YARMOUTH, Maine--As we turn the calendar to a new year, Security Director News embarked on our annual survey to determine what risks security practitioners are most concerned about in 2009. While acts of terrorism dominated headlines in 2008, only 24 percent said they were primarily concerned about terrorism. Instead, 49 percent reported that workplace violence topped their security concerns and 27 percent were primarily concerned about intellectual property theft.

Projected economic conditions for 2009 are contributing largely to heightened security concerns within the United States, specifically concerns about workplace violence, said John Dowd, senior account manager for Kratos Defense and Security Solutions.

"With the domestic issues we have in this country, both economically and financially, concerns about workplace violence far outweigh and is more prevalent than threats of terrorism," he said. "If companies aren't taking security seriously, they're in for a rude awakening when they see a spike in workplace violence" in the next 12 to 18 months, Dowd predicted.

Protecting against workplace violence involves a combination of technology, training and follow-up by management, Dowd said. "Training and follow-up is a real hole in the process because there's no training and context for employees as to why they should implement security measures," he said.

Dowd also recommended companies implement periodic background checks for all employees, something he said less than 5 percent of companies employ.

However, Kevin Murray, director of Murray Associates, a technical counterespionage company, said that businesses should be primarily concerned about the protection of their intellectual property over the protection of physical assets.

"After 9/11, everyone got flustered about protecting property and that's where security budgets went to, but now that things have calmed down, security executives realize that type of protection only covers about 20 percent of the value of a company," Murray said. "Most of it is intellectual property. They need to protect something they can't see or touch."

Murray said security directors need to be aware of industrial espionage and how systems are infiltrated. "The process is leisurely and criminals slowly collect company information over time. Most companies don't know until the information is used against them."

Murray said it is critical for companies to educate employees about intellectual property theft and train individuals about how they can help best protect the company.

Even with these ever-growing threats on the horizon, many companies are legitimately concerned about acts of terrorism. "For us, the threat of terrorism will always be there. The terrorist issue is not going away any time soon. It's on the top of our list," Daniel Hartwig, manager of security programs at Bay Area Rapid Transit District in California.

"Much like public transportation in the United States in general, our system is open access and it was never designed to be protected against the issues that we're now dealing with," Hartwig said. "It's very expensive and requires multiple layers of security that were never in place like alarms, sensors, intrusion and track-way intrusion detection systems. When the system was initially built those things weren't necessary." Hartwig said BART spent $20 million to harden key locations along its system, which includes 104 miles of track and 43 stations spreading over four counties.

To combat the threat of terrorism, Hartwig said BART continues to invest in technology that can be upgraded and integrated instead of needing to be completely replaced. And, like other public transportation agencies, BART has increased passenger and station inspections. "We conduct random security checks and also have canines in key locations on an unannounced basis," he said. "We make sweeps at any time and that puts our people on alert and the public also recognizes it."

Private corporations, particularly those with a global presence, are also concerned about terrorism, particularly the safety of its employees abroad. Kevin Kendrick, executive director for global security at Dow Corning, said that the Mumbai attacks only reinforced this ongoing concern. "The attacks in Mumbai brought this issue home to us as we had several employees traveling in India at the time of the incident," he said. Fortunately, none of Dow Corning's employees were injured in the attacks.

"We understand as a U.S.-based company that we would be subjected to more attention from those who were intent on harming Western-based interests," he said. "That realization from a terrorist perspective is something we need to be cognitive of."

Dow Corning offers its employees travel safety and security training programs including points of contact in the event of an emergency. "You can't let your guard down. It doesn't matter how experienced you are as a traveler, you have to be aware of things happening around you," he said. In addition, Dow Corning receives intelligence reports from private firms about international terrorism threats.

Kendrick said that employee safety abroad has been a significant concern for the company over the years and will continue to be throughout 2009. "As the worldwide economy goes into a downturn and more people are desperate for resources, it behooves us to pay attention," he said.