Start-Up Helps Enterprises Integrate Security Efforts

Risk Analysis Group, based here, launched last year with a staff that includes former Secret Service and CIA agents.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, companies have been re-evaluating their security, said David Leighton, founder and president of Risk Analysis Group. The firm helps enterprises bring together security and building managers, human resources and executives to work on security, he said.

"We see the technology piece merging with the physical piece," he said. "You have all these groups working in harmony."

An integrated approach to security is critical, said Larry Cunningham, Risk Analysis Group executive vice president and a 20-year veteran of the Secret Service.

"Security doesn't begin and end with your network perimeter," he said. Companies must have all staffers work together to implement security procedures "from the front gate to the hard drive," he said.

Risk Analysis Group's services include vulnerability assessments, physical security surveys, executive training, disaster recovery and business continuity planning and network scans.

This August, the company held its first security seminar in Los Angeles, with experts in both physical and data security providing instruction. At the two-day event, the firm formally launched its Chief Security Officer Certification Program, which the company's executives said is unique in the industry.

After performing a risk assessment, Risk Analysis Group will create a detailed job description for a chief security officer, unique to the particular company, Leighton said. The firm can either train an existing employee for the position or place a trained chief security officer..

Leighton also is founder and president of Criterion Research, based here, which provides research, marketing and business development services.