Security Systems News

MAR 2015

Security Systems News is a monthly business newspaper that reaches 25,100 security installers, product distributors, central stations, engineers & architects, and security consultants. Our editorial coverage focuses on breaking news in all major se

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TechSec 2015 keynote: Google's Brian Katz make them the people I want on my team," Katz said. That stems from Katz's government background, as does his overall philosophy about security. He joined Google in 2011 after working for a government contractor that helped set up the federal air marshal program after 9/11. He then moved on to the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service's feld offce in New York, to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and for the Offce of Counterintelligence at the ser- vice's HQ in Rosslyn, Va. At Diplomatic Security, he worked with ex-police offcers, lawyers, former special forces operators, a biomedical engineer and a variety of other professionals, all of whom had the same goal: topnotch security. "The [counterintelligence] cases pushed me to think out of the box about threat and mitigation. A colleague of mine once told me that when I heard hooves I thought zebras, when most people thought horses. This was meant to say that I often focused on the outlier scenario rather than the most obvious explanation," Katz said. Now, instead of counterintelligence interviews and protecting dignitaries such as former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condo- l e e z a R i c e and foreign a n d U . S . ambassadors abroad, he deals with, f o r e x a m - p l e , t h e l e s s g l a m - o r o u s b u t v i t a l i s s u e o f a c c e s s c o n t ro l a t G o o g l e ' s complex in M o u n t a i n View, Calif. Access control is one of the single larg- est challenges in any security environment, said Katz, who is one of this year's Secu- rity Systems News "20 under 40" end user award winners. "Making sure only those authorized are in your spaces and making sure that if someone does get through the cracks it is noticed and dealt with quickly should be easy, right? Most companies do this with turnstiles, restricting the number of entrances to a building and overwhelm- ing sensitive areas with security guards to attempt to prevent unauthorized access," he said. While those measures may solve the so- called "tailgating" problem, they also "can breed a culture of distrust. "It certainly doesn't promote the open campus and free- dom of movement, which helps to defne Google," Katz said. "What's back there, anyway, and why does my teammate have access if I don't? Why did my coworker just close a door frmly in my face?" That's where the security culture comes in to play; it can be "feared, revered or irrelevant." "Many security organizations believe that fear should be the single motivator to encourage cooperation or compliance by employees," Katz said. "If there is fear for breaking the rule, or consequences for action which can lead to dismissal, employ- ees will largely fall in line, right? "In a race to become the 'feared' group many security organizations end up in the irrelevant category. You'll know what that feels like when you fnd yourself justifying even minor decisions to non-decision mak- ers within your organization. You'll see this with travel advisories ignored, [with] dis- respect for your guard force and a general feeling that if you can't get a 'rule' imposed, your role is simply process," he said. Building relationships across the "What if instead we turned every employee into a member of the security team not with fear but with a feeling of community?" At Google, wearing an employee badge is not part of company policy but part of com- munity norms, he said. Even the compa- ny's founders wear their badges every day. Employees at every level feel empowered to challenge someone behind them at an entryway who may not have a badge. Katz showed an amusing and informative in-house video of an employee dressed in an alligator costume. The "tailgator," with no badge showing, tries to get through a number of Google entrypoints on the heels of the person ahead of him. Many of those in front stopped the tailgator, asking to see its badge; some did not. At a companywide meeting later, the tailgator was revealed. It was Google CFO Patrick Pichette. The reveal not only underscored the company's top-down commitment to security, it prompted employees from all ranks to offer useful suggestions on how to enforce rightful entry, Katz said. And that's all part of modern-day security culture, Katz said. At Google, "what we've tried to do is build a team of security professionals who defne themselves by more than just secu- rity—[we're] a group of people who can be empathetic, just and able to focus on the real reason they were hired and not their job titles or job descriptions. This diversity of thought and experience leads us away from the old security enforcer stereotype," he said, "and makes my team fexible, cre- ative, approachable and trusted." And that's the way not to become irrel- evant, but integral, he said. SSN organization, from the c-suite on down, creates trust and also builds awareness of how operational security benefts the entire company, he said. "It makes you approachable. It makes you relevant. It makes you a part of the team rather than an enforcer sent out to fnd fault and fre. Our credibility within our organizations is the most powerful tool we have. Are we seen as a group who uses any crisis or vulnerability to ask for resources we don't need, or are we seen as a group who asks for what they need with the organization's interests in mind," he said. Brian Katz, global investigations and intelligence manager for Google, stressed the impor- tance of incorporating a culture of security into the workplace. He advocates for a diverse staff and a bottom-to-top security buy-in Building relationships across the organization, from the c-suite on down, creates trust and also builds awareness of how operational security benefts the entire company . Continued from page 1 FATHER KNOWS BEST The central station saw a person; your customer saw their son. With video verifcation in the app, your customers can instantly view live video in real-time allowing them to quickly cancel or verify an alarm from anywhere. Just one of the dozens of powerful features you will fnd in the Virtual Keypad App. Learn more at DMP.com/video We make your company more valuable. 877-725-1114 l dmp.com www.securitysystemsnews.com March 2015 SEcUrITY SYSTEMS NEWS NEWS 12

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