ATS Integrated Solutions

BUILDING SOLUTIONS

Controls ● Security ● Integration

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Commercial Security

Team Spotlight: Justin Kelley

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Today we are shining the spotlight on another new member of our team.

Justin Kelley, Systems Programmer, has been in the industry for eight years and joined ECT Services earlier this year.

I asked him why he chose ECT Services. Like many before him, it’s our internal culture that ignites that feeling of “I want to work here.” Specifically, Justin said “the team-first culture and the ability to continue my growth in the security industry” was a driving force. He enjoys working in what he calls a “fluid environment” with different customers around the world. Though his position is in systems programming, Justin is able to help on other projects and support team mates, which furthers his knowledge and capability.

As with all our team members, Justin is committed to his work for the clients. He says “Physical security plays an integral part in the overall success of businesses. While this will impact companies’ capital costs, providing a safe and secure work environment will allow team members across an organization to thrive. ” Who wouldn’t want this kind of attitude on their project?

We are lucky to have Justin on board, and we know our customers feel the same.

We want to end this team spotlight with one of Justin’s favorite quotes by Coach Bill Belichick: “Do your job, Work hard, Be attentive, Put the team first.”

Spot on.

Team spotlight: Jonathan Arnold

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Sometimes ECT is lucky enough to have not one, but two members of the same family on our team. Today’s spotlight features one such family connection.

Johnathan Arnold, Security Technician, has been in the industry for six years. Earlier in 2022 he joined his father, John, at ECT. We’ve shown a photo of them together on this post… see the family resemblance?

“I chose ECT because I knew the integrity of the leadership who work here and the knowledge I could acquire,” he says.

Johnathan, like all ECT teammates, is focused on quality and customer satisfaction. He believes it’s important that customers know you get what you pay for. The issues and concerns around security and technology are constantly evolving. He feels it’s important for customers to not try to go with the cheapest option when it comes to a security product. In his mind, it’s better to pay a little more and get as close as you can to the current top tier product instead of settling. The last thing you want to do is put yourself or your company in a position of being taken advantage of. He works hard to be sure customers understand what the product they’ve selected provides, and does not provide.

Of course, when it comes to customer service, he’s learned from one of the best, his father. We asked him to share his favorite quote and he said it’s “Strive to be better today than you were yesterday” by James Gordon. Seems like a great way to start each day.

Our employee health and wellness is about more than our insurance benefit.

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Our team knows first-hand the challenges the pandemic has put upon our country’s workforce, from lockdowns and quarantines to now returning to the office. To mask? To keep plexiglass dividers? To mandate testing? These are questions nearly every employer faces right now. And the stress that can impact a company as a whole, and as individual human beings is not for the faint of heart.

Our team has dealt with tough situations. We design and help customers install active shooter detection technology, for starters. Even before the pandemic, we were face-to-face with tough, uncomfortable issues.

When Covid hit and work-from-home orders were put in place, our team remained in the field. Though buildings were empty, their security and temperature control systems still needed to function at their best, be serviced, be ready because we truly didn’t know when people would return to their offices.

So, we’ve been at the forefront of dealing with some tough choices. And after time, that can take a toll on anyone. We’ve seen it first-hand. As you can imagine, our team is mostly made up of men and as a species, we tend to shy away from talking about our feelings or putting focus on our mental or emotional health.

As CEO, one goal of mine this year is to work on changing that. No matter your gender or genetic makeup, discussing issues that cause stress and anxiety is healthy. Our team meetings can take 5 or 10 minutes away from our agenda to focus on our people. If there’s something going on in the industry, on our team, in our community, or in the world that is making it harder for our team members to do their job, then let’s put it out there, together. Let’s see if we can come up with solutions or at least make a plan of attack toward a solution.

We cannot take care of our customers without taking care of ourselves first. I hope other business leaders will join me.

Be careful what you click on.

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As 2022 shifts into gear, reports are run, documents are exported, emails are drafted. All of this information – all of it – can become a valuable pawn in a cyber attack.

