China Bank Burglary - In Depth

See News Report dated 07 May 2011: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/metro/view/20110509-335478/Burglars-hit-China-Bank-flee-with-P40-T-worth-of-gadgets

The opportunity burglars took when the UPS went out drained disabling the security systems mainly the intrusion alarms and the CCTV. There is this indication that suspects either had direct familiarity on the bank security systems including the movement of the guards or an insider who readily made the information available to them. This is based on the exact event they gained access to the bank premise.

It is safe to assume that suspects virtually knew as to when the system would go down. No forcible tampering on the systems which seemed to appear, suspects just waited for the UPS System to drain out. Physical security aspect of the structure is apparently weak more particularly the point of entry where the suspects sneaked in. It was not clearly stated though how they manage to challenge the back door.

No permanent security guard posted to secure the facility at night relying solely on the "passive type" of monitoring provided by the CCTV and the reactive intrusion alarm system. The move to focus guard deployment on daytime operations by the person deciding on security matters, should have been re-considered and taken into account based on risk assessments. All possible threat could have been identified and mitigated accordingly.

The fact that a bank facility's securty system has been breached is just a horrific issue. Security contraptions have to be reviewed and re-constructed immediately. In a much bigger picture, the incident could be a signal of an impending plan for a more serious criminal activity directed to the bank. The thought that suspects were able to breach the first and second line of defense, certainly suspects had a clearer map of everything inside the bank premise. Should it have been done by professionals, China Bank could have lost more than just a CPU and a cassette player.

The loss of the PC and the CPU is not a negligible issue and no less, should be considered a crucial factor in this incident including the value of information contained therein, purpose of the PC, the person whom this PC is assigned to and the level of access of that particular user to the system.

Whether or not police will entertain the theory that one of the bank guards may have a participation over this incident, immediate relief of all assigned should be in effect while investigation continues.