Robert D. Gates is a member of the Security Executive Council and a security executive at a Fortune 100 company. The Security Executive Council is a member organization for senior security and risk executives from corporations and government agencies responsible for corporate and/or IT security programs. A faculty of more than 100 experienced security executives provides strategy, insight and proven practices that cannot be found anywhere else. To learn about becoming involved, e-mail contact@secleader.com or visit www.securityexecutivecouncil.com/?sc=secmag.
Sometimes finding the solution to a security problem is about changing how you look at it. This can be a challenge, particularly if the problem is costly or is a significant safety threat. Our first reaction may be to find the most familiar or simplest way to make an immediate impact on the issue. But true security leadership requires us to stop and think about the problem through the eyes of the business and its goals, and to change our tactics based on what we see. One good example of this is how companies have dealt with the problem of theft of copper and other valuable metals.
What do security risk and threat assessments mean to you? To some, they mean an opportunity to justify the purchase of a new technology. To others, it’s a list of
