SST (Other exams) key terms

A small enclosed space with two interlocking doors, where the first must close before the second opens, allowing staff to admit one person at a time and preventing tailgating.

A rule in an access control system that blocks a credential from being used to enter twice without a matching exit, preventing card sharing and credential pass-back to another person.

The total set of points where an unauthorized party could try to enter or extract data from a system, including networks, devices, physical ports, people, and procedures.

A documented, unbroken record of who handled evidence, when, and where, from collection through storage and presentation, so its integrity can be defended in an investigation or hearing.

Copying the data from a legitimate access card or badge onto another medium so an unauthorized person can use it, often defeated by encrypted cards and mutual authentication.

A design approach that reduces crime by shaping the physical environment through natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial reinforcement, and maintenance of the space.

The practice of stacking independent protective controls across people, process, and technology so that failure of any single layer does not expose the whole asset.

A discreet signal a person can trigger when forced to act under threat, alerting monitoring staff that the situation is coercive rather than routine so they can respond appropriately.

The steps taken to protect physical and digital evidence from loss, alteration, or contamination, including controlled collection, sealed storage, hashing of files, and restricted access.

Two opposing failure behaviors: fail-safe unlocks doors on power loss to protect life safety, while fail-secure keeps them locked to protect assets, and the choice depends on occupancy and code.

A chronological reconstruction of events, with timestamps and sources, built during and after an incident to support analysis, reporting, and any later legal or disciplinary action.

Sensors and logic that detect unauthorized entry or movement in a protected area and generate an alarm, covering perimeter, interior, and object-level detection layers.

Organizing security around successive rings, from the property boundary inward to the asset itself, so an intruder must defeat multiple barriers and detection zones to succeed.

Granting people and systems only the access needed to perform their assigned tasks, and no more, to limit the damage that error, misuse, or compromise can cause.

Building and fire regulations that govern egress, door hardware, and alarm behavior, and that generally override security locking preferences where the two conflict during an emergency.

Verification that combines two or more independent factors, such as something you know, have, or are, so that a single stolen credential is not enough to gain entry.

Designing spaces so that legitimate users and passers-by can readily see what is happening, using sightlines, lighting, and window placement to discourage wrongdoing.

A manually activated device, often at a reception desk or cash point, that silently summons help when a person faces an immediate threat.

Technologies such as fence sensors, buried cable, infrared beams, and video analytics that detect approach or breach at the outer boundary before an intruder reaches a building.

Software that connects previously separate security systems, such as video, access control, and alarms, into one console so operators can correlate events and follow consistent procedures.

A planned calendar of inspections, testing, cleaning, and part replacement for security equipment, intended to catch degradation before a device fails during a real event.

A limited legal protection for certain actions taken in good faith within the scope of duty, which does not excuse negligence, excessive force, or deliberate misconduct.

A motion or push-button device on the inside of a controlled door that releases the lock for legitimate egress, reducing false alarms while preserving free exit.

A structured process that identifies assets and threats, estimates likelihood and consequence, and ranks risks so that limited security resources go where they reduce loss most.

Assigning permissions to job roles rather than individuals, so people receive access by being placed in a role and lose it cleanly when they move or leave.

A platform that collects logs from many sources, correlates them against rules, and raises alerts, giving analysts a consolidated view of suspicious activity across the environment.

Dividing a sensitive task among different people so no single individual can both commit and conceal an improper act, such as requesting and approving access changes.

The formal testing and documentation stage before a new security system is accepted, verifying that every device, integration, and alarm path works as designed and specified.

Connecting separate security products, such as video management, access control, and fire alarm, so they exchange data and act together through documented interfaces and protocols.

Following an authorized person through a door without presenting valid credentials, often politely, which defeats access control unless prevented by layout, hardware, or staff vigilance.

A person or group with the intent and capability to cause harm, such as an outsider intruder, a malicious insider, an activist, or an organized criminal group.

A control requiring two authorized people to be present for a sensitive action, such as opening a vault or server room, so that collusion is needed to abuse access.

A graduated framework that matches the level of a security officer's response to the level of resistance encountered, starting with presence and verbal direction and escalating only as needed.

The legal and ethical obligation to take reasonable steps to protect people on premises from foreseeable harm, including adequate lighting, staffing, training, and emergency planning.

A weakness in physical design, technology, process, or personnel that a threat could exploit, identified through inspection, testing, and review rather than assumed absent.

A staffed facility that receives alarm signals, verifies them, dispatches response, and documents actions, serving as the link between detection technology and human intervention.

The average time needed to restore a failed security device or system to service, a maintenance metric used to judge spares, service contracts, and redundancy needs.