Category: Blog

Background checks are usually considered uncomfortable. The person being checked will often feel intruded upon or mistrusted. Despite that feeling of being uncomfortable it is largely accepted as a necessary evil. After all, who wouldn’t rather have background checks done for people who work with children, for example?

The legal background varies greatly from country to country. In America for example, very nearly everyone can conduct a background check on someone if they have the necessary information. In the UK on the other hand, the person being checked needs to give permission and the check is then being done by a government agency.

Now, in what kind of situation are background checks common? Many countries require them for people who want to work with children. Banks and larger companies like to know if their employees have a criminal background as well, before employing them. However, background checks aren’t just done on potential employees, but also on, for example, new business partners. Business partner finance checks have a very obvious purpose-to give information about whether or not the potential partner is lucid and therefore a viable partner.

There are several kinds of different background checks-some are really more identity checks, while others give a full scale criminal record, credit check and a list of former residences. In most cases, someone that requests such a check will do so with a certain intention and therefore only check certain things. Typically, it’s governments that will perform more in-depth searches into potential employees or persons of interest.

A bank’s interest into potential clients is equally obvious-it will perform individual credit checks to see if someone is eligible for credit or an account. The reason to do this needs no elaboration-a bank cannot simply give credit to anyone, they first need to see if the person can be trusted with the responsibility.

As far as performing the actual checks goes, they can be done by several parties, for example background check companies, the government, a government backed organisation, or the police. Background check companies will need to be certified and adhere to a lot of rules and regulations concerning the dealing with personal information. Respecting privacy while performing these checks is an essential checkmark in these situations and one of the few comforts possible for people that feel intruded upon by the checks. The companies are usually liable for leaked or misused information and will never give the information to anyone not allowed access to them.

Both bribery and corruption are terms we see in the newspaper every day. They have become so common that politicians not accused of it are rarer than the ones who are not, whether the accusations are true or not.

But what do they mean, really?

Bribery is a fairly straightforward term, in that it means to accept money or favours to influence, for example, a piece of legislation, the public opinion or a vote. The rules of what counts as bribery vary greatly from country to country. In many European countries, for example, only money or physical goods or gifts count as bribery. Things like dinners, donations or indirect favours don’t count. In some Asian countries, bribes are so common that it can be difficult, to, for example, see a surgeon without giving a sizeable donation first.

While most of us would agree that this is wrong, it is common practice in other parts of the world. The lines of what is a bribe and what isn’t are blurry and vary from case to case. That is part of the reason why corruption is so difficult to stop and sometimes even to spot.

Accusing others of being corrupt or taking bribes without providing evidence is a tool that is often used during elections and campaigns to drag the opponents through the mud. Hearing or reading such an accusation is hardly shocking anymore. At most it elicits a sigh and shake of the head rather than the outrage or indignation that one would expect. And, in fact, more often than not, these accusations are proven to be faulty as well. That is part of why we don’t take the accusations seriously anymore, albeit we should.

Corruption and bribery are serious offences that benefit very nearly nobody but the one giving and receiving the bribe. In many western countries, where we feel that ‘true’ corruption has been mostly eliminated, we no longer consider it a priority. In countries in South America corruption is running rampant and since, in comparison, the Western World is relatively corruption free, we look for other problems to solve.

Due to this blind spot we have inadvertently created ourselves, it is possible for true bribery to still take place. Just last year an EU official admitted to regularly taking dinner with lobbyists that had a less than vested interest in certain topics they were set to vote on. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that that did not ‘count’ as bribery, but that future votes would be looked at closely.

Art Collection Protection of course doesn’t refer to making sure nobody steals the kid’s drawings off the fridge-not that those aren’t precious too-but to the protection of valuable pieces of art. Generally the first two things that come to mind in this scenario are paintings and statues or busts.

While there are other forms of art, those two are certainly the most popular. They are also relatively easy to steal. With smaller pieces it is simply a question of pocketing the piece and leaving with it. With bigger paintings, sometimes the painting can be cut from the frame and taken away without it. Larger and especially heavier items are much more difficult to steal and hide, therefore protecting them is easier.

For easier to steal items, there is a variety of art security measures that can be taken. For paintings, it’s possible to lock them to the wall, like it’s often done in hotels. Small busts or statues can be put in display cases with alarms. In a similar way, larger paintings can be set up with an alarm that goes off when the frame is moved.

A far more simple method of art protection is, of course, to simply make sure that the surroundings of the art are secure as well. Simply storing art in a safe may not be much aesthetically, however it minimises risk of theft.

