Business Security:

Reactive Vs Proactive - Part 2

Ben Dessaix - Managing Director

Friday 01 August, 2025

The True Cost of Being Reactive:

Organizations and individuals face an uncomfortable realization: the cost of being reactive far outweighs the investment in proactive security. Whether it be physical threats, cyberattacks, workplace violence, or property crime & damage, holding a "wait and see" approach leaves critical gaps that can have devastating consequences. 

Understanding the current economic climate, maintaining a reactive security mindset may seem cost effective, organizations don't see the hidden costs when they're only investing in security measures once something has gone wrong. Those costs that follow an incident often far exceed any upfront savings.

A proactive approach is smart. A proactive approach is essential.

• Operational Disruption

A serious physical (or digital) breach can cause operations to halt. Physical intrusions can force evacuations, lock-downs, shutdowns, or damage to critical operating infrastructure which requires days, weeks, or even months to rectify. Every hour your organization's production is offline affects your service delivery, workflows, trust, and reputation. For businesses who rely on customer interactions (e.g: hospitality), the safety of their clients (e.g: Schools), logistics & transport, or access to real-time data, this downtime is not an inconvenience. It's a concern to safety, and a loss of revenue and reputation.

• The Financial Clean Up

After an incident, the most common thought is "how much is this going to cost us?". The financial burden is understandably great concern. Depending on the incident, an organization must now invest in repairing any damage or vandalism, replacing stolen or damaged assets, potentially paying fines, probable insurance increases, and even potential lawyer or litigation costs. 

The power of hindsight is really felt here. In many cases such expenses could have been prevented, or minimised with a reasonable upfront investment in basic security deterrents, such as a surveillance system, access control measures, or staff education. Does your organization have enough wiggle-room in its budget to cover these unexpected (and preventable) costs?

• Reputational Damage

We all know reputation can take years to build, but it takes only seconds to crash and burn. Incidents involving theft, violence, or security breaches can become public quickly. Media and/or social media attention often paints the organization as negligent, unprepared, or amateur. Clients, parents, or stakeholders begin to question their trust. Once this happens, it's a long road back to try and restore some of your reputation. This is an extremely difficult process that could have been avoided if the incident could have been prevented.

• Emotional and Psychological Impact

Security breaches and incidents don't just impact your property or assets. They affect people. People respond to incidents differently. Employees, Customers, and Stakeholders often feel unsafe or unsure after a serious incident. Resulting anxiety, fear, or mistrust may not be observable on them. But the impacts on productivity, morale, and trust in leadership will be obvious. Much like reputational damage, once someone's "safety" is broken, rebuilding it takes time, effort, and support systems.

Prevention Is Cheaper Than A Reactive Measure

Investing in a proactive security mindset might feel like another added expense, but it is one of the few expenditures that directly prevents larger and evolving costs. For every dollar spent on prevention, you can save multiple dollars in response, recovery, and repair.

You don't expect a crisis to occur, but when it does, organizations who have forward planned are those who come off best.

Business Security:

Reactive Vs Proactive - Part 1

Ben Dessaix - Managing Director

Friday 14 March, 2025

In the area of business security, the difference between a proactive and reactive approach can mean the survival or downfall of an organization. Australia, like many regions of the world, faces a multitude of challenges and security threats. These can range from physical intrusions and thefts to workplace violence, and cyber-security or cyber-physical attacks. Although this is a reality, many businesses continue to take a reactive approach, only responding to incidents after they occur, rather than implementing preventative measures.

A reactive security program is best described as responding to security incidents only after they have taken place. This can be easily identified by a business:

• installation of security controls: Surveillance, access control, or officers after an incident occurs,

• address the vulnerabilities once they have been exploited – such as a rusted-through fence, no staff identification, chocked doors – rather than identifying and mitigating beforehand.

• lacking structured security policies, more so relying on the good-nature of people and ad-hoc decision making.

