Physical Security Principles Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Physical Security Principles Paper - Essay Example Physical security describes both measures that prevent or deter attackers from accessing a facility, resource, or information stored on physical media and guidance on how to design structures to resist various hostile acts. (Task Committee 1999) According to O’Sullivan (2003), security planning should encompass the following areas: (1) identification of assets; (2) exposing losses; (3) assignment of occurrence probability factors; (4) assessment of the impact of occurrence; and (5) selection of countermeasures. The WBDG Safe Committee averred that the countermeasures that must be implemented by security management in its role to safeguard the assets and resources of the organization would depend on the type of the building, on the risk levels, and on various factors influencing the assessment and evaluation of risk. Diverse classifications of risk are known to be more susceptible to buildings, to wit: forced entry, different kinds of threats (insider, explosive, ballistic), terrorist attacks through weapons of mass destruction, and technological breaches. From among the security measures necessary to address building, grounds and perimeter security, WBDG Safe Committee (2009) identified the following security countermeasures as the most effective: building or organizational access control, detection systems designed specifically to prevent intrusion by installation of fences and barriers, video and CCTV, and alarms. Specifically, the following methods are suggested to protect buildings, grounds and perimeters: (1) implementing stringent policies for access control through checking of proper identifications, (2) limiting and monitoring authority to access to highly safeguarded areas, (3) considering strengthening the foundation of buildings, grounds, and perimeters to ensure protection from collapse and fortuitous