1. Know Your Company’s Strengths.
While there aren’t many business managers who don’t know where their profit comes from, a significant number will automatically assume that it is only the strengths that drive those profits that someone else might wish to steal. The two do not necessarily equate. What may appear to you to be a minor part of your production chain could be the missing link for a domestic or overseas competitor.
2. Know Your Employees and the Stresses and Strains They’re Under.
The global financial crisis might be only one reason why some of your staff members are desperate for cash.
3. Physical Security.
Know who’s coming in and out of your firm’s premises. Some companies have no policy on visitors, whether friends, customers or prospective clients. Even inquisitive members of the public sometimes gain access through sheer gall and boldness. Consider the areas to which general staff access should be restricted. Don’t forget to screen your cleaners, caterers, as well as your security guards. Anyone who has access to your premises during or after working hours is a potential threat, either through accessing sensitive information or planting listening devices.
4. Electronic Security.
This is a huge area where every business should regularly seek professional advice on the sort of equipment installed and the ways in which it is used. Anti-virus software and firewalls won’t offer much protection against a concerted attempt to penetrate your operations.
5. Personal Security.
Most employees – through no fault of their own – will lack the sense of security with which you would hope they’re endowed. You need to regularly reinforce for them your company’s security requirements, and the best way to do this is to keep it simple. (
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. A book about privacy in American history - from our founding to the present. 
