When it comes to security, one argument almost always holds: businesses rarely have enough. However, you might be surprised to find that we are not focusing on cybersecurity in this article. Our point is on the melding of cyber and physical security.
Business leaders, facility managers, and CISOs should not make the mistake of underappreciating or siloing physical security. It is every bit as important as cybersecurity. Physical security measures are also likely to deter more threats and attacks each year.
Acknowledging the importance of physical security starts with a shift in how you think about a facility’s physical space. You should see each doorway as something more than a point of entry. It must be considered an identity-enforcement point, ensuring that only authorized people have access. Just as you would not let unverified users into your data networks, you should not allow unauthorized people to have full access to your offices, plants, warehouses, data centers, and other locations. The migration of security understanding shifts how you approach it. Suddenly, IoT (Internet of Things) moves from an unaffiliated strategy to a foundation element.
Zero Trust in the Physical World Starts with Your Network
From parking lots to storage areas and conference rooms, every physical space is a possible vulnerability. The mindset you want to adopt matches that of cybersecurity. That means zero trust and access control. No one gets a free pass to enter, move about, or utilize your facility. Each person is always verified with a badge, username, code, fob, or other layers of tools to ensure authentication and authorization.
Implementing credentials, locks, badge readers, cameras, and sensors goes a long way toward mitigating weaknesses. Those tools diminish crimes of opportunity and provide essential barriers that will foil many malicious intentions. The physical security tools also share a key aspect with cybersecurity measures — they are all digital and rely on your facility’s IT infrastructure. Not only are many security protocols connected via Ethernet and powered by PoE (Power over Ethernet), but they also integrate with software that extends security beyond the device. When security measures are networked, they can integrate with employee directories (facial recognition), video analytics, and automated incident response workflows.
The Era of Security Convergence and CISO vs. Facility Manager Roles
The fusion of physical security measures and cybersecurity is often referred to as cyber-physical systems (CPS) or, more simply, convergence. Today, those two necessities are designed as a single entity to share the same infrastructure, governance, and risk management.
Implementing convergence brings challenges; change always does. However, the rewards outweigh the pains, especially for larger organizations with multiple locations.
In many situations, the path of convergence means moving from fragmented systems with inconsistent policies and limited visibility to a holistic security posture featuring unified identities, centralized policy enforcement, cross-site incident correlation, and easily scalable management. That’s because convergence means all locations have the same infrastructure, data, and risk protections.
The clear advantages are why many businesses are adopting convergence strategies to unify their cyber and digital security as a unified solution.
To see a bit of what that change looks like, let’s examine how convergence brings different implications for two key roles.
Facility Managers
They will gain centralized control across sites/spaces, with better visibility into who is where, when, and why in real time, and automated lockdowns, emergency response, and occupancy-based controls (if X is on site, Y and Z can’t be).
New responsibilities, including
- Network segmentation (VLANS, for security devices)
- Device lifecycle and patching
- Vendor security requirements
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs)
Evolving their security posture to include the convergence of physical and cyber security parameters gives greater protection of data, servers, and critical information systems. It is based on the idea of treating physical systems like IT assets.
New responsibilities, including
- Expanded asset management
- Expanded patch management
- Physical space identity integration
- Logging and SIEM (security information and event management)
Example of Zero Trust Cyber-Physical Systems Scenario
We mentioned zero trust as the cornerstone mindset of modern physical security. But what does that mean? It entails that credentialized access is linked to time of day, the employees’ risk score, and recent access anomalies. For example, a full-time weekday employee would not be able to access the factory floor on weekends or after 6 pm. Or, if that employee is repeatedly seen entering or leaving a space unexpectedly during the day, automated responses would trigger enhanced monitoring of the behavior and the space in question.
An additional layer of biometrics can be added to ensure the credential being used to access areas matches the person who uses it. For example, fingerprint or facial recognition. Adding biometrics ensures a legitimate credential can’t be used by an unauthorized person who stole or borrowed a badge. Like using two-factor authentication for sensitive data logins, critical physical spaces should also employ layered security measures.
An additional benefit of integrating digital control with physical security is the ability to instantly alter/edit/remove access. Businesses can ensure a terminated employee cannot enter sensitive areas at the moment they are let go.
Essentially, physical access is shifting from static permissions (here’s a key) to dynamic, often layered, identity-aware authorizations enabled by connected, networked credentials. That is the essence of modern physical security, the gateway to achieving robust convergence benefits.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Business With IoT Security for Facilities?
Building, implementing, and maintaining a convergence security plan that encompasses all of your locations and staff is essential to future-proofing ongoing operations. Identifying and deploying the best approach to achieve it requires working with an expert. Matrix-NDI solves the challenges of your business operations by unlocking the full ROI of your technology investments. We design and install networks built for maximum speed and perfectly matched to bandwidth demands.
Why Work With Matrix-NDI?
We have on-staff Registered Communications Distribution Designers (RCDD), coast-to-coast service, and elite data networking partners, including Extreme Networks, Nile, and others. Ultimately, Matrix-NDI aligns your business with the devices, internet service, and software to achieve all technical objectives. We invite you to reach out with your needs and see how our expertise, partnerships, and national scale can be leveraged to solve them.
Contact Matrix-NDI to get started. Let’s build smarter, safer, more connected spaces — together.
