What should you do after a security breach?

Whether it’s a break-in, unauthorised access or even vandalism, there’s no escaping the fact that a security breach is bad news all round. With its potential impact on staff safety, business continuity and even your reputation, acting quickly in the event of such a breach is critical to minimising the damage on all fronts. Here’s what to do should the worst unfold – and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Make sure everyone’s safe

Before you do anything else, make sure that everyone currently on your premises is safe. If you suspect there’s any immediate danger or that intruders may still be lurking around, call the emergency services and don’t go into any areas where you may encounter them. If the breach happened out of hours, make sure staff remain off-site until it’s safe for them to return.

Secure the site

You’ll now need to make your site secure again to prevent any further unauthorised access. If windows, doors or locks have been broken, you’ll need to put up temporary boarding to secure the site until contractors (glaziers or locksmiths, for example) can conduct repairs. If you need to, temporarily move anything valuable out of the affected area into somewhere secure area, and isolate any compromised access points.

Preserve evidence

Documenting what’s happened is critical to insurance claims, police investigations and addressing any security weaknesses. To that end, don’t touch or tidy up the affected areas until you (and/or the authorities) have done the following:

● Taken photographs of the entry points and damage
● Downloaded and preserved CCTV footage and alarm data
● Recorded times, dates and a description of what happened
● Logged any missing or damaged items

Manage the investigation

A thorough investigation helps you understand exactly what happened and why – whether you have enough evidence to catch the perpetrator or not. This will include actions such as:

● Gathering together the evidence and footage – work out how the perpetrator gained access, where they went on your site, what they did and how they left. Evidence also includes things like access control logs in cases where you suspect tailgating or other forms of access abuse.
● Analysing alarm activations and response times and looking for potential patterns that could indicate repeat targeting or reconnaissance.
● Liaising with the police and insurance companies – logging a crime report and submitting claims.

At this stage, our intelligent video analytics and remote monitoring can dramatically reduce investigation time, allowing you to spot issues far more quickly than a manual review. We can even conduct your investigation management for you!

Strengthen your security

Once you’ve dealt with the security breach and its immediate impact, turn your attention to making sure it doesn’t happen again. By this point, you’ll have a clearer idea of how the breach unfolded, and you may have spotted weaknesses in your security that you can now address. There are a few ways you can do this, such as:

● Upgrading your monitoring and detection – putting in place smart CCTV with AI analytics can detect unusual behaviour earlier, identify repeat offenders and allow you to be proactive rather than reactive. Thermal cameras add extra layers of security, particularly for perimeter protection and low-light environments where standard cameras may struggle.
● Tighten access control – upgrading your access control system makes future breaches less likely. With different levels of security now available, ranging from QR codes to biometric access, there are plenty of options for restricting who can enter your premises.
● Partner with a trusted security company – like us! We can help keep your people and property safe with intelligent security systems, round-the-clock monitoring and incident support with everything from liaising with the police to gathering footage.

A security breach is never fun, to put it mildly, but using it as an opportunity to improve turns it into something positive in the long term. If you’ve suffered a breach or want to take steps to reduce the risk of something like this happening, call us on 01749 600 600 or email hello@ifacility.co.uk to find out more about how we can help safeguard your site, now and in the future.