Our guest on the SecurityDNA podcast this week is Steve Jones, Global Chairman and CEO of Allied Universal, an enterprise that has grown from $12 million in revenue to more than $20 billion with approximately 800,000 employees, making the firm the third-largest private employer in North American and seventh highest in the world. The author of the book No Off Season: The Constant Pursuit of More: A Playbook for Achieving More in Business and Life, Jones will share some of the lessons he learned in his journey from the collegiate football field to the boardroom and describe what it takes to consistently succeed in the business world. Jones also reflects on blockbuster deals that helped create what Allied Universal is today, and why private security has never been more important in the world than it is now.

In this edition of the SecurityDNA podcast, SecurityInfoWatch sat down with Stevan Bernard, Senior Security Advisor for International SOS -- a firm that works with global organizations to assess the risks associated with every working environment, from a corporate office to a remote oil rig. Drawing on his extensive experience in the protection of personnel, content and data and properties in over 50 countries on 6 continents, Bernard discusses impactful lessons learned from the “Guardians of Peace” 2014 hack that released confidential data from the film studio Sony Pictures. He also shares how varied business sectors and organizations can prepare security teams for unexpected disruption and monitor the complex risk environment prevalent today.

In this special edition, Security Business editor in chief Paul Rothman caught up with Convergint’s new CEO, Ann Fandozzi, at ISC West 2024, where they talked about the technology on display at the show, the M&A landscape in the security industry and the future direction for the service-based systems integration company she will be leading.

It’s undeniable today that  9/11 had changed the global geopolitical scene, and the constant churn of complex threats coming inside and outside the U.S. is creating new physical and cyber threats manufacturers must start accounting for. Fred Burton, Executive Director of Protective Intelligence at Ontic and one of the world’s foremost authorities on protective intelligence, security, and counterterrorism, shares his insights on how the world threat landscape has changed and how geopolitical conflicts are disrupting the supply chain and damaging the world economy. Burton reveals how these global threats are interconnected and how security executives should approach monitoring risks and building resilience into their assessment programs. He also discusses the need for manufacturers to step up their game in physical security and recommends several steps to safeguard operations.

In this episode we talk with Greg Schneider, CPP, who is President of Battle Tested Solutions, a San Francisco Bay Area-based security consultancy focused on delivering security management strategies, protective intelligence services and tactical response training to domestic and global clientele. Greg will discuss the changing landscape of security management – including the importance of situational awareness and training, and AI as it relates to both physical and cybersecurity management policy and practice -- with Steve Lasky, editor in chief of the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media.

In our latest edition of SecurityDNA hosted by editorial director Steve Lasky, ESI Convergent’s CEO and founder, Pierre Bourgeix, tackles the complex issues surrounding industrial controls and operational technology, which he predicts will be of the greatest concern in the next 5 years or more as security threats and risk challenges become more broad-based and global. Bourgeix also discusses the premise that critical infrastructure security is EVERYWHERE and describes the business risk drivers in this sector.

Steve Lasky, the editorial director for the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media, talks with SMR Group co-founder and security industry veteran Jerry Brennan about the corporate security diversity landscape, the underlying causes and factors contributing to a lack of diversity, and what it will take to bring meaningful, lasting change in the industry. SMR has grown to be one of the world’s leading executive search and management consulting firms and its well-known international brand serves clients across diverse industries and sectors in North America, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

In this episode Steve Lasky, Editorial Director of the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media, talks critical infrastructure with Ed Levy -- a highly accomplished senior executive currently leading the critical Infrastructure (CI) practice at Noble. Levy and Lasky discuss how to define what CI is, what kind of strategic issues practitioners are facing in the CI space, and important lessons on the introduction and application of new security technologies to protect critical assets.

In our latest episode, Mark Freedman, CEO and founder of Rebel Global Security, talks with host Steve Lasky about the company Freedman founded in August 2022, six months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Freedman goes over the many challenges that today’s enterprise security management executives are facing, as well as the anatomy of an innovative security program and how it works. Steve and Mark also discuss how organizations can assess global and domestic threats – with China, Russia, the Middle East, and terrorism being the most obvious – and prioritize them.

In this episode, Paul Rothman, editor in chief of Security Business magazine, chats at the recent CES conference with Chris LaPré, Head of Technology for the Connectivity Standards Alliance, about a new access control standard CSA is developing called Aliro and what it will mean for connectivity technology in the future.

In part two of our in-depth interview with renowned foreign intelligence expert Paul Joyal, SecurityInfoWatch.com editor Steve Lasky and Joyal discuss the cyber aspect of the Russia-Ukraine war, AI and deepfakes being used on the battlefield, and how the renewed emergence of terrorist groups like Hamas has affected the security industry’s view of domestic security and global risk. Joyal is a former federal law enforcement officer who has more than 45 years of experience in security and intelligence.

Paul Joyal, a former federal law enforcement officer who has more than 45 years of experience in security and intelligence, talks with SecurityInfoWatch about the state of the Russia-Ukraine war and implications over the next 12 months. Joyal also recalls his attempted assassination by possible Russian agents outside his Maryland home, a crime that has never been solved.