The same principle applies to a secure front door and window locks. Granted, most homes that have pricy art would already have fairly good security measures, however improving them can only be an advantage in the long run!

Generally, art is stolen in one of two situations. The first one, a robbery or a break-in means that the thieves need to break in to gain access to the house. The other one is a much more veiled threat to art security. In the second scenario the thief gains access without breaking in, for example through a party or a ruse. That makes accessing it much easier and reduces the risk involved in the theft. Surprisingly enough it is just as easy to defend against the second as the first. For the most part being very cautious about who is allowed into the house will go a long way. That may not always be easy with parties, however, asking unfamiliar faces about who they are there with will reduce the risk of sticky fingers significantly.

When we think of what special protection Board Members or CEO´s need, most of us will draw a blank. We’ve all been on some kind of board before … be it a club, school or anything like that, and usually that’s all there is to it.

However, that obviously can’t be compared to say, the CEO of Microsoft or BMW or Henkel or Google or Facebook or Daimler, it’s quite different. Personal security, bodyguards and armoured cars aside, there is another often forgotten about area of security and protection. While personal protection is obviously very important, from the viewpoint of the company, there is something else, just as important … the protection of confidential information, classified data and intellectual property.

So, when a big company draws up protection strategies for its corporate board members, or rather, has a security firm do so, this particular topic will feature rather heavily. After all, companies, especially in say, the technology sector have to trust their employees to treat their data smartly. Obviously, if an employee wasn’t trusted, they wouldn’t be allowed to advance to the position of Board member in the first place, however accidents happen.

Files get lost, briefcases are forgotten, and laptops are stolen. There is nothing anyone can do to completely eliminate any chance of that happening, after all, humans aren’t perfect, however they can make sure to minimize and contain the damage done by having a good protection strategy. Step one for that is to not let employees take home any kind of hardcopy of data, print-outs or anything like that.

For electronic data, the measures need to be a bit more sophisticated as it is much harder to prevent someone from carrying out, even accidentally, a file on their laptop. Company laptops and very sophisticated security services come into play here. The standard password protection has long since ceased to be enough. Nowadays, facial recognition, fingerprint scanners and voice pattern recognition systems are used to protect even the seemingly most mundane offices and computers in large corporate offices, as there is no such thing as too much security.

Employees will also be tested by metal scanners and bug devices before going into important and confidential meetings as corporate espionage is growing ever more sophisticated too, along with the protection devices and measures against it. The fake spy pen that makes for a nice laugh in a movie can be a threat to companies worth billions-though in the real world it wouldn’t be shaped like a pen of course.

A panic or safe room is something most of us only know from movies or what we imagine is located under the White House in Washington. That is, of course, most likely true. However, panic or safe rooms aren’t exclusive to the President of the United States of America. They serve a variety of purposes, the primary one revealed in the name itself ‘Safe Room’. Generally, it’s a safe-like room that can be locked from the inside only, for protection purposes. There are several variations of the theme, though the ones displayed in the media are usually fairly unrealistic. While it isn’t impossible to have, for example, a room that locks down completely on the press of a button, it is incredibly impractical. More common are underground rooms with one or two possible exits that are closed mechanically.

A good safe room will have necessary facilities, water and rations as well as a phone connection outside. Similar to a bunker, they can be used to protect oneself from threats like robbers, kidnappers, terrorists or the like. While they don’t come as standard equipment with most houses, they are certainly popular in certain circles, for example with politicians, celebrities, HNWI´s and UHNWI´s.

Large organisations like the U.N. have panic rooms too, in case of, for example, a terrorist attack, for the protection of the visitors. While the benefits of a safe room seem relatively self-explanatory, there are certainly drawbacks as well. First of all, the costs of having one installed, even if there is sufficient space, can be incredibly high, since it requires special planning permission, and resources.

Generally these rooms are built to be very sturdy and strong, able to withstand a theoretical attempted break-in. Ventilation, storage and facilities have to be planned and accounted for, upping the price of construction even further. In today’s day and age, this kind of bunker-like room is hardly necessary for an every-day home, panic rooms have a long history. During the Second World War, a variation of them, bunkers, were very, very common and used during bomb alarms. They were only used for short time stays until the alarm and immediate threat was over. As such, they were much simpler and often intended for use by several people at once.

Modern panic rooms can usually hold between one person and a family, as they are more built to last for time rather than space, for example until help arrives in the form of police. These rooms often have an actual safe in them as well so that small items of value can be taken to safety as well.