Perpetuity Group

Latest Intelligence Updates

Travel delays expected in US during nuclear summit

Authorities have tightened security in Washington, D.C. due to an international summit on nuclear security taking place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center from 12-13th April.

Travel in the capital will be disrupted during the two-day summit. Increased security measures, including road closures and diverted Metrobus lines were instituted on 11 April and will continue until 14 April. Other closures include all streets within a block of the conference center and the Mount Vernon Square/7th Street-Convention Center metro stop.

 

President Kaczynski dies in plane crash 

 
On the 10th April Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other passengers died when their plane crashed en route to a war memorial service in Russia.

The crash has caused considerable disruption to Poland’s political system since many high-level dignitaries were killed in the crash including Poland’s army chief of staff, the deputy foreign minister and the governor of the central bank. No date has been set for Kaczynski’s funeral but the country has started a week of national mourning.  The presidential election will now be in May or June instead of October 2010.

IT Security ‘top tips’ part 1: Phishing

Phishing is a criminally fraudulent process that attempts to compromise your security. Many of us have been exposed to this activity at one time or another whereby an attempt to acquire sensitive information such as our credit card details, usernames or passwords has been made under the guise of a familiar or trustworthy source.

 

Below are some handy tips to help safeguard you from phishing...

 

· Beware of fake emails, fake websites, valid emails with fake links (often from friends)

· Avoid clicking links in emails

· Be aware that a link can look like the right site (e.g. it reads as the name of a genuine site but the hyperlink itself links elsewhere). You can often hover over a link and it will display the real destination, either as a tooltip or at the bottom of the screen

· Don’t click on links that take you to logon pages – they may be masquerades  

· Watch for poor use of English, poor layout, if it “looks wrong” and anything that is too good to be true.

 

Perpetuity Training offers course on Information Security, running next on 25^th May 2010. For more information please visit our website, www.perpetuitytraining.com or contact our head office on 0116 222 5550.

Travel disruption - Union announces BA strike dates

The Unite trade union has called for British Airways (BA) cabin crew to strike from 20-22 March and 27-30 March.  More protests are possible after 14 April.

Strike action seems likely although BA continues to negotiate with the union. Disruption to travel is unavoidable with initial assessments indicating flights from London City Airport will run normally but travel to and from Gatwick and Heathrow will be disrupted. Short-haul and domestic flights are expected to be the worst affected. Travel planning should anticipate disruptions to BA flights on these dates.  Consequently, other airlines may experience greater demand, requiring early arrangement of travel itineraries.

Influenza scenarios in 2010

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published a risk assessment for pandemic and seasonal influenza outbreaks in Europe for 2010 and 2011. The ECDC concluded that there are no significant unrecognised uninfected populations worldwide that could be susceptible to the virus and cause a new wave of infection.  Also, the A/H1N1 virus has not mutated into a more virulent form.  

 

It is thought that the risk of another spring/summer pandemic wave in Europe is unlikely. Although the risk of pandemic and seasonal influenza outbreaks is not as great in 2010, CSBC continues to monitor H1N1 activity and its potential impact on business operations and travel.

Security Update

Unrest likely during rally at House of Lords on 5 March.

The right-wing English Defence League (EDL) will hold an anti “Islamisization of Britain” rally outside the House of Lords on 5 March to coincide with a visit from controversial Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, whose film Fitna is considered by many to be anti-Muslim. The EDL has held a number of protests in recent months, some of which have led to violent confrontations with police and anti-fascist counter-demonstrations.  

This event is expected to attract ‘several thousand’ individuals due to counter-demonstrations. The EDL plans to gather at Tate Britain before marching to the House of Lords. The main demonstration site will be Parliament Square. Bank employees are advised to avoid the Westminster area from 13:00 onwards.

Home Office releases the Business Crime Scoping Exercise report

The Home Office has today released the Business Crime Scoping Exercise report. This is a methodological piece of work lead by Ipsos MORI to consider the scope and feasibility of a new survey to measure commercial victimisation. Perpetuity worked alongside Ipsos MORI on the review providing expertise in business crime and are credited in the report.

The full report is available via the Home Office RDS website.

Perpetuity Group recruit Head of Business Development

As of the 1st of February, Julie Knight joins the senior management team at Perpetuity Group as the Head of Business Development. This new role is yet another exciting development for Perpetuity in response to growing opportunities in all business areas.

Julie joins the Perpetuity Group from VSG where she was Head of Account Development, managing a large portfolio of national blue chip corporate clients. Prior to this, Julie was a Police Officer in Northamptonshire for 12 years.
 
Julie's role at Perpetuity is to bring a business development focus to an already successful, organically growing company. As Head of Business Development, Julie will be capitalising on the opportunity to grow all three arms of the business (research, consultancy & training), build links between them, and develop on existing client relations. Julie aims to use her extensive industry experience to embed a successful sales and marketing function into the company and to identify new markets for our diverse and expanding product/service range.

"We are delighted to welcome Julie. She comes with a wealth of experience and a great reputation and all the staff are looking forward to working with her as we enter a new stage of development."
 
Head of Perpetuity, Professor Martin Gill.

For further information, please contact our Marketing Department on 0116 222 5558 or email prci@perpetuitygroup.com.

Visit our website for our comprehensive range of research, consultancy and training services.