Reactionary: People

This approach is extremely dangerous for numerous reasons. The obvious being the safety of employees and customers. This should be the primary driving factor for any business to protect. After all, without people, businesses cease to exist. By being reactive, businesses expose their employees and customers to a greater risk of harm. Businesses should not have to respond to an incident where their people have already been threatened, or worse, injured.

These risks can be reduced by having an adequate access control program that -at minimum- deters, delays, or completely stops unauthorized individuals from entering staff or sensitive areas.

Further, appropriate lighting and surveillance in external doorways and other entry points, plus car park areas reduces the risks of assaults and thefts.

Reactionary: Financials

Has your organization spent more on investigation and damage control than they would have on preventative measures? Theft, vandalism, workplace injuries and operational downtime all contribute to the delay or cessation of operations. As an example, a freight and logistics company that delays installing CCTV and access control until after multiple thefts or instances of unauthorized access may suffer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock losses before acting.

Freight depots and distribution centres are high traffic areas for both vehicles and people. Most of these facilities don’t have identifying factors, such as uniforms or staff ID badges, that provide easy identification or confirmation of an individual being authorized for that area. How can you tell from a distance if that person should be in your facility? They might be dressed for the area, but that doesn’t provide confirmation. That is now a credible risk to your people’s safety, and your continued operations.

Reactionary: Reputation

Branding and brand reputation is critical for any business. This can take years to build but be destroyed in seconds by a myriad of risks and decisions. A security breach can significantly undermine public and stakeholder confidence.

If we further investigate the above examples, a freight depot and a distribution centre, if they experience multiple breaches of unauthorized access, their reputation will be known as unable to safely secure and transport your goods. This will create public distrust, and they will experience a severe decline in obtaining new clients. Further, existing clients will have increased fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Those clients cannot afford to have their goods potentially damaged or stolen because the freight business or distribution centre is insecure.

Reactionary: OH&S

Australia’s OH&S/WHS acts require businesses to provide safe working environments. Breaches of these acts can result in serious financial penalties, licensing issues, but more critically, injury or even the death of an employee. These acts and associated penalties should motivate businesses to employ a proactive security program over a reactionary one. However, we consistently see reactive remediations take place.

The Australian Privacy Act (1998) outlines the way in which businesses must secure the handling of sensitive client information. They must ensure physical security measures have been installed to protect such data from unauthorized access. A breach that leads to unauthorized access to this information can be disastrous in many ways, identity theft, espionage, reputational damage, etc.

The Liquor Control Reform Act provides mandatory measures licensed venues such as pubs & clubs must adhere to. This includes the installation of CCTV system(s), the use of security personnel, specific training of staff, etc.

There is no excuse for a reactionary model to protect staff or your business.

Security 101 Series: Introduction

Ben Dessaix - Managing Director

Wednesday, 12 February, 2025.

Welcome to the Marauder-X "Security 101" Blog Series, where we break down the complex world of security into easy-to-understand concepts tailored for business, organizations, and individuals. At Marauder-X, we believe that security isn't just about technology, tools, or implementation. It's about creating a proactive culture that safeguards what matters most.

This blog exists because in today's ever-evolving threat landscape, understanding security risks and best practices is more ciritical than ever. Yet, many businesses struggle to navigate the overwhelming amount of information out there. This blog is designed to cut through the noise and provide clear, actionable insights into physical (and a little cyber*) security, helping you fortify your operations and protect your people, assets, and information.

Each post will explore foundational topics like the importance of Security Risk Assessments (AKA Vulnerability Assessments), the role of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and the importance of a robust Security Culture. We'll also discuss the importance of performing genuine and real-world exercises and the benefits they provide. We will share tips, best practices, and insights from our extensive experience, empowering you to take immediate, positive steps toward a more secure future. Thank you for joining us on this journey to strengthen your security knowledge and culture.

Let's build a safer, more secure world together!

**Marauder-X are not cybersecurity experts. We may merely discuss topics of cybersecurity, but in no way provide advice, or are responsible for any results that arise from any information presented within this blog.