The Lessons of 9-11: Propelling Security From a Local to a Global
Posted on Fri, Oct 15, 2010
Submitted by Microsoft Global Security
Like many around the world, those of us at Microsoft Global Security took time on 9-11 to recall that horrible day and what it meant to us all.
That day’s senseless events still reverberate, and they provided Microsoft Global Security with an even greater sense of purpose, mission and commitment – how to make sure no event, large or small, endangers the safety and wellbeing of Microsoft and its people, wherever they are.
To do that, our view of the world expanded well beyond our local campuses. We were forced to ignore distance and look at Security as a business necessity without borders – geographic or occupational.
Driven by the events of that day, Microsoft Global Security has now grown into a world-class security operation due in large part by leveraging Microsoft and partner technologies to their fullest. Furthermore, the borders between groups within our own organization have disappeared as we pursue strategic integration among all of our groups -- operations, investigations, intelligence, risk mitigation, technology and education and awareness.
Each works together to meet the entire organization’s strategic mission.
One of the most significant developments in the Microsoft security environment since 9-11 has been the creation of our three Global Security Operations Centers -- located in Redmond, WA, Reading, UK, and Hyderabad, India. Together, these three centers monitor more than 700 Microsoft sites worldwide.
All three operate 24x7, allowing Microsoft employees worldwide with a point of contact for any and all physical security needs. If any one of these three centers should ever go offline, the entire security monitoring and response apparatus can be handled, with precision and efficiency, by the others.
We often showcase our GSOCs to other public and private security professionals and invite them to see how we utilize our own products – SharePoint, InfoPath, Communicator, and more – and explain how, in the wake of 9-11, we made security not a local issue, but a global one.
Now, government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and state and local law enforcement, use the Microsoft Global Security model as a benchmark due to our blend of technology, strategy, intelligence and people.
As technology advances, so do we. In fact, Microsoft Global Security is poised to unveil yet another tool in our security world. In partnership with conTgo, a company that specializes in providing mobile device communications to the corporate traveler, we will be able to communicate directly to all our travelers through their mobile phones. We can alert them of country risk changes that have occurred while en route, we can check on their welfare and we can be the security lifeline they need if trouble arises.
From a situational awareness standpoint, we can also quickly ascertain how many travelers could be impacted by an event and who they are.
But, in the end, people are still the key to security.
As Deborah Russell Collins, executive director of the Chantilly, VA.-based National Security Training Institute once noted, “It is fundamental to have an excellent security awareness program, because…guns, gates, guards? The most important resource you have is people.”
Thus, our Education and Awareness program has made tremendous inroads in helping educate the Microsoft community on how individuals can be active security partners. By being aware and using good security practices, many a threat can be identified before tragedy.
If you don’t believe that, just think of the alert street vendors in New York’s Times Square, whose keen observations helped thwart a potential bomb threat in the center of one of America’s busiest business districts.
The long and short of any security operation is this: while we are there for you, security also depends on you.
Microsoft Global Security is the Diamond Sponsor of the 2011 ASG Security Summit & Expo. Visit their Virtual Expo Booth.