Recession pushes up retail crime

Yesterday’s findings in the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC’s) Retail Crime Survey 2009 revealed that the number of thefts from shops rose by a third last year, with violence and abuse doubling.

 

Data from retailers indicates that two thirds of customer thefts are not reported. Perpetuity’s Director and Professor in Criminology, Martin Gill said that retailers need to take more responsibility, “The big message to come out of this survey is that the BRC needs to encourage its members to report more shoplifting incidents to the police. What drives people to keep shoplifting is the belief that it’s easy and they can get away with it”.

 

Martin in the press...

 

Shoplifting rises as credit squeeze bites
Financial Times, January 7th 2010,  Page 4.

 

Under Surveillance - BBC Radio 4.
Looks at Britain's rapidly increasing use of CCTV systems for tackling crime and asks if they are really being effective. Listen again at the BBC website,  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pkbmk

 

Perpetuity have extensive research, consultancy and training experience in retail security and run a Retail Security Management course, visit our website for more information.

Research: www.perpetuityresearch.com

Training: www.perpetuitytraining.com

Consultancy: www.perpetuityconsultancy.com

 

Alternatively, call our Head Office on 0116 222 5555.

Strategy gets the G factor!

'The means by which security adds value is the best kept secret in business'

Last night (Dec 3rd) the Security Institute held its final function of the year before xmas at the Victory Club in London. Over 100 people attended from a variety of backgrounds including commercial, financial, utilities, guarding and law enforcement as well as a number of specialist  security consultants.

Following an introduction from the SYi Chairman Mike Bluestone during which some members were inaugurated as Fellows of the Institute the main event commenced.

This part of the evening was given over to Perpetuity to speak about the launch of their new Security Strategy Template which has been produced out of several years of hard work and research through their highly regarded SRI (Security Research Initiative) programme. The programme is sponsored by 17 businesses and security businesses who were warmly thanked by Professor Martin Gill, Head of Perpetuity. As were the main supporters of this programme - ASIS, BSIA and the SyI.

Professor Gill apologised to those present that the topic was not very sexy and then proceeded to inject his own inimitable brand of G factor into the subject. Those not present missed a talk enlightened with globe trotting examples from his own experiences of security and up close and personal interviews with murderers and thieves. Sexy? I should say!

Throughout it all the principles of a security strategy were delivered against the backdrop of the brilliant template that was extremely well received by all present. Professor Gill concluded his fascinating talk with a Q and A session with those present and took time to answer all points with great insight.

The evening then moved into the networking stage with that traditional post Christmas dinner - the curry - being provided for those present.

All in all another very successful evening for Perpetuity and their team and a great compliment to all the hard work that goes into the SRI.

For those wishing to follow up on this evening, learn more about the strategy template, how to make the most of it, or indeed for anyone that missed the evening but doesn't want to miss the party in terms of being able to launch this work in their own environment, then Perpetuity will be holding two workshops in February - one in London on 23rd and one in Leicester on the 26th. Follow our blog for the latest most up to date news.

For further details contact our marketing team on 0116 222 5558 or email info@perpetuitygroup.com.

Perpetuity are launching a free Security Strategy Toolkit

The Security Institute are formally launching the free Security Strategy Toolkit on 3rd December at the Institute's Members' Evening in London. Professor Martin Gill will be the guest speaker followed by the Institute's traditional Christmas curry. We invite you to join us, it is just £20 per person. Please see below for details.

A security strategy is key to set out how the security function contributes to the overall aims of the organisation; without this security can be marginalised. The security strategy toolkit has already received excellent reviews, for example:

"I have no doubt that this piece of work will provide clear guidance for anyone wishing to develop a security strategy. It explains the subtle nuances between strategy, plans and policies and I believe the real benefit will be the development of common language and more importantly, a common approach."

Grahame Bullock, Security Portfolio Manager, Nexen Petroleum UK

The toolkit walks though the four stages of strategy analysis, development, implementation and review, and provides useful examples and helpful tools to simplify the process. There is also a security strategy template which can be used in any organisation as well as example strategies used by other companies.

The security strategy toolkit has been developed as part of the Security Research Initiative (SRI). The SRI is a research club run by Perpetuity to evaluate topics that are of importance to the security world, and to develop insights and practical recommendations. The Security Research Initiative is supported by the British Security Industry Association, The Security Institute, and ASIS International, and is being sponsored by 17 companies including:

Advance, Barclays, Carlisle Security, Case, Caterpillar, Corps, Gratte Brothers, KPMG, Mitie, National Security Inspectorate, Nexen Petroleum, OCS Resolution, Perfectus, Reliance, Royal Mail, VSG, Wilson James.

The Security Strategy Toolkit will be available via the Perpetuity Consultancy website, www.perpetuityconsultancy.comfrom December 3rd 2009. To register your interest, please email consultancy@perpetuitygroup.comand state 'register my interest in the Security Strategy Toolkit' in the subject line.

To book a place for the Security Institute's Members' evening, please contact Di Thomas by Friday 27th November by phone (tel: 08453 707717) or email di@security-institute.org. Guests are most welcome. The cost is £20 per head, payable beforehand. Please let us know if you would prefer vegetarian or have any special dietary requirements. Payment is due with booking. There will be no refunds for cancellations after 27th November.

Venue:   Trafalgar Room, Victory Services Club, 63-79 Seymour Street, London W2 2HF
Time: 17:45
Cost:   £20 per person