When a colleague becomes the “culprit”: the delicate issue of theft in the workplace.
In the corporate ecosystem, among visionary CEOs, CFOs who only speak in Excel, and HR departments that distribute motivation like candy, there is a legendary but little-understood figure: the Security Manager.
You can recognize them by the badge always around their neck, their worried look even when the printer is working, and the fact that no one ever listens to them… until the day of the incident.
Before the incident:
“We don’t need backups, nothing ever happens.”
“Why should we block USB drives? They’re so convenient!”
“Who would want to break into our company to steal data? We’re just a bolt manufacturer!”
“Why alarm the production area? Those machines are useless to anyone.”
“I’ll leave the customer file on my desk so I don’t lose track of the project for tomorrow.”
“Come on, do we really have to change our passwords every month?”
“Spending so much on the Control Room door.”
“Why invest so much in securing the external perimeter?”
“Why use lockers with burglar-proof locks?”
“But is it necessary to have video surveillance around the entire perimeter of the company when we have another company next door that films everything?”
Now that they realize they can’t take anything, they won’t come back (as if thieves or hackers were always the same ones)….
The Security Manager proposes policies, talks about network attacks, sends newsletters with subjects such as “Urgent: security training!” (opened by three people, all by mistake), but is viewed as the paranoid cousin who built a bunker for the end of the world.
During the incident:
On a Friday evening, when everyone is already thinking about happy hour or is already at the beach, the alarm goes off: intrusion in both the warehouses and offices.
And suddenly… the Security Manager becomes the most sought-after person in the company. Forgotten for months, he is now summoned like an oracle:
“Where is the Security Manager?!? Call him! Right now!”
“He knows what to do! He has the emergency plans! HE IS OUR SAVIOR!”
Amidst the general chaos, phone calls come in from security, Wi-Fi comes and goes, the managers of the other offices who usually stay at the company until 8:00 p.m. have disappeared… the Security Manager emerges with Zen-like calm, activating the incident procedure (which he had sent to everyone as an attachment… never read) and gets to work.
After the incident:
The backup? The control room door must have been closed.
Plan B? Had the IT manager fixed the CCTV DVR hard drive?
The report to the CEO? (On Saturday and Sunday, a detailed report of what happened is formalized, but… on Monday, there is a big meeting on marketing strategies to follow).
The intrusion is blocked. The company is saved with little damage. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. And it’s back to normal, which means: Event overcome, now back to business as usual.
Giuseppe Abbeduto
