There are all kinds of ways to lose money to theft.  Customers could shoplift, burglars could show up after dark and steal valuable equipment, vandals could damage the property and steal metal or even trees, and employees can abuse the trust they receive to steal intellectual property or commit fraud. San Francisco, CA Businesses need to come up with countermeasures for each kind of theft, and for many varieties, it helps to have a comprehensive and integrated security system. 

Access Control

“Access control” refers to any method you use to prevent people from going places they shouldn’t.  These include:

• Door locks, including basic deadbolts with house keys and electronic locks that work with number combinations or RFID chips.
• Timed locks that either open at a specific time each day or only open in sequence so an employee can’t pass their card back to someone else.  Timed locks can also prevent employees from entering areas before or after hours when they might have a chance to do something illegal when no one else is around.
• Window locks, seals, and shutters that prevent people from entering or leaving except through designated doors.
• Fire doors that only open when the fire alarm goes off and everyone inside needs to find an exit quickly.

Network Security

The news these days is full of examples of companies that didn’t secure their computer networks well enough and had valuable information stolen by hackers.  Network security measures that can prevent this include:

• Encrypting the network and information so only authorized users can access it.
• Strong passwords that are unique for different systems and different employees.  Longer passwords with unusual characters are more secure, and changing passwords often also helps.  However, you should be careful about adding too many requirements because doing so will make employees more likely to write them down.
• Secure internal networks that prevent employees from accessing information and programs that are outside the scope of their job.
• Computers with hardware locks that won’t accept unknown programs from plugged-in hardware.

Surveillance

Surveillance cameras can’t stop crimes in San Francisco, CA from happening on their own, but surveillance has plenty of ways it can help:

• If you have someone actively monitor camera feeds, that person can do something about a crime in progress.
• After a crime takes place, the footage can help catch and convict the perpetrator.
• Companies can also use footage that proves that nothing bad happened to defend themselves against lawsuits and accusations.
• The presence of visible cameras can deter people from committing crimes since they know they’ll be recorded and very often caught afterwards.

A comprehensive security system should also have things like intercoms that help people speak to each other in different parts of a building or make a general announcement.  You should also have an alarm system that can go off when someone enters the wrong area, breaks a window, or tries to grab something valuable and run.  You may have to worry about theft even with all of these systems in place, but they will definitely cut down the number of ways people can steal from your business in San Francisco, CA.