Peter Cavicchia II,
retired U.S. Secret Service Senior Executive,
& former Chairman of the security consulting firm
Strategic Services International LLC.
Executive Protection in the Age of Deepfakes and Doxxing
Executive protection has traditionally meant a security detail, a secure vehicle, and a well-planned travel route. Now, the threats that matter most to a company’s leadership never touch a sidewalk at all — they start online, and they can move from a social media post to a physical danger in a matter of hours.
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Data Centers Are the New High-Value Target
The AI infrastructure buildout has been covered extensively in terms of chips, power consumption, and capital expenditure. Less discussed is what all of that new capacity means for physical security. As hyperscale data centers multiply to keep up with AI demand, they’re becoming denser, more valuable, and more targeted by the threat that many facilities weren’t built to prioritize people.
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Retail’s Shrinkage Crisis: Can Physical Security Design Solve What Cameras Can’t?
According to a National Retail Federation report covered recently by Security Magazine, retailers saw a meaningful decline in both shoplifting incidents and merchandise theft last year compared to the year before. But that positive shift masks a more troubling evolution: as straightforward shoplifting has dropped, more sophisticated forms of theft and fraud have risen to take its place. Retailers report sharp increases in repeat offenders, organized retail crime incidents, and walkout or pushout theft, where groups simply carry merchandise out the door in bulk.
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Insurance Companies Are Now Grading Physical Security
Physical security has traditionally been framed as an operational cost — necessary, but not something finance departments track closely. That’s changing fast. The reason is showing up on renewal notices. Insurance carriers have realized that physical security is a quantifiable, priceable risk. They’re increasingly treating documented security measures as a condition of coverage.
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The Rise of “No-Response” Alarm Policies for Businesses
For years, industry watchers have pointed to a coming shift in how law enforcement handles home and business alarm calls. That shift is now well underway in departments across the country. The driving force behind it hasn’t changed. The overwhelming majority of triggered alarms turn out to be false alarms, and departments already stretched thin can’t justify sending officers to every one of them.
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Converged Security Programs: A Blueprint for Modern Organizations
Many organizations still run physical security and cybersecurity as separate departments, with separate budgets, separate leadership, and separate incident response plans. That structure made sense when a stolen badge and a stolen password were unrelated problems. It makes less sense today. A 2021 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 85 percent of cybersecurity breaches involved a human element, including exposure to insider threats and physical breaches, a statistic Deloitte has pointed to as the core argument for why physical security programs need to be built with cybersecurity in mind from the start, not bolted on afterward.
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AI-Powered Video Analytics and Physical Security
For decades, video surveillance meant a wall of monitors and a guard. That model is disappearing. The global market for AI in video surveillance was valued at roughly 5.6 billion dollars in 2023 and is projected to reach 16.3 billion dollars by 2028, according to research from ResearchAndMarkets. The number is a useful sign for a bigger shift: security organizations are moving from watching footage after something happens to catching it as it unfolds.
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The Smarter the Building, the Wider the Attack Surface
Smart buildings were sold on a simple promise: connect a building’s systems, from HVAC to elevators to access control, and you get lower operating costs, predictive maintenance, and a better experience for everyone inside. That promise is real, and it is why the global smart building market is projected to nearly double to 121 billion dollars by 2026, according to research from MarketsandMarkets. What gets less attention is the tradeoff that comes with all that connectivity, one that a growing number of security researchers say most facility owners have not fully reckoned with.
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