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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36
CONTENTS 04 Forewords
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08 Suited for Duty 20 One mans Terrifying Ordeal: The True Story of an Express Kidnap on The Streets of London. 32 Personal Security in Hotels
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41 The perils of looking after other people 48 Zero Day Vulnerabilities: How Do You Stop a Threat You Can’t See Coming? 60 Risk Overview Russia and The World Cup 66 Taking the plunge Surviving university as a mature student 72 Keeping Your Edge: Does Fitness Matter Anymore? 76 MANCHESTER & THE U.S. MEDIA’S DANGEROUS DOUBLE STANDARD
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80 CHURCH SECURITY: THE NEW FRONTIER PT. II 87 Classifieds
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36
US Foreword It’s Summer 2017 and here we are again with another issue of The Circuit Magazine. Year after year after year, we continue to produce what we feel is THE BEST magazine in the industry regarding Close Protection and related subjects. I mean think about it, the selling point of The Circuit is that it is a magazine about the profession, made up by people actually working in the profession. If a reader wants contemporary, that’s about and contemporary as you can get. In fact, I’m writing this right now from the Front Right Seat of a tour bus headed down a stretch of highway from Arizona to Nevada. Considering I’ve had a total of 3.5 hours of sleep from last night’s assignment, this would be the perfect opportunity to catch up on some Zzzz’s (and if you’ve never had tour bus sleep, you don’t know what you are missing out on) instead, I want to make sure I get my editorial commitments to The Circuit in. So, while none of us involved in the production of the magazine are Pulitzer Prize Winners (as
the occasional misspelling might illustrate), we do try and take our time and seriously craft a periodical that is not only worth reading, but is worth REReading. And that’s the point I wanted to get at in this opener, while there are new fans of the magazine every issue, I see the subscription numbers and know we have some people that have been with us since the very beginning. If that’s you, think about the articles we have covered via news, reviews or opinion and then think if there would be any value in going back and cracking those pages open yet again to see if there is any additional insight to be gained. I’m betting big that the answer is yes. Enjoy the summer. Enjoy The Circuit. Elijah Shaw US Editor
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EDITOR FOREWORDS
Uk Foreword
Welcome to another issue of the Circuit Magazine at the start of another busy summer season in the industry. For those of you who are based in the UK, the last couple of months will have seemed a bit of a whirlwind.
Four terrorist attacks in four months, three of them coming in the last six weeks (prior to publication). On top of that we have had the Grenfell Tower fire which brought with it a large death toll which is still rising. This has caused a lot of uncertainty and fear within the capital and other areas around the country. The Government has issued advice of “Run, Hide, Tell”. This advice is for those who are unlucky enough to get caught up in the horrors of a terrorist attack.
As security professionals everyone will have an opinion on this advice. But we must remember that advice given by the government is for the many and not the few. Not everyone will have had the same training that we as professionals have had. Even those who have had many hours of training of dealing with specific incidents can clam up and freeze when such an incident takes place. Terrorist incidents will very rarely happen with warning and you will most definitely be taken by surprise.
With this being the case a great piece of advice to take heed of are from the late Jeff Coopers “Color Codes”.
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 With this being the case a great piece of advice to take heed of are from the late Jeff Coopers “Color Codes”. He used colours to talk about the mindset of how we walk around in everyday life. Used primarily for police / military training this advice can also be converted into every day civilian life. Many of you will be familiar with it but it’s such good advice that it’s worth recapping here: White In condition White, you are relaxed and unaware of what is going on around you. If you are attacked in condition white, you may very well die — unless you are lucky. I prefer to not depend on luck. Yellow In condition yellow, you remain relaxed, but are aware of who and what is around you. This
means that you are paying attention to the sights and sounds that surround you whether you are at home or moving around. You have moved your alertness to a level of attention that will prevent you from being surprised by the actions of another person. If attacked in condition Yellow, it should not come as a total surprise. Your response to the threat should have been preplanned to some extent. Being in condition Yellow has given you that little extra time to react. This allows you to run an existing plan being pro-active rather than having react to make one up whilst under immediate duress. You should always be in Yellow whenever you are in unfamiliar surroundings or among people you don’t know
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EDITOR FOREWORDS
You will be searching your subconscious mind for any similar events or training sessions you have already experienced. Orange In condition Orange, you have identified something of interest that may or may not prove to be a threat. Until determining the true nature of whatever has piqued your interest, your “radar” narrows to concentrate on the possible threat. You will remain focused on the potential threat until satisfied that no threat exists. You will be searching your subconscious mind for any similar events or training sessions you have already experienced. Looking for any “what if” situations you’ve cataloged as possible solutions should an attack take place. Red If the focus of your attention in condition Orange does something you find threatening, you will react and shift to condition Red. Condition Red changes the focus of your attention from a potential threat to a potential target or course of action.
Once you’ve shifted to condition red, you will not be surprised by your primary adversary and you are fully prepared to react. If possible, in both conditions Orange and Red, move to a position that will give you a tactical advantage. If attacked in condition Red, you should be fully prepared to react and defend yourself and are mentally ahead of the game. It us not something that is taught in schools and it is a sad situation to have to alter the mindset. However, it may be time to deliver some specific advice / training to the masses in reactions to be taken in the event of unexpected incidents. This advice, if delivered correctly, even 1-2 days per year could save many lives. Stay safe, whatever location you’re operating from and enjoy this issue of the Circuit. Shaun West UK Editor
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Suited for Duty By: Mark “Six” James CPO, EPS, CAS
When it comes to a wardrobe fit for duty rule number one, you don’t buy it, you acquire it over time. In most cases, unless you have unlimited resources this will be a slow build for most agents. To help you in developing a detail ready wardrobe I offer the below considerations for both fit and function. The first place to start is to take inventory of your existing wardrobe and find out what is appropriate for the professional image you desire to convey and what should stay home out of the business travel bag. Also, what still fits and what may need be altered if you have experienced any changes in your body composition since original purchase. This should include suits, shirts, shoes, ties and other accessories.
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Then ask yourself, “Where do I have the biggest gaps in my professional attire?” Then establish a realistic working budget and timeline to address critical items that may be missing. This may often require prioritization and discipline going forward. Whether you are truly shopping on a budget or just frugal, there are several national department stores and specialty retailers that have huge annual
SUITED FOR DUTY
Where do I have the biggest gaps in my professional attire? 09
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 or semiannual sales as well as several off-price discount stores that offer savings on a more frequent basis. With the off-price retailers, you may have to make frequent visits or look through multiple racks to find those “diamonds in the rough� as they are often clearing houses for season old inventory from many of the nationally named department stores or specialty retailers. If you normally carry a firearm, flashlight, radios or other tools you should take your tools with you to
the retailer or tailor when having your suits altered so they can be altered to accommodate your tools to eliminate printing, and destroying your concealability. Sometimes, this may require you to size up one side in the process, prior to alteration. Another consideration may involve increasing the thickness of the liner on your weapon side to reduce wear. Also, if you are relying on a suit purchased and altered prior to getting into protective services it more than likely will not fit with your current responsibilities and tools.
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SUITED FOR DUTY Proper Suit Fit When you try on a suit, you’re looking for a good fit in what’s called a “natural stance.” That means standing up straight, preferably in the dress shoes you’ll be wearing with the suit, with your arms relaxed at your side. Shoulders A well-fitted shoulder lies flat. The seam on top of the shoulder should be the same length as the bone under it, and should meet the sleeve of the suit right where your arm meets your shoulder. If the seam that connects the sleeve to the jacket is hiked up along your shoulder bone, or dangling down on your upper bicep, the jacket is never going to sit properly. Shoulders are one of the hardest parts of a jacket to adjust after construction, so don’t waste your hardearned money on a suit with an ill-fitted shoulder. Odds are you’ll never be able to get it right with postpurchase alterations. Seat The back of your trousers should be a smooth drape over the shape of your rear. A good fit in the seat
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will lie loosely against your underwear, without pulling tight against your butt, crotch or draping loosely down your thighs. A bad fit in the seat is easily identified by horizontal wrinkles just under the buttocks (caused by too tight of a fit), or by loose sags on the backs of the thighs (caused by too loose of a fit). A tailor can “take in” a seat to make it tighter in the back without much difficulty, but there’s a limit to how far he can go. If the seat was way too loose in the beginning, it may not be possible to adjust it to fit without pulling the pockets out of place. Rarely is there sufficient spare cloth inside the seat, to be “let out” very far to make the fit looser. The Pant Break The “break” is the small wrinkle caused when the top of your shoe stops your trouser cuff from falling to its full length. This should be a small, subtle feature. One horizontal dimple or crease is usually ideal. The hem should indeed rest on the top of your shoe — there needs to be contact — but it shouldn’t do much more than that
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 (cuff or no cuff is a matter of preference, organizational or geographical culture). The trouser can fall slightly longer in the back than in front, so long as it’s still above the heel of the shoe (the actual heel, not just the back of the shoe). Jacket Closure In non-protective environments, when you are wearing a suit and standing, you should have the jacket buttoned. Often in protective services our suit jackets are unbuttoned. However, in the trying-on/fit process you need to check how the front of the jacket closes over your body. Close a single-breasted jacket with only one button when you’re testing the fit, even if it’s a three-button jacket. You’re looking to see if the two sides meet neatly without the lapels hanging
forward off your body (too loose) or the lower edges of the jacket flaring out like a skirt (too tight). The button should close without strain, and there should be no wrinkles radiating out from the closure. A little bit of an opening at the bottom of the suit is fine, but the two halves beneath the button shouldn’t pull apart so far that you can see a large triangle of shirt above your trousers. Ladies suit jackets will often tamper at the waist and flare at the hips consistent with appropriate body types. Sleeve Length “A half-inch of linen” has often been a standard guideline for the relationship between a suit jacket and the shirt worn under it. That means about half an inch of the shirt cuff should be visible beyond the jacket
Planning your time effectively will make the course much more manageable and significantly increase your chances of success. 12
SUITED FOR DUTY cuff. While that is merely a guideline, what is a major fashion miss, is when the suit rises above the shirt cuff entirely. The seam where the shirt cuff joins the shirt sleeve should never be visible. Similarly, the jacket sleeve should never hide the shirt sleeve entirely. At least a small band of shirt cuff should always be visible. While all body types are slightly different historically for most men, the jacket sleeve stops just above the large bone in the wrist. Jacket Length A suit jacket should fall past the waist and drape over the top of the curve formed by the buttocks. An ideal fit will cover you down to the point where your butt starts to curve back inward, and stop there. However, anywhere in that general region is acceptable. Another good guideline are the hands. With your arms relaxed at your side the hem of the jacket should hit right around the middle of your hand, or just past where the fingers meet the palm. If the hem of the jacket is sitting on top of the butt, with a small little flare in the back, it’s too short. If it falls past the bottom
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entirely, longer than the arms, it’s too long. The hem can be adjusted upward without much trouble, but if you go too far the front pockets start to look out of proportion, so don’t count on much adjustment here. Jacket Collar Your jacket collar should rest against your shirt collar, which in turn should rest against the back of your neck. These should touch lightly, without significant gaps in between. Vents Vents open or closed is often a matter of style preference. However, if you carry gear (radios, handcuffs, flashlights, firearm etc.) toward the rear, I recommend you have the vents closed so it does not expose your tools. Materials My general preference is lightweight tropical wools, that breath and give. As I have found they are the easiest to maintain and perform best when traveling whether you fold or roll when packing. They can be worn in both slightly hot and cooler temperatures. It is a softer fabric and tends
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If they don’t fit in the store they won’t fit later.
of times that the worsted wool has been twisted as it was being made. Generally, the higher the number, the finer and lighter the cloth will be, as well as the more expensive it’s likely to be. The more lightweight it is (the higher the number), the better the suit is for the warmer months of the year. The only drawback to super wools is that they don’t keep their shape very well and require extra care, and they won’t last very long if worn Super Wool regularly. So, if all I had Suit fabrics are sometimes was $500 to put towards a classified as Super 100s, suit, you are often better 140s, 160s and so on. The numbers refer to the number finding two off priced suits to be wrinkle free. Wool is the most popular suit fabric choice due to its versatility and its ability to maintain its aesthetic appeal. However, the operator must take into account the seasonal appropriateness for the environment they operate in. I do have a couple of cotton and linen suits that I sometimes will rotate in for very warm and humid environments.
