Top Emerging Trends in Physical Security for 2025

The last few years have been unprecedented for everyone, including workers in the security industry. From AI to extreme violence to social upheavals, we’ve seen a lot of huge changes in our world. So what’s next for physical security? We’ve put together a list of things of security trends you can expect to see in 2025.

10 emerging trends in security in 2025

1. Executive protection should be top of mind. The attempt on the life of Donald Trump and the assassination of the United Healthcare CEO on Dec. 4 should be a sign to organizations to re-evaluate their security, particularly their executive protection. It’s worth noting that when there’s a violent incident, copycats tend to crop up. We are likely to see a trend of assassination attempts and threats to the safety of high profile leaders. I feel like we're now heading into a new trend area where executive protection is going to be a very key presence in the security industry.

2. Drones will become more prominent, as a threat and as a countermeasure. Drones have been in the headlines lately, with hundreds of sightings of mysterious drones over New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast, causing anxiety among residents and demands for more information from government officials. I expect to see them more in the coming year — drones are likely to be weaponized, used for surveillance, and used in other malicious ways. This will prompt organizations and law enforcement to develop anti-drone procedures.

3. The C-suite will realize the need for both cybersecurity and physical security. For years, cybersecurity and physical security have been siloed from each other, and at many companies, each has had its own seat in the c-suite: the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). But that’s changing — the past few years has shown us how closely information security and physical security are linked. There may be changes in the next few years that may force them together, either from insurance concerns or the increase in ransomware threats. This may not necessarily mean that both positions will be consolidated into the Chief Security Officer’s role. Rather, we’ll see an adaptation; the Chief Security Risk Officer.

4. Risk, not security, will be a major focus. Security, in all its forms, is about managing and mitigating risk. As organizations realize the importance of risk, physical security, information risk, and human resources – another department that manages risk – is going to be the new emphasis. Security, IT Risk and HR will fall under security risk. This means risk analysts will become an increasingly important part of every security team. Companies will start looking more closely at data, and how it can help them predict threats and the likelihood of risks.

5. The rise of the GSOC as a Service: Global Security Operations Centers (GSOCs) have been around for a long time; traditionally, GSOCs have been a physical room where security staff can monitor camera feeds, officer schedules and other day-to-day security issues. However, GSOC is undergoing a change. We are now seeing more GSOCs offered as a Service. This can take various forms: a GSOC can be completely outsourced, or it can be a hybrid model. I am particularly interested in the hybrid model because it allows organizations to outsource the specific services they need — technology, for example, or a security expert on retainer, who can advise the business as needed. All in all, I think this offers a more proactive approach to security than a traditional GSOC or VSOC because it allows an enterprise to meet specific security needs as it sees fit.

6. School security is in the spotlight. With ASIS about to launch its school safety standard in 2025, there is a growing emphasis on school security and safety, and we expect to see much more discussion about securing schools in the next year. We are particularly interested in how insurers will respond to this standard; we expect that insurance companies will change the way they respond to claims made after school shootings.

7. Vendors and the supply chain are still weak spots.In the past three years, the supply chain has been under attack. This is likely to continue, both with the physical supply chain and with vendors, who have turned out to be a favorite target for criminals. Vendor risk management is becoming an increasingly important concern for companies. It's not enough to just know what your direct vendors are doing; you also need to understand their security practices and those of their vendors.

8. Insider threats will increase.Just this December, a Massachusetts man was arrested and charged with involvement in an Iranian drone strike that killed three American soldiers in Jordan in January 2024. Specifically, the man is alleged to have shared sensitive technology from his U.S, employers with foreign actors. I believe that due to the current economic state and changes in policy, we will see an increase in this sort of insider theft and espionage. It may not always be politically motivated; people struggling to make ends meet may be approached and offered money for information or technology. Background checks are going to be absolutely necessary, as will training about protecting information and reporting suspicious activity.

9. Smaller regional guard companies will gain prominence. In the past, security has been dominated by large man guarding enterprises. However recently we’ve been seeing a change as smaller, regional guard companies have emerged. The switch is being driven by improved quality and service; regional guard companies may offer better training, technology, and support to security officers.

10. Anonymity will drive more crimes. There’s a reason cyber attacks are popular; the barrier to committing a crime is low, and the criminal can remain relatively anonymous. In a world where people are used to being tracked through their lives, I expect to see more crimes driven by the ability to remain anonymous — such as more drone attacks, more masks designed to fool cameras and facial recognition, and of course, more cyber attacks.

What challenges will your business face in 2025? Contact us now about assessing your security, and make a plan for the next year.

About the Author

Daniel Young

Founder & Chief Innovation Officer

Daniel has been a security and risk advisor for more than 10 years, and is passionate about helping companies to better understand their risks to undesirable events on a daily basis. Dan previously served as the Regional Bioterrorism Coordinator for District 1 in Michigan, where he was instrumental in preparing communities for catastrophic incidents. He has also acted as the Private Security Liaison for the City of Lansing’s Critical Infrastructure Team, which identified and documented deficiencies in the city’s critical infrastructure.

He is a Co-Founder of the CSO Risk Council, a think tank of seasoned security professionals and thought leaders with extensive experience in managing the physical security and risks of large enterprises consisting of multiple sites and whose mission is to create a better process to develop and share innovative solutions and pertinent information with organizations to improve safety and security risk by providing a forum to discuss best practices and recommendations for specific risk scenarios and to network with other enterprise security professionals.