As companies continue to use less paper, more documents are shared on networks and those networks are susceptible to break-ins.

What does this mean?

Cyber attackers do more these days than put a virus on your laptop. Today, it’s a full-fledged business to attack a company’s network, locking employees out of systems until a ransom is paid.  That’s right, I said a business.  They are organized and focused, with specific account strategies and target clients (victims).  These criminals, who believe they are business people, might be watching your network right now. Sure, you do a weekly backup but they know where that backup is, and they know when it’s done. And they know when to attack so that your company loses the most amount of information possible. 

What does it look like?

You may come into your office Monday morning just like always… you’re catching up with friends, talking about Sunday Night Football, turning on your office light and waking up your computer when a ransom note appears on your home screen. Your next steps may vary among any of the following:

  • Contact your local law enforcement agency
  • Contact the FBI.
  • Check your insurance policy and call your agent
  • You may be asked to connect to the chat feature on a weblink provided by the ransom company to get more information
  • You may actually receive a call from the threat actors

The important thing is not to panic. Listen to the authorities who will guide you through the process and advise you how to handle it.

What can you do to prevent a ransom attack? Our top tips:

  1. Contact your insurance agent, be sure you understand your coverage for this type of attack.
  2. Stay current with IT attack information through your insurance company, or local and federal authorities.
  3. Store more information and move as many applications as possible to the cloud rather than local servers.
  4. Make sure all software ix up to date with the latest security patches.
  5. Make sure all remote login devices, such as VPN’s, are current with hardware, firmware, and software security patches are current.
  6. Implement password change policies.
  7. Consistently remind your team not to click on links from unknown sources.
  8. Run internal tests to see if your Team is complying with NOT clicking on unknown sources.
  9. Run backups throughout the week, at different times of the day.

 

How buildings have changed since 9/11

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Tomorrow we honor the events that took place 20 years ago. September 11th is a marker in history – for those old enough to remember, we reflect on pre- vs post-9/11 life.

In the facilities management industry, our day-to-day life was almost immediately impacted. Changes were made in the industry because of that fateful day and they continue to evolve now.

Architecture, alone, had to make changes in plans for future buildings – especially those of the magnitude of the World Trade Center, as described in this Wall Street Journal article.

In general, security companies and building managers have simply gotten smarter about keeping their occupants safer. Codes have changed. For instance, prior to 9/11, buildings higher than 120 feet must have elevators, specifically for firefighters to have access. Other changes:

  • An additional stairway for high-rises that are more than 420 feet tall
  • New codes on fire resistance
  • Impact resistant walls for elevator shafts
  • Pathway lights
  • Enhanced radio coverage

One of the biggest lessons learned that day were the limits on communication. Not only did the systems, themselves, fail, but there were no procedures in place for that kind of emergency. There are now.

At ECT, technology has evolved regarding security, specifically, and some of our other blogposts touch on these subjects. It’s simply not enough to have a keypad… you must know who is in your building through access controls, and your video surveillance system must be updated regularly and tested. The systems we install offer what our customers need to be sure they are keeping their people – and their facilities – as safe as possible.

As we think back on September 11th and remember those lost, we will continue to utilize the lessons learned from a facilities management standpoint to improve systems and safety.

Relationships matter.

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When I recently asked the team for an opportunity to grab a testimonial from an ECT customer, I had no idea the type of testimonial I was in for.

Sitting down to talk with Mike Notarangelo, US facilities Construction Manager for Computershare, Inc, was like a testimonial show.

Mike handles build-outs and renovations for the company, and when we began the call, I told him I’d be taking notes while we were talking and he said, “I’m a project manager, I spend my life taking notes.” Immediately at ease, we dug in.

Computershare’s relationship with ECT goes back to 2014 when the company decided to move an operational center to Louisville. ECT was one of three candidates and ended up winning the bid for the business.

That project began with work on one floor, it then turned into eight floors, and today, ECT and Computershare are North American Partners, handling about 12 buildings together currently (4 in Canada) and more on the way.

ECT is Computershare’s official national security provider. They install and service all access controls and cameras.