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SUITED FOR DUTY that are super 100s at $250 - $300 each than one super 160 at $500 - $600 regular retail, to better rotate the wear. Shoes A basic rule for me when it comes to purchasing shoes, “If they don’t fit in the store they won’t fit later.” You can’t afford nor do you often have time to rely on a break in period. Shoes are a matter of preference but when it comes to protective services I prefer lace ups to slip-ons for men for security. For ladies’ pumps or slip-ons with a low heel. Two must-haves, the Black Cap Toe (Black Pumps or slip-ons for female agents) and Brown Leather Brogues (Blue Pumps for female agents). Black cap toe oxfords are the corner stone of your shoe collection. They work well for most occasions. A pair of formal black oxfords will carry you
from a formal affair at the White House to a multitude of various protection details. Brown leather brogues in a medium to dark brown pair can add versatility with any suit color but black and will still work well dressed or relaxed. Critical Components of the Shoe Heel: The heel is the part of the sole that raises the rear of the shoe in relation to the front. The heel seat is the top of the heel that touches the upper, this is typically shaped to match the form of the upper. The part of the heel that comes in contact with the ground is known as the top piece. Outsole: The exposed part of the sole that is contact with the ground. As with all parts of the shoe, outsoles are made from a variety of materials. The properties of a good outsole need are: grip, durability, and
Black cap toe oxfords are the corner stone of your shoe collection. 15
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 water resistance (where necessary). While leather outsoles often add increased stability, rubber outsoles offend add increased comfort. I often opt for leather outsoles and then have a thin layer of rubber added to the outsole for increased traction. Sometimes referred to as power-soles by some cobblers. The advantage of leather outsoles and heels is often cost savings over time, as you can have them re-soled. While the advantage of rubber is often some initial cost savings and enhanced comfort but rarely can they be re-soled to extend wear and life of the shoe.
is the part of the shoe upon which the sock liner rests and is commonly referred to as the last. The insole adds comfort for the wearer, while hiding the join between the upper. The softer the insole, the less torsional stability the shoe will have. The firmer the insole, the more structure and stability a shoe will have. Another trick of the trade for enhanced comfort is to add after-market insoles like Dr. Scholl, Superfeet or Powerstep.
Upper: The part of the shoe that cover the toes, the top of the foot, the sides of the foot, and the back of the heel. It is attached to the outsole of a shoe by the welt. Depending on the style of the shoe, the upper of a shoe can be cut or Midsole: The midsole molded as a single piece or is designed to provide it can be comprised of many cushioning and shock pieces stitched together. For absorption particularly in people with wider feet in rubber soled shoes. the front, shoes with wider or square toe boxes often The firmer the midsole, provide enhanced comfort. the stiffer and heavier it What I often look for is will make the shoe. Soft midsoles, on the other hand, quality leather that takes a good shine. improve shock absorption but wear more quickly. Common Brands: Johnston Murphy, Cole Haan, Kenneth Insole: The insole is the Cole, Rockport foundation of the shoe. It
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SUITED FOR DUTY
I prefer a traditional tie with a Windsor knot and my go to material is silk.
Shirt When it comes to shirts, most people are generally all in or a blend. Consider 100% cotton shirts as they breath better and hold their shape and starch better than blended shirts. Blended shirts typically reduce wrinkling and often travel better. Shirt shoulders should fit similar to suit shoulders and shirt cuffs should also be wide enough to accommodate the type of watch you normally wear. Shirt sleeve length should hang approximately a ½ inch below the suit sleeve. The proper collar fit should allow you the ability to place one to two fingers comfortably in between your neck and the collar at any point.
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Ties I prefer a traditional tie with a Windsor knot and my go to material is silk. As a professional in protective services, I stray way from the old bouncer way of thinking that clip-ons are preferred in the event of a confrontation (it allows the tie to pull off). As a protection specialist, you should be as well versed in de-escalation techniques as you are in managing your personal space and monitoring people in contact distance. As for tie length, ideally the tip of your tie should end in the middle of your belt buckle or waistband. Belts Your belt (and watch band)
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I prefer polarized lenses ideally with a UV rating of 300 or greater. (particularly the Aviators and Wayfarer) models provide outstanding performance functionality the brand name and silhouettes often shout out military, law enforcement, security or protection services, when I want to lower the protection profile, I often opt for more functional fashion brands like Banana Republic, Porsche Design, EyeDope or lower profile lenses from Ray Ban or Oakley. Also, avoid wearing sunglasses indoors as it looks amateurish and Sunglasses provides little performance I prefer polarized lenses functionality. Often, ideally with a UV rating sunglasses inside may mask of 300 or greater. They the reflection of edged provide enhanced eye weapons or firearms. Keep protection, reduce glare, in mind that fashion should enhance contrast, reduce eyestrain and increase visual never trump functionality, and when in doubt ask if clarity. While traditional the US Secret Service would performance manufactures wear that? like Oakley, and Ray Ban should match the color of your shoes, be made of sturdy leather and should be one size larger than your waist size. If you have a size 34 waist, consider buying a size 36 belt, it allows the belt to better merchandise into the belt loops and enhances aesthetic appeal, particularly when the suit jacket is off. There is nothing more unattractive than a belt on its last notch.
For additional safety tips visit www.pantherprotectionservices. com. Mark “Six� James is Founder and Executive Director of Panther Protection Services, LLC. He is an internationally published author, keynote speaker, security consultant to educational institutions and frequent contributor to a number of print, broadcast and online media, and the author of a number of security, firearm and protection publications. Panther Protection Services is a full-service protection agency focusing on Risk and Crisis Mitigation, Protective Services, Self-Defense Training, and Firearm Instruction.
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One mans Terrifying Ordeal:
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By: Mark Deane
KIDNAP ON THE STREETS OF LONDON’
The True Story of an Express Kidnap on The Streets of London. The case-study that follows tells the story of Adam, a young professional heading back from a bar early one morning in a nice suburb of Greater London, UK.
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 This fascinating true story told for the first time in this article identifies that the risk of this threat exists throughout the world and that situations can develop, and deteriorate quickly. If you want to learn more about avoiding express kidnap and surviving Express kidnap I will be writing about these in upcoming issues. Express Kidnap — A Global Threat Business Travelers are often cognizant of the risks to personal safety when traveling to cities classed as high-risk or non-permissive, however, threats such as Express Kidnap can (and do) manifest themselves in any city throughout the world. Express Kidnap is a method of abduction by criminals, usually quick, violent in nature and where a small ransom is either demanded, normally from the family or employer of the victim,
or the victim is forced to withdraw money from their ATM account. Often Express Kidnap gangs will orchestrate a scenario, either through pre-attack planning, or dynamic assault of an individual or group. The most common method is to forcefully gain and maintain control of the victim/s inside a vehicle. Then drive the victim/s around to different ATMs, and have them provide their PINs (normally through intimidation and force), withdrawing the largest amount/s possible. Surprise Attack Adam was walking back to his home in Clapham Common, an affluent section of South London after having spent the evening with friends in the local bars and nightclubs. At approximately 0400hrs that morning, after realizing he had no money left for a taxi or bus decided to walk the short distance home (approximately one mile)
On the floor, Adam fast realized he was dealing with multiple attackers who were beating him with fists and kicking him. 22
KIDNAP ON THE STREETS OF LONDON’ through a part of Clapham he knew very well and had lived in for two years. Adam later stated ‘I felt relaxed, completely safe and had no fear for my personal safety’.
breathe. Adam’s pockets were emptied while still being held “I remember the guy in the back holding me down was very aggressive, smelt of alcohol and was going through my wallet The first he knew of the asking me for all of my attack was being punched pin numbers to the credit to the ground, his assailants cards”. Adam decided to likely coming from behind. tell the truth and gave all Adam had been drinking, of his pin numbers hoping although not heavily that he would be released and through his own as soon as they had his admission had no situational money. Adam recalls “ The awareness and had switched vehicle kept on stopping and off to his surroundings. there would be movement in and out of the car, doors On the floor, Adam fast opening and closing. I realized he was dealing assumed this was the front with multiple attackers who passenger getting in and were beating him with fists out of the vehicle to use the and kicking him. He curled ATMs’. Adam’s assumptions into a ball on the ground were correct as this was and just attempted to later confirmed during minimize the damage that the subsequent police may ensue. Adam heard investigation. a vehicle pull swiftly up to them, he was dragged to The Situation Escalates his feet and bundled into Quickly the back seats, where he During this process, his for the first time managed captor in the back was to see that there was one becoming more and more male driver, one front seat aggressive, seemingly more passenger and one male agitated. He put a gun with him in the backseat to Adam’s head and then that had him restrained in a repeatedly hit him with it. headlock. His now captors Adam recalls “I remember placed a bag over his head, being very scared by this and held him in a tight as even if he didn’t kill me headlock face down making a negligent discharge of the it very difficult for Adam to firearm would have done
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the job”. It transpired that the agitation of the captors was because they could not determine which pin number was for which ATM card and possibly thought that Adam was lying to them. “I wasn’t lying” states Adam “ but these guys seemed not only drunk but also very stupid and completely disorganized”. First Escape Attempt The driving around lasted roughly one hour, with the situation growing increasingly tense. Adam was repeatedly struck around the head with the
pistol and the assailant in the rear seat was becoming more and more violent. Adam remembers: “There was very loud music being played, violent Gangster style rap about killing people. The Guy who held me was saying to me — this is my music, this is what we are going to do to you”. This is the point at which Adam decided he had to try and do something. But just then another person joined them in the rear of the vehicle. Adam is unsure whether this was the front passenger or an entirely new person. The beatings and threats
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KIDNAP ON THE STREETS OF LONDON’
continued but then the vehicle stopped and the new rear passenger exited. This was Adam’s chance he thought: “I decided to pretend to pass out in the hope that the captor would loosen his grip. He did a little bit so, summoning up the courage, I tried to jump out of the moving vehicle, but as soon as I tensed and moved the captor overpowered me and stabbed me in the leg with a flick knife that I had not previously seen. Which put a stop to my plan pretty quickly, and painfully ”
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By this point, Adam had been driven around for approximately one and a half hours and suddenly the vehicle stopped. As it was mid summer it was now light and Adam had moved his head just a fraction to see a tiny bit through the bag over his head. He saw a Black male in his late teens with a pierced ear and a baseball cap; this was the driver. Adam moved ever so slightly and caught a glimpse of his aggressive and agitated captor holding him in the rear of the vehicle: ‘he was a black male approximately
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I am chained to a radiator, in a couple of hours about to be shot because I was too weak to put up a fight. 20 years old, and had a tight woolen jumper on — both the rear passenger and driver were writing text messages on an old Nokia style phone and passing it between each other. “I presumed this was as the driver did not want to speak as only the guy in the back had spoken throughout my ordeal — maybe he had a distinctive accent.” Adam had a small window with which to make mental notes, he recalls remembering that the driving had been very smooth and controlled and started wondering whether they were professionals and that this could be the end of him. He had already given over all of his possessions, pin numbers, and cash and now, nearly two hours in, there was no sign of being released. “ This was the pivotal moment for me in the ordeal” Adam noted. “I began to deliberate over the best path to take. There was one part of me that desperately hoped nothing
would happen and that I would be let go shortly. There was another part of me that thought: ‘ won’t I feel like a complete idiot if I am chained to a radiator in a couple of hours about to be shot because I was too weak to put up a fight.” Adam continues to identify how he felt. “ As you can imagine there was a huge argument inside my head. It is hard to explain how difficult it was to make the decision. I was incredibly fearful of what might happen. As a guy who only ever ventured into a gym to find a vending machine the decision to take on three (maybe four) South London gangsters, one of whom had already stabbed me and I knew had a pistol and the other two or three god knows what they had, it was a tough decision. I remember very clearly recalling something my father had told me years ago. It seems strange thinking about it now but it was very clear to me then.
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KIDNAP ON THE STREETS OF LONDON’ I remember him telling me the story how he saved a child trapped under a huge piece of concrete, the adrenaline gave him superhuman strength, and this stuck with me’.
the ordeal — he had been suffocating slowly under the bag, he had been stabbed in the leg and badly beaten around the head but he was willing all of his adrenaline for the next opportunity.
Second Escape Attempt Adam started screaming at himself internally willing the adrenaline and gaining the courage to initiate his attack. “I screamed and screamed like you wouldn’t believe without making a sound. Still thinking about this over a year later this is the one part that brings back the most emotion,” Adam recalls. Trying to give the appearance of being unconscious Adam was drawing on everything he had endured throughout
The vehicle stopped and the car door opened, his captors dragged him from the vehicle and at that moment he chose to escape. “I ripped the bag from my head and punched the first guy in the face. I have no idea which guy it was, but after that, I just ran but I was heavily disoriented and took a bad route. One of the guys grabbed my legs and the other two threw punches and kicks until I was on the ground, and then proceeded to rain
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kicks and punches on my face and body. They were going crazy stamping on my head and punching me, but I was screaming for help and punching back. Then one of the attackers tried to gag me by putting his fist in my mouth, I bit through his hand and then I blacked out’. Adam was beaten unconscious and dragged away by his captors. The screaming and shouting for help had however gained some attention.
