04 March 2023: While companies seek innovative crime prevention measures, criminals are
also exploring better ways to commit crimes. There is no doubt that load-shedding has
made the jobs of security providers harder, as it poses a double threat – compromising
existing security resources and emboldening criminals to operate with more impunity.
With this in mind, residents and business owners need to stay ahead of criminal activities,
according to George Fitzroy, managing director of security at facilities management
company, Servest.
Here are some security trends to enhance safety and security in 2023:
Remote Biometric Authentication (RBA) is the future.
For those security providers who can keep the lights on during load shedding, Remote
Biometric Authentication (RBA) is perhaps the leading example of security innovation that
can enhance the security of access to sensitive data at home, work, or when using money
management systems. This is done through voice or other types of biometric
authentication, including face recognition, palm, or finger vein patterns.
Banks and financial institutions were among the first to use RBA for digital authentication.
The use of RBA is growing in healthcare, retail, telecommunications, education,
government, and the travel and tourism industries. The use of biometrics in security
presents an opportunity to better trace criminal activities and improved efficiencies in
tracking them.
Specialised security for syndicate crime prevention
Syndicate-related crimes cannot be handled in the same way as conventional criminal
activity anymore. Syndicate-related activities have significantly increased since 2010.
Criminal activities now need to be curtailed through highly trained tactical deployments that
can deal with syndicate crime.
Crime syndicates in South Africa range from heroin and cocaine trafficking to people-
smuggling, rhino poaching, and metal stripping from state power, water, and transportation
companies, as well as kidnappings for ransom.
Specialised security services present one of the best options for curbing syndicated crime
activities.
Centralised control centres
Centralised control centres will continue to play a significant role in the monitoring of high-
risk areas. As disruptive technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) emerge, centralised
monitoring should be leveraged to speed up security response time.
Mobile phones for enhanced security monitoring
Mobile phones have become a fundamental tool for enhancing security. It is estimated that
South Africa has just over 53 million smartphones in use.
With criminal activity on the rise, it’s essential to have access to information at your
fingertips. Furthermore, mobile phones enable secure tracking and tracing, as well as the
ability to continuously monitor facilities and assets.
However, it’s important to also ensure that mobile phones are protected from cyberattacks.
Security convergence
Integrating IT and physical security programs is enhancing security responses. Although
often overlooked, physical security is essential to preventing crime. Both individuals and
organisations need to pay more attention to physical security measures, integrated with
specialised IT systems.
The purpose of security convergence is to leverage information systems and security to
enable physical teams to be more responsive in bridging security gaps that cannot be filled
by physical security alone.
Convergence in security presents an opportunity to enhance security resilience, detection,
prevention, risk mitigation, and response to threats. Thereby creating an overall more
robust security system.
AI and Machine Learning
By using Artificial Intelligence, analytics, and machine learning, security providers will be
able to uncover fresh insights that would otherwise go unnoticed.
AI in security continues to propel efforts to identify, predict and respond to security threats
including cybersecurity threats, with very minimal human intervention, effectively and
efficiently.
“By effectively leveraging a combination of these tools, among others, security providers
will be able to stay current with technological innovations and respond to security threats
more rapidly – be it for residential or commercial facilities,” Fitzroy concludes.
