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Guide

Physical security and
cybersecurity.

Badge readers, cameras, building systems, contractor access. Each one sits between your security team and your IT team, and usually nobody has been assigned to it. This covers how to find them and what to do first.

Take it with you

The systems nobody owns.

Fifteen pages on the badge controllers, cameras, contractors, and drones sitting between your two programs. With the grid attack data, what Russia actually chose in Ukraine, and a camera flaw that went nine years without a patch.

Open the guide

15 pages  ·  Free, no form. Opens in your browser, print or save as PDF.

What each one covers

What it costs you when it goes wrong.

Physical security

Protects people, buildings, and equipment. Covers entry points, sightlines, lighting, barriers, staffing, cameras, and the procedures people follow under pressure. When it fails, it fails in a specific place, at a specific time, to a specific person. Getting back to normal means ordering parts and waiting.

Cybersecurity

Protects data, networks, and systems. Covers identity, encryption, segmentation, monitoring, and patching. When it fails it can fail everywhere at once, and often nobody notices for months. Getting back to normal means restores and disclosure letters.

Side by side

How the two programs differ.

Physical securityCybersecurity
ProtectsPeople, facilities, equipmentData, networks, systems
What an attacker needsProximity, or a droneA route to the network
How fast you noticeUsually immediate and visibleOften delayed by weeks or months
Main defensesBarriers, access control, lighting, cameras, staffingIdentity, segmentation, encryption, monitoring
How you test itSite assessment, penetration test, tabletop exerciseVulnerability scan, penetration test, red team
Who usually owns itFacilities or corporate securityIT or a CISO organization
How it gets fundedCapital projects, often reactiveRecurring program spend
What forces the issueCIP-014, TSA guidelines, insurance, OSHA duty of careSector frameworks, privacy law, contractual audit
Where they meet

Six systems both teams touch.

Some are locks that run on your network. Others are network controls that a held door defeats.

The badge readers

A badge reader is a computer on your network. Take over the controller and the doors open.

The cameras

Camera systems are some of the least updated equipment on any company network.

The server room

Every network control assumes nobody walks in and takes a drive off the shelf.

The building systems

Heating, elevators, and fire panels run on networks and control the building itself.

The held door

Someone holds a door for a stranger and every login control behind it stops mattering.

The contractors

Outside firms get badges and logins, and usually nobody reviews the two together.

The gap in the middle

The gap between the two teams.

IT assumes facilities handles the door. Facilities assumes IT handles the device on the door. The badge controller runs firmware from 2019 and a vendor account from a finished contract still works.

The same thing happens with every shared system. It survives because each program audits its own scope and neither one owns the boundary. You can pass a cybersecurity audit and a fire inspection in the same quarter with clear issues.

How we find it

How a gap analysis works.

WorldSafe compares the security you have against the security your risks call for.

Map

Write down every control you actually have across both programs, including the shared systems neither side lists. Put a name against each one. If nobody owns it, that goes on the list.

Test

Walk realistic paths end to end. An intruder at the loading dock. A contractor badge that outlives the contract. A camera network reachable from the guest wifi.

Rank

Score every gap on what it would cost and how likely it is, then put them in order. Physical and digital findings go on the same list.

Working as one

Six signs it is actually working.

What to look for when your security is integrated.

One risk register covering physical and digital findings
A named owner for every shared system
Shared incident response with a single escalation path
Vendor and contractor access reviewed once, for both
Tabletop exercises that cross both domains
One report to leadership, ranked by consequence

WorldSafe assesses the physical side and the seam. Start with a site assessment or read about Resilience as a Service.

Common questions.

Definitions, overlap, ownership, and where to start.

What is the difference between physical security and cybersecurity?

Physical security protects people, buildings, and equipment from access, damage, and harm. Cybersecurity protects data, networks, and systems from unauthorized digital access. Both defend the same organization by different means, and they fail in different ways.

Do physical security and cybersecurity overlap?

Constantly. Access control, cameras, and building management all run on the corporate network. Server rooms need locked doors. Social engineering starts with somebody who walks in. An attacker takes the cheaper path.

What is an integrated security program?

One program where physical and digital security share a risk register, an incident process, and a reporting line. Findings from either side get ranked against each other on the same list.

What is a security gap analysis?

A comparison between the security you have and the security your risks call for. It maps the controls you have, tests them against realistic scenarios, and ranks what is missing by what it would cost you.

Which should an organization address first?

Whichever one would cost you more, which is what the gap analysis works out. Most organizations with a mature cyber program find the physical side well behind it, because physical security rarely has a dedicated budget owner.

Who owns the seam between the two?

Usually nobody, which is the problem. Badge systems, camera networks, and visitor management all sit between IT and facilities. Putting one name against each shared system closes most of the gap.

Find the gap
before someone else does.

WorldSafe assesses your physical program and the seam it shares with IT.

Request a gap analysis

[email protected] · +877-831-SAFE