The main threats of corporations

By: Héctor R. Torres, PhD, CPP, CFE, CHS*
A fraternal greeting from Puerto Rico to all colleagues and readers of this column! It is a pleasure to share again with you. In this edition, we will talk about the top five security threats facing corporations in the global marketplace and how these can impact their competitiveness. To begin with, we must first describe what the environment or global business environment is like.

As we have pointed out before, at the beginning of the twenty-first century the global business environment is characterized by being volatile and constantly changing. In order to compete in this environment, organizations have to innovate; execute strategic changes as well as provide their products or services quickly, efficiently and at the lowest cost than those of their rivals. But in addition to these challenges, in order to compete, organizations have to face countless external threats that exist in the global market. Below we will discuss the five most important external threats to consider from the point of view of Corporate Security.

The global economy
According to the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, the global economy poses a major external threat to organizations competing in the global marketplace. In a report published by the Directorate of National Intelligence, "the financial crisis and global recession are likely to produce a number of economic problems in nations emerging in the global marketplace."

The report highlights that a wave of "destructive protectionism" would be the possible outcome for those countries that cannot emerge from recession and that time is the greatest threat. The longer the economic recovery takes, the greater the damage to the global market. Although several countries are already emerging from their recessions, the global economy is interdependent and therefore recovering at the pace of the slower countries. If there is no recovery in time, weaker corporations could cease to exist because they cannot compete in the global market.

International terrorism
This continues to be one of the main threats of the global market. According to a study published in 2007 by the U.S. Congressional Research Service, the modern trend of international terrorism is based on an informal, self-funded network of radical religious extremists operating in several democratic countries with the intention of pushing their agenda.

The report also highlights the growth of ties between various terrorist organizations where military training, financing, technology transfer and political advice are shared. An integral part of this threat includes the possibility of the acquisition and use of weapons of mass destruction against democratic and capitalist countries to establish a new world political-religious order. Attacks with such weapons in key cities such as New York, London, Madrid, Tokyo and Hong Kong could definitely significantly alter and destabilize the global market for a long period of time.

Cyber attacks
Defending against cyberattacks is the order of the day for many competing corporations in the global marketplace. Attacks include the use of spam, phishing, spyware, malware and denial of service techniques. Many who perpetuate these attacks using the Internet are well organized as criminal groups and have been very successful from an economic point of view.

An example of the success of these groups can be seen in England where it is estimated that banks lose more than one million pounds a day due to phishing and malware attacks. One of the most adverse effects of this particular threat is the expenses that corporations have to incur to protect themselves from cyberattacks and the privacy of their customers as is the case with financial institutions. Expenses can be millions depending on the size of the corporation and its reach in the global market.

A sad example is the situation that our sister nation of Mexico is going through. In 2008, more than 6,000 deaths were attributed to drug cartels and more than a thousand of these have been recorded so far in 2009. Corruption and violence against the Mexican government by the cartels increases the danger of doing business for foreign corporations and drives away potential investors in the region.

Pandemics
In the event of a global pandemic or epidemic caused by avian or swine influenza, the global market would suffer serious consequences due to the impact it would have on travel and international trade; tourism, food production, product consumption, investment and financial markets. In addition, many countries would close their borders as a protective measure by isolating their economies. In the United States, they depend on their imports of raw materials from other global regions and the export of their products.

In many countries, corporations that provide drinking water, electricity and communications services would have to operate so as not to paralyze the country. Business continuity and asset protection methods would need to be considered and implemented. This would represent unscheduled expenses for many corporations that did not contemplate this type of threat.

Looking to the future
As readers can appreciate, Corporate Security faces major challenges when it comes to protecting a corporation's assets from these threats. However, to be effective in this task, asset protection must be based on the three premises of Corporate Security for the 21st Century: predictability, risk control and the creation of added value. I invite you to continue to share your ideas and concerns from the world and security management.

A hug and see you next time!

*If you wish you can write to the author of this article at the email [email protected]