Two emergency calls to the police were received from local residents. The captors now dragged Adam up a flight of stairs to a residential block of apartments and took him into a small apartment. Adam recalls: �I woke up slumped in the hallway of a small apartment with the same three people as the vehicle, within seconds of waking up my mind was clear: I was about to be
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KIDNAP ON THE STREETS OF LONDON’ murdered, so I decided to act immediately. Although I had zero plan or forethought I just knew I had to do something“. Now or Never Adam stood up and immediately attacked the nearest captor, punching him in the face, and bolted for the front door. Upon opening the door the other assailants had reached him and, whether they meant to or not, ended up throwing him down the stairs in the ensuing tussle. “I remember sliding head first down the stairs and feeling elated, I was getting a head start and my body was so numb from adrenaline and all of the beatings I felt no pain. I landed at the bottom of the stairs and immediately ran.’. Upon exiting the apartment building Adam ran through the car park, shouting loudly for help to attract attention and ran approximately 500 meters to the nearest public phone where he immediately dialed 999 (The UK Emergency number) and shouted that he had been kidnapped.
Within minutes armed police and an ambulance were on the scene and his ordeal was finally over. It appeared that the shouting had gained attention and most likely scared the hostiles from pursuing. Case Study Analysis There is no mistaking — this was a horrific ordeal for Adam that could have ended very badly indeed. He showed resilience, maintained composure to build a picture of the gravity of his situation and acted decisively when he felt his life was in grave danger. There is also no mistaking however, that some sensible control measures could have prevented this: retaining sufficient cash to pay for a taxi (or indeed paid by card), refraining from such a late return home when the streets are empty and above all recognizing that the combination of the late hour and his condition would make him vulnerable, and therefore adjust his plan. Certain lessons on travel safety can be taught and it may be worth for
The captors now dragged Adam up a flight of stairs to a residential block of apartments and took him into a small apartment.
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I remember sliding head first down the stairs and feeling elated, I was getting a head start and my body was so numb from adrenaline and all of the beatings I felt no pain. Organizations to consider utilizing Travel Safety Training such as Explore SecureÂŽ Many business travelers return back to hotels late, sometimes after social time with clients (a few alcoholic drinks may even be imbibed), and sometimes on their own. In non-local environments, this places you at increased risk of being targeted. Avoiding Express Kidnap This case study serves as a reminder that the risks we face when traveling in less permissive environments can just as easily manifest themselves closer to home. The best practice method to avoid Express Kidnap is to act early to avoid becoming embroiled in an incident. The very best way
of doing this when traveling on business is by utilizing trusted drivers and vehicles, either on-call, or with you at all times. Services such as ExecSecure. Removing the risk of being left to walk home, stood on the street waiting for options to appear, utilizing public transport, or becoming impatient with waiting so taking the chance and jumping into any Taxi or ride share service. If traveling to areas where there is a specific risk of Express Kidnap and other opportunistic crime then it is prudent to consider speaking to Executive Protection and Secure Ground Transportation service providers such as www.ets-riskmanagement. com
Mark Deane, the CEO of ETS Risk Management Inc. and ExecSecure™ Inc. Mark has managed the security for multiple Fortune 500 clients major event corporate packages, including tier one sponsors for the Olympics and Paralympics.
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STRESS:
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Personal Security in Hotels
By: Orlando Wilson
It is inevitable that in the close protection business you will spend time in domestic and international hotels of some description. Always do your research online before booking a hotel; research crime statistics, ratings from others who have stayed there and check out the area with Google Earth. If your hotel has been booked for you by your company still research the place and if you find potential issues get them to change it.
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A lot of hotels do not have security personnel, a lot of times they give the security job title to the concierge staff so, on paper they have security 33
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 Over the years I have stay and worked in a wide variety or hotels from fivestar to minus-star and boutique to roach house. The standard or security in most hotels is very low and it is not hard for non-hotel residents to go up onto the hotel floors. It’s concerning that most travelers expect and believe the hotels they are staying in to be secure, I tell my clients they should take the same precautions inside hotels as they would on the street. A lot of hotels do not have security personnel, a lot of times they give the security job title to the concierge staff so, on paper they have security personnel and can keep the insurance costs down for the hotel. Even in large five-star hotels they usually only have one security person on duty at a time. In my experience, the standard of hotel security personnel can range from good to appalling. There is one large high profile London hotel where the only reason they have a security team is to keep their insurance costs down. The hotel has 14 miles of corridor, over 1000 rooms, multiple entrances and there is only one
unmotivated security person on at a time- in a place like this you are on your own. Security is usually low on a hotels managements list of priorities, as they are more interested in keeping their rooms full. Most hotels will only do the minimum to comply with local security regulations and keep their insurers happy. One story that highlights the failings of hotel security happened in the late 90’s at a five-star hotel on the exclusive Sloane Street in central London. The hotel policy was that when the female maids were cleaning the guest’s rooms they had to leave the room doors open for their own personal security, they were not supposed to be in a room alone with a guest. An experienced hotel thief was in the hotel and walking the floors; he was dressed in a decent suit with a brief case and looked very corporate. He entered a room which was being cleaned and ask the maid to finish up as he wanted to take a shower, the maid thinking the thief was the guest who was staying in the room finished and left. In a lot of five-star hotels
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This guy was a professional and he did not finish there. He telephoned the hotel reception from the room phone and told them he had forgotten the combination to the safe in the room. Guests forgetting combinations and safe’s malfunctioning is something that happens quite often.
staff won’t challenge guests as it is not polite to do so, it’s all about service. Now the thief was in the room and took anything of value, this guy was a professional and he did not finish there. He telephoned the hotel reception from the room phone and told them he had forgotten the combination to the safe in the room, guest forgetting combinations and safe’s malfunctioning is something that happens quite often. So, reception got the duty security guard to go up and open the safe for the thief; the security guard believed the thief was a guest as he was in the room semi-dressed and watching TV. The guard opened the safe told the thief how to reprogram the combination and politely left room. The thief then emptied the safe and left the hotel. This happened during the day, professional hotel thieves usually operate during the day when hotel guests are out sightseeing or doing business. When the Japanese guests who were staying in the room returned in the evening they found all their valuables were gone and were not
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 very happy, especially when they found out that the hotel security staff had assisted the thief in the robbery. It use to amuse me when I was working in the five-star hotels in central London how everything on the surface seemed to be of the highest standard but if you looked behind the scenes it was another story. Several of the
top hotels were using a temp agency that was renowned for using illegal immigrants to supply them with back of house staff such as dish washers etc. This tempagency was cheap and it’s all about saving pennies right? There would Royalty and Politicians upstairs eating Beluga caviar and undocumented workers downstairs opening the tins.
An experienced hotel thief was in the hotel and walking the floors; he was dressed in a decent suit with a brief case and looked very corporate.
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PERSONAL SECURITY IN HOTELS I was once talking with a hotel security manager in London who had just taken over the security for a very prominent five-star hotel. He was stressed because he had gone through computer that was used for programming staff key cards and found there were over 50 master keys for hotel issued, that were valid and a lot unaccounted for. There should only have been about four master key cards on issue for the general manager, duty manager, security manager and duty security. The reason there were so many master keys on issue was because it was easier to program a card for all areas rather than the specific floors and rooms the individual staff members needed. Most hotels use electronic key cards but how many reprogram locks and void lost key cards or those guests have not handed in when they checked out. So, combine the fact that anyone can walk into most hotels and they might have a valid key card they have found or bought from an employee how secure do you think you are in most hotels, same as if you’re on the street.
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Another example of hotel crime took place several years ago to my business partner in Caracas who was providing security for a lady who was visiting for several weeks; he picked her up from the airport and was escorting her around the city. She was staying in a very good hotel and when he was not with her she was in her hotel suite. After a week or so this lady started to get threatening text messages on her cell phone from someone asking for a large sum of money. This was baffling to us as the lady had been keeping a very low profile so, an operation was initiated and the potential extortionist entrapped. It turned out the extortionist worked in the hotel, he was the Fedex man and got the ladies cell phone number and details from a package she had received. This wannabe criminal was fired from his job and the police would have been happy to arrest him but the lady thought him losing his job was enough punishment and did not press charges, he was very lucky. So, hopefully you are beginning to see that security is not high on
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A lot of shady business takes place in hotels and they are choice locations for prostitutes, thieves and fraudsters. most hotels priority list. A lot of shady business takes place in hotels and they are choice locations for prostitutes, thieves and fraudsters. When selecting a hotel find one that provides you with comfort and security, I don’t need five-star services so, tend to choose the smaller and quieter places where it is easy for strangers and nonresidents to be spotted.
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Security considerations for a hotel stay • Complete a threat assessment on the hotel before your stay. • Check to ensure the hotel is not in or close to any high crime areas • Make sure the hotel is not near any other building that could have a threat • against them such as police or military barracks, etc. • Have a security plan • and make sure everyone traveling with you knows it. • • Liaise with hotel staff
and find out what security procedures they have in place, if they have cameras where are they located, do they work and are they recording. Try to check out other guests, you don’t want to be staying near a highrisk VIP’s, as if they are targeted you might get caught up in the incident. Your rooms should be above the second floor and at the end of a corridor; high enough so nothing can be thrown through the window but still within easy reach of fire fighters’ ladders. And at the end of a corridor so you are close to fire escapes and will not have to many people walking past your room. Locate possible criminal surveillance positions around the exterior of the hotel and monitor them. Keep an eye out for suspicious people in the public areas of the hotel. Search all rooms before occupation for electronic
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PERSONAL SECURITY IN HOTELS surveillance devices or contraband that could have been left by the previous guest. • If possible let no one into your rooms unattended, use the do not disturb sign to keep out the maids. • Do not let anyone in your room without confirming who they are with the hotel reception. Think about it, if a man turned up at your door in a security uniform, with an ID badge claiming to be hotel security and needed to talk to you would you open the door, most people would.
Your rooms should be above the second floor and at the end of a corridor
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Anyone can buy a uniform and you can make ID cards on your computer, always confirm someone’s ID with the hotel reception. • Work out how you can secure the hotel room, check to make sure the windows are lockable, if there is a balcony could someone climb or drop onto it. See if there is anything you can use to block the door such as a chair or table, if it won’t stop an intruder it should at least be able to wake you up. • There are numerous small and affordable security
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Make plans for evacuating the hotel in the event of an emergency, remember do not use obvious evacuation routes as they could be booby trapped or ambushed.
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alarms on the market that can be used for a hotel room ranging from door and window alarms to motion detectors. If there is an incident are you going to fight or flee, is there a suitable safe room such as a bathroom and how long will you need to hold out until help arrives? Make plans for evacuating the hotel in the event of an emergency, remember do not use obvious evacuation routes as they could be booby trapped or ambushed. Check that your mobile/ cell phone works and you are not in a signal dead spot. Will you have internet access and will it be
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secure. Do not leave valuables in your hotel room; put them in the main hotel safe, if possible. Criminals can get master keys for hotel room safes. Do not throw sensitive information in the trash cans, soak and throw it away outside of the hotel or flush it down the toilet If your room has a fridge, do not use any ice cubes, as they could be spiked or poisoned as can any snacks and drinks. Always know where the nearest hospital is, what first aid equipment and first aid trained staff does the hotel have. Try to blend in with the environment and make plans for every emergency
Orlando Wilson has worked in the security industry internationally for over 25 years. He has become accustomed to the types of complications that can occur, when dealing with international law enforcement agencies, organized criminal and Mafia groups. He is the chief consultant for Risks Inc. and based in Miami but spends much of his time traveling and providing a wide range of kidnapping prevention and tactical training services to private and government clients.
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THE PERILS OF LOOKING AFTER OTHER PEOPLE
The perils of looking after other people Do you ever feel bogged down by other people’s demands? Or as though, no matter how much you help someone, it’s just not working?
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 Do you have people in your life who make you feel guilty – but you’re not sure how or why? You could be caught in a drama triangle! In some ways, the close protection operative has similar motivating forces to the psychotherapist. We are all in the helping professions, making people feel safer and calmer at difficult times in their lives. It’s a satisfying job that usually makes us feel good about ourselves and our abilities to help.
Psychiatrist and Traumatologist Paul Valent described these as Survival Strategies. When faced with distressed people, we have an urge to Rescue, Protect and Provide for them.
As social beings, humans developed ways of supporting the members of our “clan.” This is a hard-wired response intended to keep our social community strong and protect its more vulnerable members. Psychiatrist and Traumatologist Paul Valent described these as Survival Strategies. When faced with distressed people, we have an urge to Rescue, Protect and Provide for them. This should be a relatively simple interaction – “person in need” is helped by “rescuer” leading to everyone feeling better as the problem is solved. There are biological changes, such as feel good hormones being released
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THE PERILS OF LOOKING AFTER OTHER PEOPLE (in both the person in need and the helper) that make this a satisfying encounter. Being the “rescuer” feels empowering and we may become the go-to person in our family that is implicitly given responsibility for nurturing or protecting our own “clan.” However, sometimes this interaction becomes unhelpful and even damaging. We can all feel overly responsible and may become drawn into very dysfunctional human interactions. Peril number 1: The person in need doesn’t want to “get better” The drama triangle (first described by Stephen Karpman in 1968) is really common and you may well notice it in many of your relationships!
