incident and crime analysis, risk analysis, and program monitoring and evaluation.

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