Security Matters Podcast – Episode 17 now live to view

Episode 17 of the Security Matters Podcast features exclusive interviews with Letitia Emeana CPP PSP CISMP (Group security capability manager at Unilever) and Dawn Holmes MSc CPP (Group head of security for GVC Holdings) who, respectively, have just been elected chair and vice-chair of ASIS International’s UK Chapter.

Security Matters’ Editor Brian Sims also chats with Andy Gent (CEO at Revector, a business that specialises in the field of telecoms intelligence for fraud prevention and security) and Bill Hobbs, global vice-president of sales for 3xLOGIC and PACOM at PAC and GDX.

Letitia Emeana’s career in the security world began in the role of corporate building security advisor at the Lloyd’s Banking Group in early 2001 before she became senior corporate physical security professional for the Group in February 2013.

In October 2016, Letitia (who’s a Certified Protection Professional) made the move to Amazon UK and took on the role of senior physical security manager covering the EMEA region. A brief spell with Tesla followed before the switch to Unilever in January of this year.

At present, Letitia’s role at the company includes direct responsibility for both the development and advancement of security technology and people capability globally for the business.

A Fellow of The Security Institute and also a Certified Protection Professional, Dawn Holmes served as security design manager for Boots UK from 1998 until 2002, at which point she moved to the Britannia Building Society to become head of security.

A seven-year spell as assistant head of security at Experian followed before Dawn moved to Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the role of vice-president for protective services. A two-year spell with Bloomberg came next. Dawn is now Group head of security for GVC Holdings, a position that she has occupied since January of last year.

In terms of their new remit with ASIS, Letitia and Dawn discuss the developments they would like to see within the ASIS UK Chapter going forward, while also addressing the key topic that is the diversity agenda. Do they believe the approach taken towards that agenda across the security business sector – and, indeed, within ASIS itself – has improved in recent times? View Episode 17 of the Security Matters Podcast to find out.

Further, Letitia and Dawn outline what’s of most importance to them as practising security professionals in tandem with the driving motivations that underpin their respective roles in the sector.

Critical National Infrastructure protection

Andy Gent founded Revector in the wake of an extensive international career built within various telecommunications, software, mobile and Internet businesses. Formerly CEO of Paktel, Pakistan’s largest mobile operator, Andy has also held senior roles with Mercury Communications (the former national telecoms company in the UK) and ECET International, the Cisco-backed software application house.

In conversation with Brian, Andy focuses his attentions on International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)-catcher technology. An IMSI-catcher is a device commonly used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world to track mobile phones. They’re designed to collect and log IMSI numbers, which are themselves unique identifiers assigned to mobile phone subscriptions.

Essentially a ‘fake’ mobile tower acting between the target mobile phone and the service provider’s real towers, attacks using this method are considered to be ‘man in the middle’-style episodes. The 3G wireless standard offers some risk mitigation due to the mutual authentication required from both the handset and the network. That said, attacks of the sophisticated variety may be able to downgrade 3G and LTE to non-LTE network services which don’t require any form of mutual authentication.

In addition to offering an overview of how IMSI-catcher technology works, Andy relates the advantages of using this kind of technology in comparison to other forms of intervention. He also discusses the ways in which IMSI-catcher solutions are able to deal with physical and virtual fences and how Critical National Infrastructure may be protected from attacks using mobile networks.

Surveillance examined

Our final guest on this edition of the Security Matters Podcast is Bill Hobbs. Back in June, PAC and GDX announced Bill’s appointment as the global head of its sales organisation. In the role of global vice-president of sales for 3xLOGIC and PACOM, Bill adds PAC and GDX to his portfolio and is now consolidating sales leadership for these brands across all countries. 

Bill’s career in the systems integration and physical security industries spans more than 35 years. Initially a software developer and systems engineer, Bill has actively built multiple systems integration businesses during his career and, for the last two decades, has managed technical sales teams across a variety of industry-leading organisations.

Plenty of commentators are now talking about the concept of 360-degree security. What does Bill believe to be the meaning of that terminology, and what role does electronic security have to play here?

Bill then goes on to explain how he sees today’s security systems acting as a source of Big Data. Does he agree with the view that end users are actually receiving the solutions they want and precisely what they’ve paid for?

What does Bill think the future trajectory looks like for security installers and security system integrators? Listen to Episode 17 of the Security Matters Podcast for the answer. Lastly, Bill lists what he believes to be the key lessons learned to date in the security sector when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Listen to the Security Matters Podcast

You can listen to the Security Matters Podcast – kindly sponsored by The Security Event, which runs at the NEC in Birmingham from 7-9 September 2021 – for free on iTunes or Spotify. To download the Security Matters Podcast on iTunes or Spotify, all you need to do is enter the term ‘Security Matters’ into your chosen platform’s search box.

Alternatively, you can listen to the Security Matters Podcast online at https://securitymatters.podbean.com/ or via the dedicated Security Matters YouTube channel by clicking here.

*If there are any particular topics or themes you would like us to cover on future editions of the Security Matters Podcast (which are live to view every fortnight on Wednesdays) please do contact us. You can do so on Twitter by using the hashtag #SecurityPod or simply send an e-mail direct to bsims@westernbusiness.media

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