Threats Fray Nerves But Spawn Innovation The rush is on to address vulnerability with surveillance technology and protections
The vulnerability assessment business is booming, as terrorism keeps the world on edge. Identifying soft spots in public spaces and infrastructure is just the start. Miles and miles of remotely dispersed infrastructure is getting climb-resistant fencing, intrusion detectors and video monitoring. The next questions are how to know when an intrusion is real and what to do about it. Once vulnerability is defined the issue becomes huge, particularly at big facilities such as airports, transit systems, ports and utilities. The recent round of risk assessments conducted for the federal Dept. of Homeland Security has sharply raised operators vulnerability awareness.
"Most of the utilities I know of are aggressively tackling it," says Laguna Beach, Calif.-based consultant Vic Opincar. "Most are starting with easy stuff; new fences, new locks, ingress and egress control," he says. "Water utilities have one great advantage," he adds, "they have rate payers and will do what they have to do."