– “poor me!” – and don’t feel able to take action or make decisions to change their situation. They will usually look for someone to blame and the pay-off is that they don’t have to take responsibility for themselves. The persecutor – the persecutor is the powerful, critical and oppressive party. It may be a person or even an institution such as a government department. The persecutor blames the victim – “It’s all your fault” – and this reinforces their helplessness. The pay-off is that the persecutor feels superior.
The rescuer then rides in – “I can fix things” – and believes they can make the victim feel better. They enjoy the feeling this gives them. They take responsibility for how the There are 3 roles in the victim feels but this further drama triangle – victim, reinforces the victim’s state persecutor and rescuer – of dependency on others. and the triangle is all about The pay-off is that the personal responsibility, rescuer feels empowered power and the shifting roles and capable and this is that are played. often a cover for their own anxieties as it boosts their The victim - this person is self-esteem. It’s easier feeling helpless, oppressed to sort someone else’s and disempowered. They problems whilst ignoring feel sorry for themselves our own issues!
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The victim doesn’t want to take personal responsibility and will lose their pay-off if they have to become active and empowered.
At different times in our lives, we can all display various elements of all of these positions, with each role having strengths and limitations. Most people have a role they are more comfortable with and you may recognise these amongst the people you know. We usually learn our roles during childhood. Some relationships are even built on the subconscious agreement that one person is the rescuer and the other is the victim. Both get their needs met and provided the status quo doesn’t change, and both remain happy with the situation, this can go on for years. Shifting roles The drama triangle really becomes damaging when the roles are extreme and players don’t get their pay-off or switch roles unexpectedly. The victim doesn’t want to take personal responsibility and will lose their pay-off if they have to become active and empowered. The rescuer will inevitably become overwhelmed by the victim’s inaction and ever increasing demands. The rescuer stops feeling good about their actions
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 and capabilities and loses their pay-off. At this point the rescuer may switch role to victim – poor me. No matter how hard I try, people keep demanding of me and I can’t change that! This is a typical martyr position.
how they feel. Signs that the drama triangle is being acted out include:
• Over-involvement in other people’s problems – taking too much responsibility and always stepping into the rescuer role • Feeling disempowered and Alternatively, the rescuer unable to help – stepping may switch to persecutor, into the victim role get angry and blame the • Feeling cynical and angry victim for not getting better. – becoming the persecutor The victim now has a new • Any negative emotions persecutor and will either that you can’t explain look for a new rescuer when considering or use guilt to bring the relationships you have rescuer back in line! with other people. Or the victim may switch into persecutor and blame the rescuer for not helping enough! The rescuer feels helpless (switch to victim) or angry (switch to persecutor). If the rescuer angrily blames the persecutor for the victim’s woes, the persecutor may feel ashamed and lose their pay-off of superiority, switching role to become the victim. It all becomes very manipulative with nobody taking the correct level of personal responsibility for
Peril number 2: The problem can’t be fixed Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we are unable to help the person in need even though they really want help. Examples can be when we are helping someone through a terminal illness or some other distressing situation where we are genuinely helpless and unable to “fix” things. That’s when we become at risk of developing secondary traumatic stress such as vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue. This can also happen in a professional role where we are faced with a seemingly
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THE PERILS OF LOOKING AFTER OTHER PEOPLE never ending succession of problems to fix but are not taking time to look after our own needs. This can ultimately lead to burnout. Signs can include • Clouded judgement or a lack of perspective • General stress symptoms such as sleep disturbance, digestive upsets, racing
heart • An inability to switch off or relax – or feeling guilty when we try to • A loss of pleasure and professional satisfaction It’s important to accept that secondary trauma happens – it is not a sign of weakness or a professional failure.
Find out more about: Transactional analysis www.ericberne.com/transactional-analysis/ Survival strategies www.paulvalent.com/publicationtype/survival-strategies-presentations/ The drama triangle www.karpmandramatriangle.com/
Dr. Liz Royle is an international speaker and author who specialises in providing psychological trauma consultancy and training for high risk organisations. She was a founder Board member for the UK Psychological Trauma Society and leads the Uniformed Services Task Force on behalf of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
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Zero Day Vulnerabilities: How Do You Stop a Threat You Can’t See Coming?
By: Matt Williams
This past March, WikiLeaks dumped 8,761 CIA documents collectively known as “Vault 7.” These documents contained information about what was essentially the government agency’s armory of cyber threats.
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There’s no better time than now to dive into the world of zero day exploits.’ 49
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 They included malware, viruses and Trojans used for espionage purposes. More importantly, they had information about zero day vulnerabilities the CIA had been using to hack computers, tablets, smartphones and other devices for intelligence gathering purposes. Frighteningly, all of it was made available to hackers in one fell swoop. Wired called it “a one-stop guide to zero day exploits.”
infamous examples of them, and perhaps most importantly, provides best practices for how to deal with these elusive threats. Part 1: The Evolution of Zero Days
A Sinister and Growing Cyber Threat A zero day threat is a vulnerability that developers and security researchers have known about for less than a day. In many cases, these threats are first identified by On the bright side, cyber penetration testers and white security researchers hats, which gives them time have access to the same to issue emergency patches. information, which means In other cases, such as the they have some time to steel CIA example, they’re leaked, the rest of us against any which puts the good guys and fallout that could ensue from the bad guys on even footing. these previously undisclosed cyber weapons. Nevertheless, Then, there are occasions these zero day threats are out in which hackers find the in the open now, and they can vulnerability first. They can thereby exploit the flaw in be used against us. code for nefarious purposes, and in doing so, incidentally With that in mind, there’s tip off researchers of its no better time than now to existence. dive into the world of zero day exploits. This post looks In the past few years, the at how zero days behave, prevalence of these threats assesses some of the most
In many cases, these threats are first identified by penetration testers and white hats, which gives them time to issue emergency patches. 50
ZERO DAY VULNERABILITIES has spiked. In 2012, 14 zero day vulnerabilities were discovered. This number jumped to 23 in 2013, and then inched up to 24 in 2014. But in 2015 – the most recent year for data – 24 became 54, which is the equivalent of a 125 percent year-over-year increase. Part of the reason for this increase, according to Ars Technica, is that in 2015, a spyware contractor known as The Hacking Team was infiltrated. Among the casualties were six thenundisclosed zero day threats.
being sources of zero day threats, improved its patching speed. Common sense tells us that this is a good thing, and in a way, it is. However, Adobe still accounted for 19 percent of the year’s zero days, according to Symantec. The faster these holes get patched, the quicker cyber attackers come back to find new ones. It’s worth noting that Adobe Flash is no longer supported by Google, Mozilla, Facebook and most other prominent internet technology companies.
Perhaps even more ironic than a firm called “The Hacking Team” getting hacked is that Adobe Flash, and other programs that are known for
Building on this irony, the targets of zero day threats aren’t companies with poor security posture. Rather, according to a comprehensive
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These brand new threats are by far some of the most difficult cyber attacks to defend against. Half the time, we never see them coming. study about zero day threats – researched and written by the RAND Corporation – zero day exploits are primarily used against organizations that are diligent about patching for newly discovered threats. Companies that procrastinate on applying existing patches are the low-hanging fruit since they can be breached using older, simpler vulnerabilities. In other words, as companies improve their overall computer management, zero day exploits may actually
become more popular. This makes perfect sense upon closer examination: If hackers can’t use known vulnerabilities against organizations, then they’ll have to find new, unknown, and more complex ones. That’s exactly what they’re doing. These brand new threats are by far some of the most difficult cyber attacks to defend against. Half the time, we never see them coming. Even when we do, we are too late.
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ZERO DAY VULNERABILITIES starts as a phishing scam involving Word Documents sent via email. This type of social engineering is par for the course in today’s cyberthreat landscape. But in this case, all the user needs to do is click on the .rtf attachment. This tactic departs from macro-malware methods, which require the user to enable macros for the malware to unpack its payload.
Zero day threats are becoming more prevalent. Discovering the Vulnerability First Helps, But It’s Not a Panacea In many cases, hackers will sniff out a vulnerability before the white hats do. The most recent example of this occurred after a cyber security firm announced April 8, 2017 that hackers had been exploiting a zero day vulnerability in Microsoft Word since January. The attack
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With this new exploit (called CVE-2017-0199), opening the document automatically triggers a remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) API. This allows the hacker to connect to Word via a remote server, and then download a .hta file. Just like that, the hacker will have access to the infected endpoint. According to DarkReading, cyber criminals have already used this access to distribute the notorious Dridex banking Trojan. This is hardly the first time hackers have leveraged vulnerabilities before they made it on the good guys’ radar. One Internet Explorer bug from 2013 was only discovered after researchers found evidence that cyber criminals had already used on multiple occasions to break into Windows PCs. According
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 to security researcher Brian Krebs, the actual fix, MS13008, was released two weeks after the first signs of foul play were detected as an emergency patch. During those two weeks, it was difficult to say how many more businesses and users were affected by the vulnerability or to put a value on the amount of productivity that was lost in remediation efforts. To be certain, finding the threat first is the best way to make sure an emergency patch takes less than two weeks to deliver (or in the case of CVE-2017-0199, it took three months). Even then, there are no guarantees. There were plenty of examples of zero days that hackers used to their advantage mere hours after they were announced, whether it’s because the patch didn’t come soon enough or because not everyone updated quickly enough to prevent an intrusion.
This data could then, in theory, be used as skeleton keys to bypass secure servers without leaving a trace that a site had been hacked
One of the most notable examples of this occurred April 2014 with the Heartbleed bug, which was born of a programming mistake. This was a serious flaw on the OpenSSL cryptographic software library that allowed anyone on the web to read the memory of the systems
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ZERO DAY VULNERABILITIES protected by versions 1.01 and 1.02. But it didn’t stop at memory; the primary and secondary SSL keys themselves could also be stolen.
The Heartbleed bug was among the most infamous of zero day threats.
“This data could then, in theory, be used as skeleton keys to bypass secure servers without leaving a trace that a site had been hacked,” ZDNet contributor, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, wrote.
Code vulnerabilities aren’t the only attack path that organizations struggle to adequately defend. There’s also the issue of brand new or mutated malware that does not have a known signature.
The bug was initially announced to the public on April 7. Within 24 hours, hackers used it to breach what the New York Times would later refer to only as “a major corporation.”
The problem with these strains, which can exist in the wild for months before finally being discovered by researchers, is that traditional anti-virus software cannot detect them by signature.
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Zero Day Malware Is Also on the Rise
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 This increases the likelihood that the malware will evade firewalls and web filters. According to a recent study cited by DarkReading, 30 percent of malware in the fourth quarter of 2016 either leveraged zero day vulnerabilities or was brand new. On top of that, the report found that many of the pre-existing attacks had been repackaged and distributed in new ways. A separate report published by McAfee corroborated these
findings, noting that the same trend prevailed in 2015: Three quarters of decline for new malware were followed by three quarters of growth. The pendulum swung once again, and after a slow first three quarters in 2016, we can expect an uptick in malware innovation and zero day exploits for the remainder of 2017. One bright spot is that ransomware saw a decline in Q4. Unfortunately, that was almost exclusively attributed
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ZERO DAY VULNERABILITIES At this point, the risk of not having the ability to swiftly patch a computing environment should be obvious. Within hours of the Heartbleed bug’s release, hackers were already exploiting it. In some cases, patches were released well after hackers ferreted out the Cyber security must be vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, layered, and inclusive of time is of the essence with multiple controls. zero day vulnerabilities: The sooner you patch, the better. Part 2: Layered Cyber Further, it’s worth noting that Security for Prevention zero day vulnerabilities never First and Foremost: Streamline Patch Management actually go away. According to the RAND Corporation, the average life expectancy of a zero day vulnerability is nearly seven years. A quarter of zero days become obsolete within a year of discovery. However, just as many survive for more than 9.5 years. to the fall of Locky and Cryptowall. Other strains, such as Cerber, are still at large. With malware innovation on the rise, no one knows what new strains of ransomware will emerge during the time left in 2017.
In other words, zero days can survive until they become obsolete by nature of evolving IT. Alternatively, they can be eradicated from your computing environment the moment a fix becomes available if you have a reliable methodology in place for streamlined patching. Leverage Active Protection and Application Whitelisting When it comes to preventing zero day threats and new, signatureless, or mutated malware from executing, the most effective method is application whitelisting.
