Coronavirus, furlough, pandemic, and lockdown. Four words which have governed our lives for a large chunk of 2020 in every aspect from the way we work, to the produce we eat. The world has never experienced this level of lockdown due to a virus and the ill-prepared shine through. Needless to say, there are 100s if not 1,000s of ways which the virus and government measures have impacted the private and professional security industry.

On behalf of the Perimeter Security Suppliers Association, Debbie Heald explains why pedestrian security must be top of the agenda if towns and cities want to recover from Covid-19

In January 2019 I wrote a piece in these pages about Brexit and the UK government’s quest to ‘Take Back Control’ of our Borders. At the time it was still unclear how or when the UK would actually leave the EU, or when ‘free movement’ would end.

After many months of misery, professional sports clubs and supporters were dealt another crushing blow in September. While it had seemed that there was finally light at the end of the tunnel, with spectators set to return to stadiums from the 1 October – albeit in significantly reduced numbers – these hopes were dashed following the announcement of a range of new coronavirus restrictions.

Christian Wells, Special Counsel for the Pool Reinsurance Company, looks at the current terrorism risk management trends and analysis, ahead of the annual International Forum of Terrorism Risk (Re)Insurance Pools in October

Amy Pope explains the cyber security, geopolitical, and global business impact of UK opposition to China’s moves in Hong Kong, and what companies can do about it
The recent national security law imposed by China on Hong Kong has fuelled the ongoing concerns around human rights abuses within the region, as well as raising serious concerns around data privacy, business continuity, and autonomy across the global community.

As the civil aviation industry continues to deal with the threat of terror attacks, new technologies that use AI are quickly evolving to meet the counter terror needs of critical civil infrastructure and the challenge of upholding national security in the modern world.

We are in the midst of a global turn to the drone. Following their emergence as central tools of military arsenals in the conduct of remote control warfare, 95 countries worldwide are now estimated to possess drones in active inventory. While we often think first of iconic drones such the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, military drones are in fact far more varied in size, role, and capability.

Today’s digital and physical worlds are on an irreversible collision course. Over the next few years, organisations will be plunged into crisis as ruthless attackers exploit weaknesses in immature technologies and take advantage of an unprepared workforce. At the same time, natural forces will ravage infrastructure.

The Prevent programme, by far the most controversial component of the UK’s domestic counter terrorist strategy, aims to stop people from becoming, or supporting, terrorists. It does so by countering relevant ideologies and challenging those who promote them (‘counter-radicalisation’), assisting cooperative individuals considered particularly vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism (‘de-radicalisation’), and working with sectors and institutions where the risk of radicalisation in this sense is deemed high.