5 Essential Security Elements to Keep Your Small Business Secure

Your business is under threat.

Around 50% of businesses have been subject to burglary, vandalism or other types of property crime. A place of commerce and money making and full of valuable equipment and goods, it should come as no surprise that a business premises is a prime target for criminals. Small businesses in particular most protect themselves and their assets.
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But businesses aren't left without options to protect themselves. With attack comes defence.
Securing your business against threats requires a few different security elements. You need to make it difficult for criminals, you need to stop them from wanting to target your company in the first place and you need to consider every angle they might use to steal from you or cause you harm.

Deter Intruders

• Security Cameras

CCTV security is not just designed to catch shoplifters and track people in Hollywood movies; there are serious benefits to using the technology to secure your business premises. Former burglars have stated that it is the number one deterrence that stops them considering entering a property.  

Security cameras that are clearly visible and constantly monitoring your business property provide you with one crucial thing: evidence. This dramatically increases the risk factor for an intruder and minimises the chance that they will target your company premises.
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• Perimeter Alarms and Lights

CCTV cameras are a powerful tool, but, alone, they aren't enough to create a full-scale deterrence strategy. While most thieves are opportunistic, unprepared and unwilling to take risks, some are more calculated. To secure your property, you’ll need to scare off those who take the time to think about their burglaries.

Alarms are something most people will anticipate when robbing a business, but perimeter alarms are a new technology burglars are unlikely to be prepared for. Perimeter alarms work through the activation of motion sensors set up around your business premises. If an intruder gains access to somewhere they shouldn’t — even just within the grounds of your business — the alarms will sound. You can couple these sensors with security lights to create an intimidating defence plan.  

Even criminals who make plans are looking for easy options. Perimeter alarms and lights make the challenge of burglary unappealing, up the chance of getting caught considerably and reduce the chance that you will be a target.

Make It Difficult

• Smart Locks and Access Controls

A lock isn’t just a lock anymore. Modern advancements mean there is more to locking a door and keeping people out of a building than a simple key. Nowadays, the best way to secure your property is with smart technology and access control systems.

These are electronic locks. They vary in design — opened by key cards, codes, fingerprints, etc. — but essentially do the same thing: they make it harder for somebody to access your business property. You cannot pick an electric lock, nor can you login and hack software that isn’t online, which means getting through smart locks is very difficult.
In many cases, there are only two methods of access:

• Brute force
• Insider information

You can’t completely protect against brute force — somebody forcing their way into your building. If they have enough power, even an advanced lock won’t stop them. But it makes it much, much harder and in most cases, the majority of people simply won’t be able to generate enough force — or won’t risk using that much force — to get inside.

If you do find an intruder gets past your access control without force, the primary culprit will be somebody with insider information. Narrow down the potential criminals using other security tools, such as CCTV, to create evidence and catch the perpetrator.

• Safes

Let’s say the worst happens. The criminal gets into your property with the intent of doing harm or stealing goods. How can you be sure they don’t take or break anything you can’t afford them to? You lock it away.

Safes are ancient technology. They’ve been in existence for thousands of years in some form, built to protect objects of value, and there is a reason we still use them to this day. It’s because they work. If somebody gets into your building and your most important items are behind the thick steel of a safe, they aren't getting their hands on them.

Don’t be fooled by TV shows or crime novels — safes are not as easy to crack as you might think. A secure business safe is near impossible to access unless you know the combination or have the key. Many modern safes also come with multiple security elements to ensure they remain fully secure. So confident are people in safes that you can often reduce your insurance premiums just by owning one. It says a lot about safes as security tools when insurance companies are willing to accept them as a method of reducing fees.

Consider All Angles

• Data Encryption Software

Physical property is not the only valuable your business holds. Data is now a hugely important aspect of running a modern business and data has financial worth. It can be used as leverage for blackmail, sold as an asset or released to damage your reputation. Either way, you don’t want people taking your data.
Last year, businesses lost around £20 billion to data theft. Protection against data theft is critical, especially now that GDPR rules have come into force. Even the smallest of businesses will likely store some kind of data, from simple pieces of client information to whole archives of purchase histories, invoices, personal details and account information.
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Data encryption is essential for keeping this data secure, not only working as a deterrence, but also making things harder for criminals. This is especially important in the 21st century, where all data tends to be accessible via cloud systems. The use of data encryption software ensures you keep your business secure from all angles.

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