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 Consider, for instance, that web browsers are some of the most prolific sources of zero day exploits. A nonsuspecting user may visit a rogue website, at which point malicious code on that site can exploit vulnerabilities in a web browser. From here, it’s much easier for malware to execute on a system, seemingly without the user having taken any noticeable action. This is why active, layered protection with application control is so crucial. In addition to a firewall, which is useful for blocking known threats, a layered approach utilizes real-time scanning on the internet and on individual machines to identify suspicious activity. This builds another key layer of defense, making infiltration twice as difficult to achieve. Application control takes this a step further by creating
a repository of allowed executables. Rather than blacklisting known malicious software (technically, your firewall should already do this), an application whitelist prevents any executable program (known or unknown) that does not have explicit administrative authorization from launching. All program executions on computers and servers are hereby monitored in real-time and, ideally, in conjunction with an active protection tool that can spot unusual or malicious activity, even in programs that are otherwise trustworthy. As a result, malware that has previously undiscovered or undocumented signatures cannot run. Likewise, even if a zero day vulnerability or advanced persistent threat somehow enables the injection of malware into the system, it won’t actually be able to launch. The situation is
Relative to the scope of human history, the use of conniving cyber attacks (for good or for evil) is in its infancy. In the coming years, we expect hackers to become smarter and more conniving. 58
ZERO DAY VULNERABILITIES effectively diffused. Lastly, IT administrators require a simplified process to make all of this happen and the ability to customize privileges and application access by user. Specifically, they need: • Granular control: Refine and organize application control through publisherbased approvals, policybased control, and protection at the local machine level. • Flexibility: The freedom to create tailored policies for different users and groups for their unique computer usage requirements. • Centralized management: Deployment and configuration must be possible via a single webbased or on-premises console. A tangential benefit of these capabilities is that organizations can make sure computers, servers, and bandwidth are used only for their intended purposes and not as vessels for malicious activity. More importantly, sophisticated threats that would otherwise cut through perimeter defenses like a
hot knife through butter can be stopped before they ever cause harm to your organization. The Cyber War Is Only Just Beginning Relative to the scope of human history, the use of conniving cyber attacks (for good or for evil) is in its infancy. In the coming years, we expect hackers to become smarter and more conniving. Moreover, we foresee their targets becoming more dynamic as endpoints evolve. For that matter, we expect the stakes of an intrusion to spike as critical infrastructure is digitized. However, we also believe that even in the face of sophisticated advanced persistent threats, neverbefore-seen malware, and of course, dangerous zero day threats, layered cyber security will always act as the basis for the safeguarding of computers, servers, and the sensitive data within. The sooner you lay this foundation, the sooner you can begin future-proofing your organization’s cyber security.
Matt Williams. A self-proclaimed ‘tech geek’, Matt has worked in technology for a decade and divides his time between blogging at Faronics and working in IT. A huge New York Giants fan, when not watching football Matt gets his game on playing Call of Duty with his friends and other tech bloggers.
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Russia Risk Overview
By: Mark Deane
The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was be held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It was be held in Four cities - Kazan, Moscow, St Petersburg and Sochi.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup consists of 64 matches, 32 teams and is played across 12 locations in Russia. The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia takes part between the 14th June and the 15th July 2018. Executive Summary Corporate clients running
customer programs, VIP visitors, and High-net-worthindividuals visiting Russia may wish to consider certain key aspects of this risk overview. Primarily, there appears to be a behavioral tolerance of the Russian nation which essentially allows hate crime within the law through
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Attacks have occurred most frequently in Moscow and in the North Caucasus. Most recently, St.Petersburg was the scene of a suicide attack on a Metro Train, killing 14 people. lack of prosecution. This is complemented with a history and sub-culture of hooliganism in Russian football, as was witnessed in the 2016 Euro Football tournament, There is a high threat from terrorism. Attacks have occurred most frequently in Moscow and in the North Caucasus. Most recently, St.Petersburg was the scene of a suicide attack on a Metro Train, killing 14 people. Previous attacks have targeted transport infrastructure, including airports, buses, trains and Metro systems. Further attacks are likely and could take place anywhere in Russia. Past performance in security terms of Russia at large events has been very strong, the Sochi Olympics
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was well controlled with no terrorist incidents affecting fans. Based on our assessment we continue to recommend that any attendance at large events, or corporate travel in Russia is supported by additional risk management measures. The addition of enhanced security to your plans enables your teams to focus on their goals and objectives with minimal constraints. Football, Crime & Hooliganism Hooliganism in Russian football is rife, and the largest contributor to this threat stream. As was witnessed in the 2016 Euro Football tournament, Russian hooligans are well
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 prepared, coordinated and armed. They have deliberately targeted British fans (or those perceived to be British), knowing the British fans had been drinking and were likely to respond. Condemnation fell upon both sets of fans from all over the sporting world and wider international community with one notable exception. Russian Ministers quoted ‘keep up the good work’ and Putin himself quipped at how the smaller numbers of Russian fans had quite literally beaten the English fans.
Russian Ministers quoted ‘keep up the good work’ and Putin himself quipped at how the smaller numbers of Russian fans had quite literally beaten the English fans.
The fall-out from this is that the state essentially condones the battalions of Ultras in their efforts. The French kept a lid on the trouble (just) through co-operation with international police forces. This is unlikely to happen at the World Cup. Antisocial behavior is commonly associated with Rational Choice Theory. In this sense there appears little deterrent. Racism, Homophobia & Social Intolerance Racism remains of significant concern across large parts of Eastern Europe and Russia. It is not taboo to be a racist and in some places is still a
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RUSSIA RISK OVERVIEW social norm. Coupling the ‘social norms’ with a crowd mentality almost ensures the abuse of multicultural players from the stands. Visitors, certainly in the more remote rural locations, should be wary of local sentiment towards multicultural visitors. People of Asian or Afro-Caribbean descent may attract some unwanted attention in public places. Travelers should remain vigilant and take care, particularly when traveling late at night.
announced that all elements of the security system had been put on heightened alert. Security measures have been bolstered including at airports and transport hubs. On 3rd April 2017 a suicide bomber attacked a Metro Train in St.
Watchdogs such as ILGAEurope, the European section of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, rate Russia as one of the least protective Countries in Europe for LGBT citizens, ranking it 48th out of the 49 European countries rated in its annual survey.
Attacks on the Stade de France in Paris, November 2015 were assessed to have been authorized as legitimate targets by ISIS, and subsequently resourced It is worth bearing in mind that sporting venues with international visitors remain viable targets for Islamic extremists.
Terrorism There is a high threat from terrorism. Attacks have occurred most frequently in St. Petersburg, Moscow and in the North Caucasus. You should remain vigilant in all public places. On 14 November 2016, Russia’s anti-terrorism committee
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Petersburg killing 14 people. On 31 October 2015, a flight from Sharm el Sheikh to St Petersburg crashed in North Sinai. Egyptian and Russian authorities are conducting an investigation.
The Chechen/ Russian war is now described as a lingering insurgency. However, concern has been raised regarding the apparent sympathies with ISIS from the Chechen region. Monitoring of IS and other extremist propaganda should be in place prior to the event.
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Political rallies can occur in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other places across Russia. Check media for the latest information, be vigilant, and avoid any demonstrations. At this time there is no indication that Western nationals or interests have been specific targets, attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by foreigners. Foreign visitors should remain vigilant in all public places, including tourist sites and crowded areas, particularly where access is not controlled
(eg open-air events and markets) and in major transport hubs. Previous attacks have targeted transport infrastructure, including airports, buses, trains and Metro systems. Further attacks are likely, and could take place anywhere in Russia. Opportunistic and Petty Crime Petty crime does happen in cities. Be alert to the possibility of mugging, pick-pocketing and theft from vehicles or hotel rooms. Be wary of groups
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RUSSIA RISK OVERVIEW of women and children who beg. Drink-spiking leading to robbery, violence and/ or abuse does happen. Unconscious victims are often left outside, which can be life-threatening in the winter months. Persons visiting Russia should buy their own drinks and keep sight of them at all times at venues serving alcohol.
are usually linked to criminal/business activities and are not usually directed against foreign visitors but the risk of being mistaken and becoming unwittingly targeted should be considered.
Look after your passport at all times, especially in major transport hubs and busy areas. Passports have been There have been reports of reported stolen or lost from street crime where tourists foreign nationals when in have been specifically the airports in Moscow. Be targeted. These crimes particularly vigilant when are carried out by wellpassing through Russia’s organized gangs. Be aware airports, especially in the of pickpockets in the main baggage collection area and tourist areas and around the outside the arrivals hall. main railway concourses. Bogus police officers have Summary harassed and robbed Based on our assessment tourists. If you are stopped and in conjunction with always insist on seeing increased uncertainty as identification. to the impacts of Russia’s foreign policy intentions Avoid openly carrying and relations with a new expensive items, or U.S. administration we anything that might easily continue to recommend that identify you as a tourist. any attendance at large Avoid walking about late at events, or corporate travel night alone. Most incidents is supported by additional of violence in major cities security measures. Mark Deane, the CEO of ETS Risk Management Inc. and ExecSecure™ Inc. Mark has managed the security for multiple Fortune 500 clients major event corporate packages, including tier one sponsors for the Olympics and Paralympics.
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Taking the plunge surviving university as a mature student
By: Dr Amy Burrell
Going to (or going back to) university seems to be becoming increasingly popular and I have lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had about the pros and cons of such a venture. One of the major concerns / barriers to people embarking on a university course seems to be an anxiety about being a mature student. Whilst perhaps understandable, I hope in this article to reassure you that your experience of university can be just as valuable
and exciting as a mature student as someone going straight from school. Before I start, it is perhaps worth considering what a “mature student” is. Technically this is anyone aged 21 or over. Ok, being 21 or over captures most of us, but I think we can agree that we don’t feel we have
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much in common with a 21 year old (also, a great way to make us all feel old!). So, what would our experiences as a (much older) mature student be like? Firstly, you might think that you’d be alone going back to university as a mature student but Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data from 2015/16 shows that a substantial proportion of students are aged 30 or over – 6% of full time undergraduates and almost 50% of part time undergraduates studying for their first degree. This
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increases to 23% and 62% respectively when looking at other undergraduates, and to 23% and 67% respectively when considering postgraduate courses. Ok, 30 is still quite young but I, for one, feel better thinking about mature students as 30+ rather than 21+ (I can at least pretend to be young….!). Why go back to university? There are lots of reasons why you might choose to go back to University (or enrol
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 on vocational courses). This might be preparation for a career change or to develop your skills in your existing role to help you along the career path. Success after graduation is generally high with many people finding employment following completion of their degree – the HESA estimates this was at least 75% for undergraduates and 85% for postgraduates in 2014/151. Whatever your reason, I would argue that you need to understand why you have made this decision for yourself. The reason I say this is that university can be hard, especially if you have other commitments (e.g. work, family) and/ or are struggling with finances. Holding onto the reasons why you are back in education will help you to overcome any challenges
which come your way. I don’t want to be the voice of doom (although I have several colleagues who will probably argue this is what I spend most of my time doing!), and I do believe university to be a worthwhile venture (I am a lecturer after all so my livelihood depends on me thinking it’s a good idea!). However, as the old proverb goes, to be forewarned is to be forearmed and so it is worth highlighting some of the issues which might come up to help you prepare for taking the plunge. Challenges and tactics Mature students face a range of challenges in education. However, these challenges are not unsurmountable and there is a lot of support in place to help you.
In my experience, mature students tend to have a better understanding of what they want to achieve so the desire to excel is often high. 68
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Topic Extracurricular activities
Previous academic experience
Challenges Mature students are more likely to have responsibilities outside the course such as work, children, a relationship etc.
Tactics Be realistic about how much time each of your commitments will take up – this will make planning your university work around them easier (e.g. you might choose to study part time instead of full time).
Some students worry that they have been out of academia for too long.
Don’t worry, as someone who has been working, it is more likely you will adapt well to the independent learning ethos embraced at university level.
Previous experience of learning might be very different.
If something unexpected happens (e.g. someone is taken ill), speak to your university about it. Staff can direct you to support services and/or registry teams who can consider applications for extensions/deferrals for assignments/ modules / courses if needed.
In my experience, mature students tend to have a better understanding of what they want to achieve (a more active decision is made to return to education) so the desire to excel is often high. Where you might struggle with academic writing there are support services available (e.g. tutors, feedback from assignment, centre for academic writing/academic success) so utilise these. If you have a particular skills gap, chances are the university offers a course on this. Explore your options and sign up for extra classes if you need to (often these will be free to attend).
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 Engaging in the student community
You might feel you have less in common with other students (e.g. if different ages) but this does not mean connecting with them is not valuable.
