Principles of Corporate Security Function Establishment in Business

09/ 10/ 2018

Tetyana Andrianova. General Director of Nota Group, member of the Board of the Association of Corporate Security Professionals of Ukraine, chairman of the Corporate Security Committee of the “Octava Group”, Attorney Winston Churchill has once said: You have to pay for security, and in the absence of it you have to pay dearly for. This is the golden rule that every owner and business manager must know. The times when an enterprise could work without having a separate corporate security function has already gone in the past. Every day at the time being, we face new threats, and ignorance of them leads to significant losses and the leakage of valuable information. Attacks occur both from outside and inside. Business can be harmed by governmental authorities, their greed for bribes, or an offended fired employee. Once, we had a client, whose business had been almost destroyed by the manager who had leaked confidential information to competitors. Another our case, when the CEO of the business for a fairly long period had been distorting the accounting and reporting fake profits while there were none. And, there is a plenty of such examples! The built-in corporate security feature is capable to protect business from almost all threats. However, the approach to this issue must be structured and integrated. Otherwise, it simply will not work, and the owner will spend the money in vain. The establishment of corporate security function should cover three main areas: informational, legal and physical. A separate group of people must be responsible for each other and together they have to constitute a committee. It must report directly to the owner. Such model makes it possible to take all decisions collectively, not one-sided, in order to prevent problems, to adhere to the principles of corporate ethics. Thus, the main rule is that business should strive instead of «extinguishing fires», not to let them start. Only this way, you can be confident in what tomorrow will bring.

Tetyana Andrianova

General Director of Nota Group, member of the Board of the Association of Corporate Security Professionals of Ukraine, chairman of the Corporate Security Committee of the “Octava Group”, Attorney

Winston Churchill has once said: “You have to pay for security, and in the absence of it you have to pay dearly for.” This is the golden rule that every owner and business manager must know. The times when an enterprise could work without having a separate corporate security function has already gone in the past. Every day at the time being, we face new threats, and ignorance of them leads to significant losses and the leakage of valuable information.

Attacks occur both from outside and inside. Business can be harmed by governmental authorities, their greed for bribes, or an offended fired employee. Once, we had a client, whose business had been almost destroyed by the manager who had “leaked” confidential information to competitors.

Another our case, when the CEO of the business for a fairly long period had been distorting the accounting and reporting fake profits while there were none.

And, there is a plenty of such examples!

The built-in corporate security feature is capable to protect business from almost all threats. However, the approach to this issue must be structured and integrated. Otherwise, it simply will not work, and the owner will spend the money in vain.

The establishment of corporate security function should cover three main areas: informational, legal and physical. A separate group of people must be responsible for each other and together they have to constitute a committee. It must report directly to the owner. Such model makes it possible to take all decisions collectively, not one-sided, in order to prevent problems, to adhere to the principles of corporate ethics. Thus, the main rule is that business should strive instead of «extinguishing fires», not to let them start. Only this way, you can be confident in what tomorrow will bring.