If you are a security director or risk manager for an organization operating in today’s global business environment, the looming threats of potential cyber attacks, operational disruptions, political unrest, employee kidnapping and terror attacks is very real. Creating a strategy for mitigating those threats can mean the difference between organizational disaster or success.
For companies like Stratfor, a global leader in geopolitical intelligence analytics, helping an organization develop a comprehensive, independent and unbiased analysis of global events through its proprietary methodology allows the client’s executive team to filter out the noise so they can make informed and accurate decisions.
SecurityInfoWatch.com (SIW) had an opportunity to catch up with Stratfor Vice President of Tactical Analysis Scott Stewart in Dallas at the 63rd Annual ASIS International conference and got some thoughts on current risk factors and global threats. Before joining Stratfor, Stewart was a special agent with the U.S. State Department for 10 years and was involved in hundreds of terrorism investigations.
He was the lead State Department investigator assigned to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the follow-up New York City bomb plot. He also led a team of American agents assisting the Argentine investigation of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and was involved in investigations following a series of attacks and attempted attacks by the Iraqi intelligence service during the first Gulf War.
SIW: What are the biggest risks facing today’s corporate security leaders?
Stewart: The risks to company personnel, assets and intellectual property are pretty much what they’ve always been. What has changed; however, is the way that technology has extended the reach of adversaries and expanded the attack surface of companies. Attackers can now steal corporate data remotely from thousands of miles away; conduct remote surveillance on corporate facilities and executives; and conduct extortion through ransomware and other malware tools. An insider can now walk out of the office with literally millions of documents on an easy-to-conceal thumbdrive. And this vulnerability will continue to increase as technology becomes more integrated into our corporate activities and the personnel lives of our executives and employees.
SIW: How can modern enterprises effectively protect themselves from threats?
Stewart: I believe that due to the increasing vulnerability our growing dependence on technology brings, it is now more important than ever for security programs to be integrated. This means that companies must work hard to break down the silos that exist between chief security officers (CSOs) and chief information security officers (CISOs). But beyond just unifying physical and cybersecurity efforts, companies really need to increase communication between security and the C-suite, legal, HR and other business units. This means that companies must move toward the enterprise security risk management (ESRM) model. It is impossible to protect everything, but if the company identifies the threats they face, what they have that truly needs protecting and then makes a unified security effort to protect the important things and people truly at risk, they stand a much better chance of protecting their vital interests.
SIW: How can leaders stay abreast of risks and be more proactive with their security efforts?
Stewart: I believe that it is critically important to focus on the “how” of past attacks, the tactics, tradecraft and procedures used by threat actors. This applies to criminal attacks, industrial espionage, workplace violence, hacks, terrorism and any other type of attack that can be directed against corporate employees, facilities or intellectual property. Awareness of an incident is helpful, but having an understanding of how an incident was conducted is what allows corporate security leaders to be able to develop countermeasures and educate their security personnel and other corporate employees to help defend against specific tactics. Knowledge of the how is the key to proactive security programs.
SIW: What solutions are well-suited to help today’s security leaders be most prepared?
Stewart: In addition to adopting a holistic ESRM approach to security I believe that education and information are also vital to helping security leaders face emerging threats. That is one of the things my team and I are trying to help provide through Stratfor’s Threat Lens. It integrates the full spectrum of issues facing security leaders, spanning threats against their people, infrastructure, intellectual property and business continuity.
SIW: Why is the annual ASIS conference an important event for Stratfor?
Stewart: The ASIS conference provides an opportunity to meet and interact with many old friends, business contacts and clients. It is also a great place for us to share some of our analysis and for our team to learn from the other distinguished speakers who will present at the conference.
SIW: Can you provide an overview of Stratfor’s solutions and what makes them stand out in today’s competitive marketplace?
Stewart: In addition to Stratfor’s flagship Worldview geopolitical intelligence platform, we launched our protective intelligence tool called Threat Lens at ASIS last year. There are many people doing terrorism and security analysis out there, but none of them have integrated protective intelligence into a geopolitical intelligence framework like we have. All of our Threat Lens tactical analysis is built upon Stratfor’s Worldview geopolitical analysis. For example, the granular Threat Lens analysis of Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations is built upon Worldview analytical frameworks such as the Mexico geopolitical monograph, the geopolitics of borderlands, the geopolitics of dope, as well as the annual and decade forecasts for Mexico. Additionally, with Threat Lens, we are laser focused on the”how” of attacks. There are may people who will tell you that something happened, but nobody produces the same type of tactical deconstruction analysis that we do. As noted above, understanding the how is critical for corporations that want to be proactive in their security programs.
SIW: What does the future hold for Stratfor?
Stewart: Threat Lens is the first installment in a suite of new industry-specific “lens” products that will help bring Stratfor’s analysis into focus and context for different industry verticals. Some examples include a focus on finance, energy and military issues among others. As those analytical teams are developed, they will help strengthen Stratfor’s granular analytical ability in very specific areas and in turn this helps to further strengthen the other lenses.
As far as Threat Lens itself, we continue to improve on the product and have several new features that we will be rolling out in the near future to include an API so that our data can be integrated directly into whatever operating systems our clients are using in their security operations centers.
SIW: What does the future of risk and risk mitigation look like?
Stewart: As I noted at the beginning, I truly see technologies in the future providing even more reach to adversaries while creating greater attack surfaces. At the same time, age-old espionage tactics will continue to be used – a topic I will be speaking on at the ASIS conference. Clearly, to face the threats of the future, security must become far more synergetic – and become far more deeply integrated into corporate culture.
