Top Concern for Physical Security Professionals Worldwide is Cybersecurity

As cybersecurity awareness month becomes a focus of discussion in October, new research conducted by Genetec shows that cybersecurity remains a top concern for physical security professionals going into 2023.

Chick Facts of Cybersecurity Study with Physical Security Professionals:

• 3,700 physical security leaders from around the world
• 49% of the organisations surveyed had activated an improved cybersecurity strategy this year
• 36% are looking to invest in cybersecurity-related tools in the next 12 months
• more than half of the organisations selected cybersecurity as their main challenge
  • particularly evident for organisations with over 100,000 employees
  • 62.3% of them indicating that cybersecurity was their top challenge
  • 52.1% for companies with under 100,000 employees
• 40% of respondents implementing new measures targeted cyber-hardening of security and access control hardware

Organizations want to improved cybersecurity strategy this year

Based on insights from over 3,700 physical security leaders from around the world, the report revealed that almost half (49%) of the organisations surveyed had activated an improved cybersecurity strategy this year, and more than a third of all respondents (36%) are looking to invest in cybersecurity-related tools to improve their physical security environment in the next 12 months.

When asked about the challenges faced when managing employee and visitor safety, more than half of the organisations selected cybersecurity as their main challenge. This was particularly evident for organisations with over 100,000 employees, with 62.3% of them indicating that cybersecurity was their top challenge, compared to 52.1% for companies with under 100,000 employees.

Of the many capabilities related to cybersecurity and data protection deployed by physical security teams in the last year, cyber-hardening of physical security hardware and access control management were the most popular, with 40% of respondents implementing new measures targeting those capabilities.

“It’s reassuring to see physical security professionals prioritising their organisation’s cyber security posture,” said Mathieu Chevalier, Principal Security Architect at Genetec. “As the threat landscape continues to evolve, leading with a defense in depth strategy remains the best game plan that an organisation can have. Businesses will need to put in place cybersecurity best practices and choose technology partners who offer higher levels of automation to stay on top of potential threats. They will also need to scrutinise their entire supply chain and demand continuous verification, rather than just hardening networks and systems.”

Genetec's embedded portfolio for cyber resilience in companies

To help its customers be more cyber resilient, Genetec has developed features that are embedded in its security platform, Genetec Security Center:

• The Security Center Firmware Vault keeps cameras secure and up to date by alerting customers when updates are available, automatically validating firmware compatibility and allowing customers to push it directly to the camera from the platform. This helps to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to known vulnerabilities.
• Streamvault appliances are cyber hardened, right out of the box. More than 200 security settings are preconfigured, to ensure every part of a customer’s infrastructure is protected.
• The Certificate Management feature in Security Center 5.11 simplifies the task of managing the lifecycle of certificates, allowing users to effortlessly keep their devices connected and running smoothly.

• The Genetec Update Service (GUS) alerts users to new product updates, allowing them to automatically download or install on their own schedule, reducing the effort required to manage updates and be protected from attack.

• Finally, the Security Score widget is a dynamic hardening tool that checks the security of the system in real-time. It lays out guidelines and then monitors whether the different elements of the system comply.

For more information on cybersecurity best practices, visit the Genetec Trust Center.

Survey methodology

Genetec surveyed physical security professionals from August 25 to September 21, 2022. Following a review of submissions, 3,711 respondents were included in the sample for analysis. A full State of Physical Security report will be issued in December 2022.