Engagement in the community is an important part of being a student. It helps you to discuss coursework, assignments and/or the course with peers, discuss and share experiences, and engage in peer learning. I would recommend approaching other students with an open mind about what you could learn from them (even if you discover how not to do something, this can be valuable). Engage in peer learning wherever possible, you never know when this will be valuable, e.g. I got chatting with peers on a teaching course and ended up discovering new ideas for teaching. You might feel more comfortable connecting with other students in a similar positon to you. If so, look out for mature student societies. Other societies might also be good – it is much easier to connect with someone (of any age or background) when you have a shared interest. Use opportunities to network outside your area. You never know when you will meet someone interesting for work – e.g. I had a random chat in a pub with a colleague from another department who ended up delivering a guest lecture for me.
Feeling lost/ losing focus
Finance
It is easy to lose motivation or focus when you are busy and/or have competing priorities. Mature students often already have financial commitments and/or may have less disposable income that other students (I was a selffunded part time PhD student so can definitely sympathise with this!)
You are actually not alone here. Lots of younger students also report these feelings. It is quite common at university. Have a chat with your tutor about how you are feeling – they will be able to reassure you and/or signpost you to support. Take advantage of any funding entitlements available to you, and discuss any financial difficulties with your university. Have a look at work opportunities. Of course, you need to balance time at work with other commitments but you might find the extra income you can generate is worth the time. Also, a job can give you headspace from university work which can be useful. Universities work with lots of employers to offer part time/causal work to students so have a chat with your student union to identify opportunities.
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Whatever your reasons for going to university as a mature student, this should be a rewarding experience. Conclusion Whatever your reasons for going to university as a mature student, this should be a rewarding experience. Do your homework and make sure the institution and course are right for you. Work out your timescales and budgets in advance – for example, you might find a part time course will suit you better in terms of managing both time and money. Remember universities should be well accustomed to catering for the needs of mature students and they have
support systems in place for you. However, the quality of this support can vary so I recommend checking what is available when you apply. Also, if possible, have a chat with other mature students already studying at the university you plan to attend – this will help you gain a realistic view of the mature student experience before you sign on the dotted line. www.hesa.ac.uk/data-andanalysis/students/graduateemployment
Amy holds a BSc in Applied Psychology, an MSc in Forensic Behavioural Science, and a PhD in Forensic Psychology. Amy is a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at Coventry University and can be contacted on ac4705@ coventry.ac.uk She was previously the Training Manager for Perpetuity Training who specialise in security training (see www.perpetuitytraining. com) and is also involved in the Crime Linkage International NetworK (C-LINK) (see www.crimelinkage.org)
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Keeping Your Edge:
Does Fitness Matter Anymore?
By: Elijah Shaw
I want to start this edition of Keeping Your Edge by giving you a glimpse into how my non-operational days go, those are the days I’m not actively moving around with a client.
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The great majority of the Close Protection Programs on the market do not have a physical component to them. Traditionally, I wake up early, prepare a breakfast shake that’s high in protein, contains a serving of greens and, at times, slow burning carbs. Afterwards, I head to the gym to get a workout in. Those workouts usually consist of weight training and cardio. Depending on my available time, I also crosstrain, alternating a martial art (currently Boxing) with Yoga. If I don’t have the time (or the energy) to get all that in, in the morning, then I move the cross-training to the PM workout. That’s 1-2 workouts a day, with no days off, although some days I go lighter than others to give my body a bit of a break.
fan, the Protector’s primarily responsibility is to cover and evacuate the client. That’s difficult to do if you can’t even make it half a block without getting winded. Which brings me to the point of this article. Are we as protectors, just giving lip service to the physical nature of the craft? Yes, this is a thinking man’s game and the best muscle to work out is the mind, however, are we really preparing for that “Moment of Truth,” the one we hope never happens on our watch, but that we nonetheless have to plan for?
Just like in society, the men and women of our industry Now with that said, I am no come in all shapes and sizes. means a bodybuilder or a I’m of the belief that much like fitness-freak with biceps so big a football team, some body that my I have to wear more types fit into some positons holsters for the two additional better than others. With that “guns.” Standing 6’-3” and said, keeping with the football weighting 226lbs, I think I’m analogy, all of the players still pretty proportional. When have to make try-outs. And working out I try and balance that’s where my analogy starts strength and dexterity, yes, I to lose steam, you see the want to be strong, but I also great majority of the Close want to be able to touch my Protection Programs on the toes. Equally as important, I market do not have a physical want to be quick enough on component to them. Anyone my feet to be able to respond who signs up and pays their to a threat. My philosophy is, money can take them, and in in the event the crap hits the most cases the most strenuous
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 lifting you will do is with the pen to take notes. Now as an instructor and business owner I get the reasons why, for one, there are just so many hours in a program, how much of it do you devote to any type of physicality? Better to leave that to a dedicated martial arts class or similar where there’s a chart of progression. The other reason is pure economics, if students know there is a physical component to the course and they have a worry about the shape they are in, they might just pass on your class and seek out another where they won’t have those concerns. Again, I get it, however are we doing our industry and the client’s justice? But let’s say the course that you graduated from did have a physical component. Does it now become a situation where, much like the Military or Law Enforcement, you went in lean and hard, but now with no one looking over your shoulder or pushing you, the temptation of an additional slice or two of pizza is just too appealing. In the majority of instances the client is simply taking our word that if an incident were to occur requiring intervention on our part, we would “perform as advertised.” That means the pressure is on us
to not just deliver lip service and pray for the best, but also try and keep the machine that is our human body running as efficiently as possible. I’ve tried to do that in my life, not just overnight but in gradual steps. The High pace of my operational tempo and the long days and nights, not to mention that I’m not getting any younger, have made me pretty health conscious. For example, I don’t do dairy, have eliminated all sugar from beverages, and having never been a coffee drinker, only use tea as my caffeine source. I’ve also campaigned to those that I mentor to adapt whatever healthy lifestyle choices they can. However, I hope they didn’t let the advice go in one ear and right out the other, if so, some of them are in for a rude awakening. Following in the footsteps of some of my forward-thinking industry peers, my Firm has recently instituted a Fit Test with a minimal set of requirements that will have to be successfully passed to work with our clients. I’m not comfortable with selling the client a fancy marketing plan, instead I want them to be confident that the Agents on their assignments have both the brains and the brawn to complete the task at hand.
Elijah Shaw is the National Director of the North American Bodyguard Association and an international security consultant.
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 By: Bob Shepherd
MANCHESTER & THE U.S. MEDIA’S DANGEROUS DOUBLE STANDARD
Damaging. Irresponsible. Hypocritical. Opportunistic. There are plenty of words to describe the U.S. media’s rush to disclose sensitive information leaked by U.S. officials concerning Britain’s investigation into the Manchester terrorist attack; a list that includes the bomber’s name and forensic photographs of the crime scene. 76
MANCHESTER & THE U.S.
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CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 The British security services are fuming, and rightly so. The minutes, hours and days immediately following a terrorist incident are crucial for apprehending members of the terrorist network before they flee the country and for thwarting attacks which may be imminent. Leaking and publishing details of an investigation during this narrow window undermines those efforts and jeopardizes public safety.
clicks, the U.S. media has compromised the integrity and the mission of the Fourth Estate.
It’s up to the Trump administration to plug the leaks in America’s intelligence community. But the U.S. media, including its newspaper of record, The New York Times, has, in my view, placed profits over public service. In its scramble to beat the competition, boost circulation and garner more
The problem is, the NYT’s does not apply the same standard when the life of one of its journalists is on the line.
The New York Times defended its decision to publish photographs of bomb parts found at the scene of the Manchester attack, writing, “Our mission is to cover news and inform our readers. We have strict guidelines on how and in what ways we cover sensitive stories.’
When a journalist working for The New York Times is kidnapped overseas, the paper does not race to publish the story. It suppresses it. And for good
The U.S. media, including its newspaper of record, The New York Times, has, in my view, placed profits over public service. 78
MANCHESTER & THE U.S. reason. Publishing details of the abduction could endanger the life of the journalist and undermine efforts to secure their release. Furthermore, the NYT’s asks other news organizations to keep quiet. As Columbia Journalism Review noted, ‘such news blackouts have become a well-established tradition among American media.’
I’m fine with suppressing stories to protect the lives of journalists. Now it’s time for the U.S. media to extend the same courtesy to the public it professes to serve. Originally published on Bob Shepherds blog at: www. bobshepherdauthor.com
Bestselling author Bob Shepherd is a security advisor and 20-year veteran of Britain’s elite Special Air Service. With almost 20-years of private security work to his credit, he has successfully negotiated some of the most dangerous places on earth as both an SAS soldier and private citizen. Combined, Bob has spent almost 40 years operating in conflict areas. Bob is a regular media commentator on security issues and has appeared on CNN International, BBC, SKY News, Al Jazeera English, BBC Radio and various newspapers and magazines. He also shares his insights on security politics through his blog; www.bobshepherdauthor.com
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CHURCH SECURITY: THE NEW FRONTIER PT. II By: DR. ANDREW P SURACE
People go to church for all kinds of reasons but almost no one goes to find trouble. The ones that do go for that purpose, are the reason your church has a security team or ministry. Unfortunately, over the last twenty years “Trouble” has been finding its way into church for the simple reason that for the most part we welcome it. Church is still the place that welcomes any one in any condition to come find help. In this second article on The New Frontier, I want to continue on the theme of how to make your church a safer place. I want to discuss what are known as the five R’s of protection. These principals will work when securing any venue, but I have tailored them to be specific for Houses of Worship. Although
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Does your church know who the ushers or security people are? Are they easily identified? 81
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 recognizing a problem before it becomes one and quickly responding to diffuse or deescalate the problem before any damage is done. Although your security team is primarily the ones watching out for these problems, any good RECOGNIZE: They say the member of the congregation best time to kill a dragon is can spot a problem and make when it is in an egg. Church security is all about prevention a difference. The important thing is if you see something and not about cleaning say something. up. One negative thing happening during a church A grandmother with some service greatly damage the life experience can sometime reputation of the church in spot a problem quicker than that community. To state it a twenty-year-old black belt. plainly what is tolerated in a bar is almost surely forbidden The ability to sense that something is not right is one in a church. of the first gifts needed by While Police primarily respond anyone wanting to be on your security team. A window to those breaking the law, open that should not be, an security is more about they are quite simple, they are very effective and user friendly especially for smaller churches that have little to no professional protection budget.
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CHURCH SECURITY unknown person loitering near the restrooms, an unattended backpack in the corner of the sanctuary, are all reasons to recognize the possibility that something is out of order. Always be sure to include greeters in your security training. The term aggressive friendliness is a very important principle to teach. If your ushers or greeters sense something unusual about someone, being overly friendly and attentive is something no one meaning harm wants. Most often, people intent on causing a problem want to ease in late and be unnoticed. Aggressive friendliness alerts these types of people they have been noticed, recognized and if necessary can be pointed out. RELAY: Once you sense or recognize that something is not right, the next thing to do is report it to the right person or persons. Does your church know who the ushers or security people are? Are they easily identified? Do you have any nurses or EMT’s
who can jump in if there is a medical emergency? If for some reason there is a medical emergency, does the average churchgoer know who your first responders are? Being able to identify the right person is an important part of putting together your safety team. When time is of the essence knowing where and who to report something to is vital! RESPOND: Once something is recognized and the message relayed, the next step is there must be a quick and effective response. Those in authority must know what to do and have the authority to carry it out. With this authority must come proper training so that those in charge are not just confident but competent. It is true that you always revert to your lowest form of training. It is important to have regular times of training for various situations and scenarios. Scenario training for things such as an active shooter, bomb threats and other
A grandmother with some life experience can sometime spot a problem quicker than a twentyyear-old black belt. 83
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 emergent situations should be a regular part of your team life. The enemy always has the advantage when it comes to timing, because it is his plan and not yours. Good training however and a curious mind could help spot many of these problems before they are birthed. I can’t say it enough; Church security is about prevention not clean up. If you can recognize, it you can have authority over it.
an over fifty-percent divorce rate.
REMOVE: The goal of every response is to safely mitigate or neutralize the situation. If it is a medical problem you want to keep the patient static until the ambulance arrives. If it is a domestic situation you want to deescalate it as quickly and quietly as possible. With that in mind, does your church have an adequate first aid kit? Do you have the items necessary for a nurse or EMT in the congregation to use for basic life support? Do you have gloves and other protective gear handy for those working on a patient?
In removing the threat always be aware of the fact that someone is probably videotaping the situation so be careful to act with professionalism and integrity as unfortunately the video may end up in court. Again, proper training will help alleviate the simple mistakes made during high adrenalin and emergent situations.
Policies should be in place before hand so that your nursery worker has the knowledge to know how to deal with this situation. As we talked about in the first article, policies are very powerful not just for use when something is going down, but should the situation go to court, it can be proven there was no profiling or singling out of an individual.