But that’s just the job part. For ECT and Computershare, there’s just so much more to it.

“It’s the relationship we count on.” Mike said about ECT. “Consistency, dependability, quality of work… they just know our business. They know how we like to structure our controls and monitoring, and they can just go with it. When the ECT team is on the jobsite, their people are more like another employee than an outside vendor. To understand our configurations, what’s important to us and deploy it takes a true partner. The level of trust is so high, many times they handle the job without me on site.”

“When we are working on a new project and want to replicate something in another building, it’s just easy.”  

He went on to give this example: Computershare uses an older program for all their sites that was sunsetting a couple of years ago. Before that happened, ECT notified Computershare and helped them prepare. When changing a system like that to a new program, there is a lot of pre-work and analysis onsite. They helped the customer determine what equipment could be repurposed, and then made the conversion. 

“These guys have turned into not only a trusted vendor but truly friends as well. They come to our holiday party, they are just part of our fiber here.”

 

The new, secure normal

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Working with clients throughout the past few weeks has been nothing short of interesting. Our customers have different levels of security, depending on the type of business they run. And these days, they’ve had to take a second look at their systems and procedures. We’ve been happy to work with them to find the best solutions.

 

One of our customers is in the logistics/fulfillment industry. We’ve worked with them for a long time on their temperature control system. Because their business typically runs 24 hours a day, they didn’t have an electronic security system in place. Rather, they had armed guards at the door keeping their employees safe as they enter and exit, and making sure only those who are permitted to enter the premises are, in fact, entering.

Now, because their company is not on the “essential” list, their employees are home, the building is empty. Rather than pay two armed guards to protect the building and, perhaps, not social distance from each other, the customer called and asked for our help.

Now they have an installed security system to be sure all products inside the building, and the building itself, are safe and secure while people are not in it.

Yes, this has led to some layoffs and furloughs for employees, and the company hopes to bring their team back on when the economy is moving again. In the meantime, their new system gives them peace of mind without keeping people on the payroll – in an effort to save their business.

We encourage you to continue to look at your business for areas where you impact security and protect your building and your customers from theft while less – or maybe no – people are coming to work everyday.

Reach out via our contact page and let us know how we can help you find the right solutions right now.

Considering insider threats

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What’s the most important integration into every system that we service and/or install?

People.

Every single system must integrate with people in some way. Every integration point opens up a new opportunity for a threat.

This post from Security Magazine really raised my awareness about the nature of insider threats and approaches to mitigating risk. What is an insider threat? It is any act of theft, fraud, sabotage or violence instigated by someone inside an organization. The post outlines several types of insider threats and some tips on how to recognize each:

Unintentional insider threat. This threat isn’t caused by someone acting maliciously; this type of threat is tipped off by someone who is distracted or stressed. They forget or shortcut important steps. To guard against this type of threat, be aware of staff members who are careless with sensitive information, overshare on social media and consistently miss deadlines.

Intellectual property/sensitive data theft. Do you have an associate that “borrows” office materials for home use? Has gotten a poor performance review, missed a promotion or is about to be fired? They may be a risk to steal intellectual property or sensitive data for their own benefit on their way out the door. That sensitive information could end up being used against you by a competitor or other threat.

Insider fraud. Keep an eye out for associates who routinely live beyond their means or are suddenly facing unexpected expenses. They could be at risk of perpetrating insider fraud to benefit themselves and get out of a tight spot.

Sabotage. The office bully isn’t just bad for morale. Bullying is a red flag for sabotage. The saboteur wants to disrupt or even destroy work in an effort to assert their dominance or get revenge for a slight.

Workplace violence. I see the threat of workplace violence as a progression of sabotage. The perpetrator of workplace violence wants to go beyond damaging a piece of equipment or undermining a sale. They want to cause physical harm to those around them, perhaps in an outburst. They share characteristics with saboteurs, but may also threaten violence.

Each of the above threats can be detected and mitigated with team effort. We’d be happy to talk to you about how systems can be integrated to help you detect these threats and others. Give us a call at (800) 567-1180 to consult.