Steve Lasky, editorial director for the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media, talks with Lynn Mattice, President and founder of the National Economic Security Alliance (NESA), about the need for a comprehensive risk management platforms and how global organizations can build and execute them in complicated corporate environments to meet ever increasing and complex security threats.  Lynn Mattice

Steve Lasky, editorial director for the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media, hosts an in-depth discussion with Evan Bernstein, CEO and National Director of Community Security Service (CSS) – an American nonprofit organization that provides security to the Jewish community in the U.S. Lasky and Bernstein discuss the alarming rise in violence against Jews and Jewish organizations in the U.S. over the last several years, the role that some public officials and social media influencers might be playing in spreading antisemitic messages, and what the steps any house of worship – synagogues, JCCs and Jewish day care centers in particular – can take to mitigate their security risk and keep their people safe. Evan Bernstein

Steve Lasky, editorial director for Endeavor Business Media’s Security Group, hosts a robust discussion about cannabis dispensary security with Tony Gallo, Managing Partner with the Sapphire Risk Advisory Group, and Jeff Bartley, Senior Asset Protection Consultant with Sapphire. Sapphire Risk Advisory Group is considered one of the top security firms in the cannabis industry. Gallo is considered by many as the “OG of Cannabis Security” -- an industry he entered in 2013. He has worked with over 600 cannabis clients in 35 states and Canada and spoken at over 100 cannabis business conferences across the U.S. Bartley has been involved for over 27 years in the asset protection field, focused mainly on high-risk retail and logistics. He oversees all of Sapphire Risk's Phase Three services, which include safety and security training, SOPs, comprehensive risk assessments and exception analytics. Gallo Bartley Lasky, Gallo and Bartley will discuss industry trends and technologies that are driving security, compliance, and retail-loss issues with cannabis dispensaries.

For this episode, host Steve Lasky, Endeavor Business Media Security Group editorial director, discusses trends and technologies being driven by policy and governance with Jon Polly. As chief solutions officer for ProTecht Solutions Partners, Polly and his colleagues work with smart cities and corporations to bring business intelligence and public safety through security IoT applications. Lasky and Polly will tackle the concept of digital twins expanding into physical security and  the proliferation of venture capital investment money changing hands and how it will impact how users view legacy systems – as well as how this changes the parameters of physical and cyber convergence. They’ll also discuss the goals of a smart city and how that relates to security strategies and actual technologies used for city-wide surveillance, unmanned access control, orchestration of systems and a holistic, interconnected community of stakeholders.             Jon Polly, ProTecht Solutions Partners

National school safety advocate Max Schachter (right), the founder and executive director of Safe Schools for Alex talks with Endeavor Business Media Security Group editorial director Steve Lasky about losing his son in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and his mission to provide the most current school safety best practices and resources to students, parents, school districts and law enforcement.  Since that heartbreaking day, Max has been advocating for policy change at the highest levels of the U.S. government, working alongside members of Congress, leaders of all major federal agencies and sitting U.S. presidents to make schools safer. Schachter has testified as a subject matter expert before the U.S. House and Senate and multiple state legislatures. In 2018 he advocated for the creation of a federal agency to house national school safety best practices. In 2019, Schachter’s vision became a reality when President Trump created the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse at SchoolSafety.gov. Schachter attended a White House ceremony last year where President Biden announced the most significant gun safety legislation in 27 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which made SchoolSafety.gov permanent and law.

In this edition of the Security DNA podcast, Steve Lasky, editorial director for the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media, chats with Will Knehr, senior manager of information assurance and data privacy at i-PRO Americas, where he works to secure their products and networks. Will has been working to secure networks since 2004 when he started his career in cryptologic warfare, conducting cyber defense missions for the U.S. government, helping to defend, accredit, certify, and provide digital forensics and incident response for the nation’s most sensitive and secure networks. He also worked for Northrop Grumman supporting special projects for the National Security Agency and Defense Information Systems Agency building virtualized environments for malware analysis, data brokering, and managing their cybersecurity program. Will discusses a range of topics in cybersecurity and physical security, including the most pressing threats that go beyond the headlines, the growth of Zero Trust initiatives, and how end-user and systems integrators can make sure they understand the current cybersecurity threats that the physical security industry faces today.

Andrew Elvish,  Genetec's Vice President of Marketing, talks with Steve Lasky, editorial director of Endeavor Business Media's Security Group, about various dynamic trends and technologies affecting the current state of the security industry -- including managed services, cybersecurity initiatives and the potential future role of artificial intelligence and machine-learning applications in the industry.                  ANDREW ELVISH, GENETEC

In this episode, SecurityInfoWatch talks with Bob Hayes, managing director of the Security Executive Council, about the evolution of security programs and services over the last 30 years. The host is Steve Lasky, editor-in-chief of Security Technology Executive magazine and editorial director of the Security Group at Endeavor Business Media.