As the end of 2024 comes into view, security experts are reflecting on the year’s most prominent trends. Here, security leaders discuss observed trends for physical security solutions and threats.
Physical security threat trends for 2024
Unauthorized intruders
Liz Nguyen, CTO at Intrado:
Unfortunately, there has been an increase in physical violence, perpetrated by unauthorized intruders, in recent years and throughout 2024. These types of threats obviously impact employees but, in certain industries or verticals, can pose a serious risk to customers or students. Securing your premises begins long before an incident arises, placing a high priority on proper planning and emergency protocols.
While we all hope that unimaginable circumstances don’t transpire, it’s critical to plan for emergencies to mitigate threats. I think we’ll see more adoption of incident management solutions, beyond what’s currently required of businesses by federal law. At a state level, we’re seeing things like Alyssa’s Law which requires silent panic alarms to be installed in schools. I believe we’ll see more workplaces implement these types of solutions — especially those that have direct interactions with customers, like healthcare and hospitality.”
Adopting incident management and 911 technologies, connecting to NG911 networks, and deploying physical security tools like wearable panic buttons are all paramount when it comes to combatting physical threats in the workplace. With the proper tools and technologies in place, security teams can instantly lock down an office building and automatically coordinate instant communications to employees, including safety suggestions and updates on the threat status.
Industrial sabotage
Stephen Kowski, Field CTO at SlashNext Email Security:
A top physical security threat trend in 2024 is industrial sabotage, both from activist groups and state-sponsored actors. In 2025, this threat may evolve to target more diverse industries and critical infrastructure. Security leaders can mitigate this by enhancing physical security measures, conducting risk assessments, and improving cybersecurity for connected systems. A couple of threat trends that deserve honorable mention include increased targeting of data centers, and disruption of supply chains and critical infrastructure. Additionally, the integration of 5G and IoT will enable more sophisticated security systems, but may also create new vulnerabilities that need to be addressed.
Physical security solution trends for 2024
AI-powered security systems
John Matzke, Global Head of Risk Management, Jabil:
The top physical security trend in 2024 is AI-powered security systems, transforming video surveillance with real-time detection and analysis capabilities. A positive impact of this is enhanced threat detection and response. A negative impact is potential privacy concerns and over-reliance on technology. Security trends that deserve honorable mention include: robotics and autonomous systems for patrolling, passive weapons detection technology and advanced biometric systems.
Zero trust frameworks
Jordan Avnaim, CISO at Entrust:
In 2024, we’ve seen an urgent need for organizations to invest in tools that merge both physical and digital security. This combination is crucial for protecting critical assets against the rapidly evolving threat landscape as we continue to see how fragile both digital and physical ecosystems can be.
In the past year, organizations have shifted to expand zero trust frameworks to encompass physical security, donning a “never trust, always verify” mentality for physical access cards, for example, to reduce the chance for bad actors to access secure information. This framework, combined with biometric validation, has proven to support organizations in validating the identity of employees and contractors and reducing the risk of unauthorized access to critical assets. Adopting a zero trust approach greatly reduces the risk of these types of attacks and can minimize the impact, should a breach occur.
Duty of care in remote or hybrid work environments
Liz Nguyen, CTO at Intrado:
In recent years, many businesses have adopted hybrid and remote employee staffing models, prompting companies to immediately explore technologies that protect the enterprise from cyber threats that present themselves in remote work environments. However, in 2024, companies are recognizing that securing the enterprise extends beyond cybersecurity to fulfilling their duty of care to all employees in a hybrid work world. This includes the physical security of offices and facilities, but also guarding the physical safety of the workforce — the most important part of any enterprise — that is dispersed between the office and their homes with end-to-end incident management solutions and 911 solutions.
It’s every enterprise’s responsibility to ensure the safety of its employees while they’re at work, and it’s great to see companies make this a higher priority in the past year. However, there are challenges that come with fulfilling duty of care in a remote work environment. For example, workplace collaboration and communication tools, from landlines and PBX phones to UCaaS platforms, must be able to contact 911 and transmit a precise caller location as mandated by U.S. federal law. This can be an issue for remote employees that dial 911 through company systems, as they might be routed to the call center nearest to the office rather than the employee’s actual location. Large campuses might also experience issues as first responders might be routed to the front desk rather than the precise location of the incident. E911 technologies can prevent these types of problems, but only if the enterprise has deployed them and the solutions are fully compliant with FCC regulations like Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act. Despite the perceived compliance challenges, which can be mitigated through vetting partners and solutions, there are really no drawbacks to improving employee safety. In fact, there are far more serious consequences to consider for inaction on these issues.