REPORT: Although this is the last R, it could be the most important as well as come with the most regret. If it comes down to reporting the disturbance to the police or other authorities, it means that some important signs If it is a domestic problem, were missed and we are now (these are the most common crimes that occur when church in clean up mode. is in session) do our nursery workers know how to respond There are certain things that by law must be reported if a non- custodial parent to the authorities. This is wants to take their child? not an exhaustive list, but These are common problems certainly some of the most in churches in a culture with
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CHURCH SECURITY obvious things that would require police intervention. Serious violence such as a shooting or stabbing, a fight where someone is injured or an incident that involves sexual molestation or touching is a sure call to the police. As I said earlier, a great majority of things can be spotted before they become a problem. There are however times that things erupt so quickly that it gets by all those in charge. In closing, if there is some kind of incident in your church, even if it was mitigated seemingly without incident, it is important to document and discuss it carefully. Getting the names and contact information of some witnesses would help greatly in case there is a lawsuit to follow. Careful and accurate documentation will help substantiate your response in court. If there is surveillance or some other type of video footage of what took place this also should be
saved and documented. In the litigious society we live in, this is another way to protect the brand and reputation of your church. The saying “a short pencil is better than a long memory” comes to mind when documenting things for possible examination down the road.
Dr. Surace is a seasoned Pastor with over 35 years of ministry. He is a trained EMT and executive protection specialist. He along with co-Author Eric Konohia are authors of a book on the subject of church security entitled “Securing the Sacred”. It is available on Amazon as well as bookstores around the world.
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Classifieds
United Kingdom 3D Security Ltd Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1TG Based in Taunton 3D Security provides security services for a wide range of clients. Whether you need a security guard in Somerset, event security in Leeds or Close Protection in London we will provide a solution for your needs. T: +44 (0)1823 253 001 W - www.3dsecurity.org E - enquiries@3dsecurity.org.uk
A.B.I. Solutions A.B.I Solutions is a dynamic, forward thinking company, specialising in surveillance, security and investigations with local, national and internationalexperience. A.B.I provides a wide range of services to the corporate sector and individuals alike. W - www.abisolutions.co.uk Amanda Campbell A highly motivated and experienced female operative both CP and Surveillence training T – 07596542249 W - www.amandacampbell.org.uk E - ac@amandacampbell.org.uk Ambassador Security Management ASM MK Lions Arena, Grafton Court, Snowden Drive, Winterhill, Milton Keynes, MK6 1AJ, GBR. After successfully gaining ACS (Door Supervision and Manned Guarding) along with ISO 9000, we here at ASM have a dedicated management team with hundreds of years combined experience in the security industry. W: www.asmsecurity.co.uk E: scott@asmsecurity.com T: 08458335750
designed to help both individuals and New Companies build for the future as well as support others with training needs. T: 07725970954 W: www.atlantianbsgroup.com E: info@atlantianbsgroup.com Briareus Security Our aim is to give a complete, discreet and professional service to all of our clients, be they large corporations, small businesses, local authorities or private individuals, all tailored to meet their individual needs. W: www.briareussecurity.com E: info@briareussecurity.com
Mark Corder - Chief Executive of Carmdale Ltd Suite 3 219 Bow Road London E3 2SJ Mark is a former Senior Police Officer specialising in counter-terrorism; firearms; public order; training and also physical, Critical National Infrastructure and nuclear security, having had responsibility for the security of the UK’s nuclear deterrent. A former Head of Operations, Operational Support and Training, Mark has been involved in a number large-scale incidents (including 7/7) and has also worked at the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) at the Home Office as part of a review into Critical National Infrastructure security. Mark has an MBA via the OU. E: mark.corder@carmdale.co.uk T: +44 (0)844 995 9900 W: www.carmdale.co.uk Alastair Christie Advice on site security, perimeter fencing, lighting, CCTV and manning requirements. Monitor and advise on guard force setting up site procedures and guard SOP’s. T : +44 (0)7736 328112 E : ally.c9496@yahoo.co.uk
Ark Personal and Asset Protection Ark, 2b Crow Lane, Rochester, Kent, ME11RF, GBR A small, efficient, highly descrete company employing ex special forces and detectives for all civil and corporate covert needs. E: Office@arkprotect.com T: +0044 01634 845526
Control Risk Management Solutions CRMS - Ireland Executive Close Protection Operations & Training (B Tec Level 3 Diploma Edexcel) Threat & Risk Assessments, Consultancy Services. W: www.crmsinternational.com E: martin@crmsinternational.com
Argus Europe County Durham Argus Europe has been providing specialist training for high-net worth clients and their families for close to 20 years, worldwide. Argus Europe now offer accredited training for CPO’s, Surveillance Operators and Private detectives. Argus Europe is an operational company working globally with an extensive variety of contracts. W: www.arguseurope.co.uk T: +44 (0) 8456 123 843
Crest Security & Surveillance Ltd 51 The Crest, West Heath, Birmingham, West Mids, B31 3QA, GBR Highly experienced Security Consultant with a proven record of accomplishment in the field of protective security. Skilled in all phases of risk assessment, operational planning, logistical organisation, implementation of security measures, security team leadership, project coordination, and delivery of security advice to a high profile clientele. E: info@stephencahill.co.uk T: 447977071427
Atlantian Business Solutions Group Rutland, LE15 6SD, GBR Atlantian Business Solutions has been
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CSI Protection Ltd International, GBR A well established security consultant and personal protection operative providing high or low Key protection to high risk and prestigious clientele. Specialising in the maritime industry as a consultant for private vessel protection on super yachts world wide. W: www.csi-protection.co.uk E: gary@csi-protection.co.uk Custodia Custodia is an independent client focused Specialist Security & Risk Management Company, specialising in Risk consultancy and Security project management. Providing a comprehensive portfolio of Risk mitigation solutions to assist Businesses and individuals to plan for, manage and mitigate risk. T: 01432 277693 W: www.custodia.co.uk DF Risk Management Solutions DF Risk Management Solutions N.I. is a modern, professional risk management company, with a diverse range of global strategic experiences and a team of executives who possess dynamic but complementary backgrounds. T: +44 (0)7837642686 +44 (0)7758743918 W: www.dfriskmanagementsolutionsni. com Executive Protection Officer Worldwide CP services W: www.executiveprotectionofficer.com First Class Executive Security Nottingham, UK, Nottingham based, fullservice company specializing in Bodyguards and Security Consulting services. Extensive experience in VIP security, also caters for public and private sectors. W: www.firstclasssecurity.co.uk T: 0115 9266466 G6 Global G6 are specialists in all types of radio, telephony and satellite communications for both voice and data with particular emphasis on covert communications installations in both vehicles and fixed locations. In addition, our range of personal covert radios and bespoke accessories is extensive. W: info@g6-global.com T: +44 (0)1454 610050 Gordon Russell Highly trained frontline Close Protection Operatives available for UK and International contracts. Our experienced CPO’s can offer bespoke packages to meet all clients needs, including a variety of language skills. All SIA licenced, BBA member E: Bodyguard-cpo@Email.cz T: +44 (0)7917 281 004 Gareth Evans - CPO, MSO Reliable dedicated hard-working
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 security professional, with outstanding communication skills. Strategic approach to problem solving combined with exceptional interpersonal skills, quick to grasp new concepts and information. Highly motivated, results-driven and thrives under pressure. Strong leadership and management skills with proven experience committed to continuous personal and professional development. E : evansgareth1979@yahoo.co.uk T : +44 (0)7900058603 James Izett All close protection task undertaken, including training tasks. Medic (Registered with the HPCSA, Registered FAAW instructor and Assessor E : J.Izett@gmail.com T : +971 (0)505 574 350 Janice Gurney Proficient and diligent Security Professional gaining extensive knowledge and experience within the security sector. Proactive individual who has a logical, flexible and conscientious approach to all challenges undertaken, ability to work as a member of a team or as an individual willing to work anywhere. T : +44 (0)7885 793061 E : janice382006@gmail.com International Centre of Special Training International Centre of Special Training is an international training and security company based in the United Kingdom. Its priority objective is to provide services to the highest level. W: www.icost-team.com T: +44 796 736 55 65 IPSS Security Northfield, Aberdeen, AB16 7EX Security and protection services - UK and overseas. BBA Member. T: + 44 (0) 1224 69455 W: www.ippssecurity.co.uk ISS Training Ltd Riverside Cottages, Nidd Walk, Pateley Bridge, Harrogate, HG3 5NA ISS Training Limited are providers of specialist covert surveillance training courses and publications to the security and investigative industries, enforcement agencies and specialist military units. Formed in 1990, we are the longest established surveillance training ompany in the United Kingdom. Our credibility and reputation is widespread and we offer nationally recognised qualifications. BBA Member. T: + 44 (0) 1423 712265 W: www.intelsecurity.co.uk Jason Morris Security Hertfordshire, UK Providing a wide range of Door supervision/ security for V.I.P and prestige venues, Concerts, Functions, Corporate and Personal Security, Weddings, Private Parties, Gala Dinners, Business Awards & School Proms, Close Protection and Body Guarding Static Guarding and Stewards. T: 01462 478900 W: www.jasonmorrissecurity.co.uk E: agosselin@jasonmorrissecurity.co.uk
John Featherstone Security professional with operational experience gained in a variety of theatres. Main specialities close protection and surveillance. T: 24hrs : +44 (0)7702 740722 E: john@johnfeatherstone.co.uk W: www.johnfeatherstone.co.uk K9 Support Services Ltd K9 Support Services UK Ltd is a supplier of specialist drugs and explosives dog/ handler detection service (which includes arms & ammunition) to individuals, businesses, and the public sector. T: 0845 643 6393 E: info@k9support.org.uk Logas International Tyne & Wear, SR1, GBR Front line SIA, International CPO. Private Investigation and Surveillance operator. E: wscarr@logasinternational.com MLK Security and Protection Services Swindon, UK Close Protection Officer and Door Supervisor E: mattleekane@hotmail.com T: 07917654978 LJE Security Services North Yorkshire, HG1, GBR Close Protection, Residential Security, Asset Protection, VIP red carpet Security and Private Investigation. E: leanneedmondson@yahoo.co.uk One Events Grantham One Events offers you a stress free solution in the organisation, putting together and running of an event. Thisis accomplished by having a group of specialised companies from different industries working together for a more complete service for you. TEL: 0870 974 6779 W: www.oneevents.info Paul Lovatt – CPO After serving 15 year in the Army a move to the Security Industry was a natural step, during the last 10 years I have worked in almost every role in the industry from Door Supervisor and loss prevention to Operations Manager and Director. I have been responsible for the creation and implementation of highly successful crime reduction schemes across Yorkshire working closely with other agencies in the areas of responsibility. Currently I am responsible for the overall running of large events security teams from stewards to Close Protection Officers. Operational planning, contingency planning and flexibility are I feel among my key strengths. E : paul@deltasecurity-eventmanagement. co.uk T : +44 (0)7506726336 Paul Tyler – VIP Protection & Concierge Specialist in discreet personal protection & surveillance. A good current working knowledge of London & its challenges gained through ongoing high risk security operations. Experienced in dealing with high net worth clients with all matters security & concierge striving go the extra mile to exceed expectations through
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thorough planning & interaction with all involved parties. A strong communicator with a smart appearance who remains synonymous with the principals lifestyle, whilst discretely ensuring a safe environment is maintained at all times, physically capable of adopting a higher profile when required to do so. Demonstrates sound judgement and capability to operate with great levels of autonomy. Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to understand, interact & connect with a diverse range of people. E : paul@apparitio.co.uk T : +44 (0)7552515604 W : www.apparitio.co.uk Plymouth Close Protection Highly versatile, physically fit and accomplished security professional with cumulative experience in the areas of security management, close protection, crisis management, risk assessment, emergency management, asset protection and security training. E : chris@plymouthcp.co.uk W : www.plymouthcp.co.uk T : +44 (0)1752 500807 PPSS Group Body armour and stab vests provide a functional solution to individuals who require extra protection in their chosen vocation. All PPSS (formerly ASEO) body armour and stab vests are certified by the UK’s Home Office (HOSDB) and offer unrivalled protection from blunt trauma caused by a punch, blow or kick. Based on our professional frontline experience and extensive research we can confirm that an impact based assault is a more likely event than an attack involving an edged weapon or firearm. T: +44 (0) 845 5193 953 F: +44 (0) 1765 603 512 E: info@ppss-group.com W: www.ppss-group.com Presence Security Presence Security (“ PS ”) is a bespoke security company providing protection for private individuals and VIPs, as well as security services for businesses and organizations. T: 0800 002 9734 E: info@presencesecurity.co.uk Prestige Risks LTD 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N, 3AX, GBR. Close Protection Secure Chauffeurs Surveillance Residential Security Executive Protection Security Guards Asset Protection T : +44 (0)207 5588182 E : info@prestigerisks.com W : www.prestigerisks.com Prometheus Medical Ltd Prometheus deliver unrivalled bespoke emergency medical support in the form of specialist equipment, training, strategic advice and deployed clinical care. T: (+44) 1568 613942 W: www.prometheusmedical.co.uk Prosec Consultancy Ltd 10 Oakfield business park Westbury, BA13 4WF.
