fore.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical securit

Every business wants to be secure. No business wants to lose money. To offset the current and future threats to security or capital loss, modern businesses large and small spend tens of thousands, even millions, installing video cameras and metal detectors. They hire security guards and order employees to carry identity cards. They monitor activities and wrap barbed wire around the parking lot.

From a technological standpoint there is no end to efforts to secure data files and proprietary content. No industry lives without fear of crackers and hackers, vying to steal vital computer codes, bank accounts, and credit card information. In response, myriad companies are producing their versions of data security applications. They develop firewalls, passwords, encryption codes and spyware protection applications. Meanwhile, far too many companies have failed to take the first and most obvious step in protecting their business from theft and abuse. They have failed to order even basic pre-employment background checks on their job candidates. Despite all precautions, they have created a situation where the menace lurks within. And that menace may be (greater than all other threats combined.

I recall my conversation many moons ago with the notorious international jewel thief, Albie Baker. At the time I was doing the book tour for “Stolen Sweets,” Albie’s autobiography. While driving around from one media interview to another he pointed out the fancy mansions in Beverly Hills he had burglarized some twenty years before.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical security

parking lot.

From a technological standpoint there is no end to efforts to secure data files and proprietary content. No industry lives without fear of crackers and hackers, vying to steal vital computer codes, bank accounts, and credit card information. In response, myriad companies are producing their versions of data security applications. They develop firewalls, passwords, encryption codes and spyware protection applications. Meanwhile, far too many companies have failed to take the first and most obvious step in protecting their business from theft and abuse. They have failed to order even basic pre-employment background checks on their job candidates. Despite all precautions, they have created a situation where the menace lurks within. And that menace may be (greater than all other threats combined.

I recall my conversation many moons ago with the notorious international jewel thief, Albie Baker. At the time I was doing the book tour for “Stolen Sweets,” Albie’s autobiography. While driving around from one media interview to another he pointed out the fancy mansions in Beverly Hills he had burglarized some twenty years before.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical securit

encryption codes and spyware protection applications. Meanwhile, far too many companies have failed to take the first and most obvious step in protecting their business from theft and abuse. They have failed to order even basic pre-employment background checks on their job candidates. Despite all precautions, they have created a situation where the menace lurks within. And that menace may be (greater than all other threats combined.

I recall my conversation many moons ago with the notorious international jewel thief, Albie Baker. At the time I was doing the book tour for “Stolen Sweets,” Albie’s autobiography. While driving around from one media interview to another he pointed out the fancy mansions in Beverly Hills he had burglarized some twenty years before.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical securit

nace may be (greater than all other threats combined.

I recall my conversation many moons ago with the notorious international jewel thief, Albie Baker. At the time I was doing the book tour for “Stolen Sweets,” Albie’s autobiography. While driving around from one media interview to another he pointed out the fancy mansions in Beverly Hills he had burglarized some twenty years before.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical securit

fore.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical security, and yet they are trying to save a couple of bucks by failing to conduct pre-employment background checks. They are leaving not just the back door open but the front door as well, for workplace violence, embezzlement, data theft, sexual harassment, and drug and alcohol abuse. Some companies are so careless they have hired candidates without knowing if they were felons, perverts or diligent workers.

To make this point, CBS News recently ran a special feature where it had one of its people apply for the Santa Clause gig at five different malls in Los Angeles. The catch was that instead of using his real name the CBS employee assumed the identity of an actual convicted felon and sex offender. The man he was impersonating was a convicted pedophile and was registered along with the 63,000 others in California on what is commonly known as “Meagan’s List.” His nefarious past and questionable present were not what you call a deep secret.

Nevertheless, all five companies hired this man to be Santa Claus. As caretakers and de facto protectors of the thousands of kids who come to the malls every Christmas season they provided the lap of a pedophile as the place for your children to sit. Can you think of a better way to ruin the holidays? For your kid? Forever? In defense of their actions, one man claimed he ran the applicant through a free pre-employment background check. The others commenced to shucking and jiving, issuing an assortment of lame excuses.

Considering that drug and alcohol abusers cost businesses