CLASSIFIEDS Prosec Consultancy Limited are dedicated in providing a professional service, which covers a whole range of security services throughout the security industry. T: 01373 228055 W: www.prosec-ltd.co E: info@prosec-ltd.com ProTouch Security ProTouch Security is one of the UK’s key providers of event safety, event security, crowd management, door supervisors, stewards, event management and health and safety. T: 01724 279 522 W: www.protouchsecurity.co.uk Python Security and Protection Ltd Providing Close Protection Officers and Door Supervisors for Events and Venue Security. E : mattleekane@hotmail.com Radoslav Savkov - CPO / Security Consultant Oxford - United Kingdom I would introduce myself as a high calibre Security professional with strong customer oriented skills and managerial experience in the Security Industry, interested in a challenging position, which would fully utilize competences gained and provides opportunities for professional and personal development. With 15 + years of international experience in the sector at all levels and a military background (National Service) as well as a practical Close Protection experience in an executive environment, corporate intelligence and investigations. As a Security professional, I never consider my training and development as a complete, therefore I always look to update further my skills and knowledge. In personal plan I am very loyal, discreet , independent and willing to embrace challenges. E: r.savkov@gmail.com T: +44 (0)7886591525 RSM Security UK Ltd London, UK RSM Security UK Ltd offers the experience and expertise necessary to provide security personnel of the highest calibre when you need them. T: 07850091979 or 07792948523 W: www.rsmsecurity.co.uk E: info@rsmsecurity.co.uk RWSSI Rob W is a professional security consultant with world wide experience and capabilities in Security, Surveillance and Investigation; I can support you to overcome any problems and enable you to achieve your goals E: rob@rwssi.co.uk T: +44 (0)7818 220985 SDS Solutions SDS solutions provide our clients with protective solutions that are second to none, our consultants will discuss every aspect of the problems that you are facing that dictate the need for a protective solution, we promise our clients a tailor made service to meet individual requirements. Whether based in the UK or abroad our protective service T: 01453 887815 E: info@sds-solutions.org
Shadow Close Protection A leading company specializing in Executive Protection as a professional sector, with participation in high and low risk missions, providing global security solutions and consultancy to individuals, corporations and national agencies worldwide. W: www.shadowcp.gr E: info@shadowcp.gr T: + 30 6948539664 Shaun West United Kingdom SIA licensed, Highly Experienced Frontline CPO. Ronin SA trained. Providing security for both corporate and hostile environments. E: sw@shaunwest.co.uk T: +44 (0)7830 109 601 W: www.shaunwest.co.uk Mark Claydon-Smith – CP Team Leader and Medic I have spent 13 years in the Royal Navy Culminating in the rank of SNCO Petty Officer. In 2004 I started my security career and have worked in Hostile environments. I have held several positions including Operations Manager, Team Leader and Rig Site Manager. I have worked in Kurdistan, Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the UK and Europe. E : mark@claydon-smith.com T : +964 (0)7815 970433 Philip Shearman MSyl – CPO, Risk Manager A professionally Qualified Close Protection and Surveillance Operator and Team Leader with over twenty two years of experience gained in the Military Police, the last fifteen of which were spent with the Military Police Close Protection Unit, working in various hostile countries throughout the world. Since leaving the Army in Nov 06 I have worked in the Private Security sector. I have gained valuable experience in demanding and challenging operational environments, where I have proved to be a self motivated and resourceful individual, performing well under pressure, communicating effectively at all levels whilst exercising tact, diplomacy and integrity. E : benshearman10@hotmail.com T : +44 (0)7930 277586 Spotllght Protection Services Essex based business which provides a broad and growing range of security services to businesses and organisations large and small. T: 07870560208 E: info@spotlightprotectionservices.co.uk W: www.spotlightprotectionservices.co.uk VIPA Tactical Training A specialist training academy dealing with four specific areas of combat: VIPA Civilian Self Protection Program, VIPA Close Protection Combat System, VIPA Police Defence Tactics and VIPA Military Close Quarter Combat. BBA Member. W: www.VIPAtacticaltraining.com Yoji Security We established Yoji Security in response to our perception of declining professional standards across the security industry. We strive to provide first class customer service in everything we do, drawing on our
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extensive experience in the fields of special operations, intelligence, counter terrorism and close protection. T : +44 7903231076 E : enquries@yojisecurity.com Europe & Africa International Security Academy P.O.Box 5833, Herzeliya, 46000, ISRAEL. Our graduates are more recognized, respected and sought after by Distinguish Protection service “consumers” and by most of the “Providers” of Protection services worldwide. Organisers of the 2008 International Summit of Protection Officers. BBA Member. T: + 972 9 950 0969 W: www.SecurityAcademy.org.il Javier Galan Spain Security specialist available for operations around the world. E: oejju@hotmail.com T: 34.637080771 Military Grade Encryption Phones PO Box 52310, Limassol, CYPRUS Built-in encryption software which converts your voice to encrypted data using a constantly changing mathematical formula. It uses a dual layered RSA/AES combination and a changing session key which modifies the encryption algorithm every second. € 1,398.00 + VAT. All prices include new Nokia N73 phone. BBA Member. T: + 357 7777 7276 W: www.protechcy.com/new TPT Firearms Training Bratislava , Slovakia and Rome , Italy We know from our extensive experience within the industry that it can be daunting when initially carrying a firearm and being responsible for protecting a clients life, but learning the proper techniques and having the ability to understand the weapon will make the job a lot easier and more enjoyable. Hopefully you will never have to use the weapons you carry, but should this prove necessary you will be confident and knowledgeable enough to handle the situation professionally and effectively. T : +44 (0) 7734101910 E : info@tacticalprotectionteam.co.uk W : www.tacticalprotectionteam.co.uk Security Concierge Group SCG Special Projects Ltd, Avenida, Bartolome Vicente Ramon No 10, B16, Ibiza, 07800, ESP Security Concierge Group is a privately owned and fully independent provider of exceptional security services to an interesting and varied range of clients. T: 00 34 600 665 275 W: www.securityconciergegroup.com E: joe.buckle@securityconciergegroup.com Americas Bodyguard Careers Bodyguard Careers is an informational site with the purpose of providing bodyguards with all the information and tools necessary to succeed in the Close Protection Industry Info@BodyguardCareers.com www.BodyguardCareers.com Canadian Use of Force Systems
CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 36 7975 Yonge St. # 7124, Innisfil, ON, L9S 1L0, CANADA A professional Use of Force and Defensive. Tactics organization teaching a full range of controlled response options for SelfProtection and Use of Force considerations in public and professional environments. BBA Associate Member. T: + 1 705 456 4333 W: www.canadianuseofforce.com Contact Front Photography Contact Front Photography is the world’s 1st photography studio dedicated to the Close Protection Professional. Stop putting generic or pirated photos on your website; instead commission custom shots to best represent you or your agency. T: +1 (612) 369-6134 E: Info@ContractFrontPhotography.com W: www.ContactFrontPhotography.com Decisiones Estratégicas Buenos Aires – Argentina Executive protection specialists we have experienced in all Latin America, for multinationals companies, also providing support in project throughout Latin America to consulting first the US. and UK. We have a team of specialists and psychologists in assistance and crisis negotiation. T: +54(911) 6415 1941 E: jbenitez@d–estrategicas.com W: www.d–estrategicas.com Detective Lacerda P.O.BOX 25996, São Paulo, 05513-970, BRAZIL Providing the full range of security and investigation services throughout Latin America. BBA Member. T: + 55 (11) 3452 4388 W: www.detectivelacerda.cjb.net Giovanni Rossi South Africa Doctorates in Criminology, Vessel Security Officer, ASP Instructor, ISSPC Member, BBA Member, IAPPA Member, American Bodyguard and Protection Instructors Association - Lifetime Member E: rossi1@mweb.co.za T: +2783 415 9205 USA Global Bear Protection PO Box 11488, Jackson, Wyoming, 83002, USA Provision of British and US Ex Special forces security/medical specialists. T: 307 413 3619 W: www.globalbearprotection.com E: bear@globalbearprotection.com
The Team: Editor Managing Editor International Editor Art Direction
Shaun West Jon Moss Elijah Shaw Peter Falkous
Contributors: Mark “Six” James Joseph M LaSorsa Miguel DeCoste Dr Liz Royle Dr Amy Burrell Joseph M LaSorsa Orlando Wilson Jacquie Davis Einar Myklebust Joseph M LaSorsa Kate Owen Jon Moss
Icon Services Corporation 1043 Grand Ave. #312, St. Paul, MN 55105, USA A full service security and investigative agency specializing in providing high-level security and bodyguards to international celebrities, public figures and corporations. Licensed, bonded and insured, our diverse roster of clients reads as a virtual who’s who in the corporate, motion picture, fashion and recording industry. Entering into our 10th year, Icon has been the hand picked choice to provide Executive Protection to everyone from Superintendents to Supermodels. BBA Member. T: + 1 651 695 8778 W: www.Industry-Icon.com Imperial Protective Service, LLC 15849 N. 71st Street, Suite 100, Scottsdale , Arizona, 85254, USA Imperial Protective Service’ (IPS) is a security consulting and services firm founded in 1978. IPS provides both national and international corporate, executive and celebrity protective services. BBA Member. T: + 1 480 281 1588 W: www.executiveprotect.com Panther Protection Services 3695F Cascade Road, Suite 2207, Atlanta, GA 30331 Panther Protection Services is a full service protection agency offering such services as threat assessment, executive protection, self-defense training, firearms instruction, and high risk tactical protection. Our executive protection specialists have over 75 years of experience. Panther can handle your protection needs whether around the corner or around the world. Member: BBA and NABA T: (404) 349-9117 W: www.pantherprotectionservices.com Rouven Rohler - Security Consultant / HSE liaison Romania I am a very fit and mentally robust Security Specialist with quality experience gained in the security (Military, Maritime and Commercial Operational Security (Oil& Gas). I have improved the effectiveness of protection teams and significantly enhanced clients’ awareness. My career commenced in the Australian Army, which included hostile environment deployments to Iraq and the Solomon Islands and I have since been operating on various contracts throughout Afghanistan and Iraq. I am now looking to make a continued significant contribution within similar High Risk contracts. E: rouven@y7mail.com T: +40 (0)746 642 739 Our Sincere Thanks to all those that continue to contribute their wisdom and experience for the enjoyment of others The Circuit is compiled, edited and published in the UK and US bi-monthly. W: www.circuit-magazine.com E: info@circuit-magazine.com T: +44 0191 645 0865
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SILVER STAR PROTECTION Executive protection, site and event security with global experience. Serving southern Minnesota with integrity and professionalism. Former USSS, ICON Alumni. available for domestic and international travel. Robert E. Jones Manager/CEO W: www.silver-star-protection.com E: rejones@silver-star-protection.com TSICS (T6) Miami, Florida, USA TSICS (T6) provides the following services in Central America: Executive Protection, Individual Bodyguard, Close Protection Training, Corporate Invest. W: www.security-professionals.org/ members/saldrix E: tsics.t6@gmail.com T: +502 6645 6822 Tony Scotti’s Vehicle Dynamics Institute 1162 St. Georges Ave, Suite 277 , Avenel, NJ 07001, USA The first name in advanced driver training, offering our highly acclaimed Protective/ Evasive Driving Programs. Designed specifically for today’s executive chauffeurs, executive protection professionals and others who are responsible for providing safe and secure transportation services. BBA Member. T: + 1 732 738 5221 W: www.vehicledynamics.net Vindex Personal Protection & Investigation Inc. 497 Hooksett Rd #365 Manchester NH 03104 603.289.3161 / Full service Private Investigations & Executive Protection. 10 years combined Law Enforcement, Private security, close protection work, & security contracting. NY Mayors, U.S. President’s, NFL owners, and VIP’s are some of the protection work I’ve gained experience with. ICON alumni, NABA member. T: + 1 732 738 5221 E: vindexinc@aol.com W: www.vindexinc.com Asia Pacific Asia Protective Group Ltd Asia Protective Group (APG) is a Hong Kong based risk management company, specializing in executive protection, overseas travel security and security consultancy services. APG has an extensive network of security specialists operating throughout the Asia Pacific region. W: www.asia-pg.com E: jim@asia-pg.com E: yvonne@asia-pg.com DISCLAIMER While every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is both accurate and up-to-date, The Circuit accepts no liability in any part for loss or damage incurred by reliance on information contained in this magazine through omissions, errors, howsoever caused. ©COPYRIGHT Copyright remains with the authors and contributors at all times. No part of this publication can be copied or reproduced in any way whatsoever without permission from the publisher AND the author / contributor.
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