In the wake of a recent security breach at New York City’s iconic Empire State Building, news media outlets sought guidance from security experts to analyze the incident.
On July 1, a man and woman scaled the building’s 200-foot-tall spire, unfurling a banner and drawing the immediate attention of police and emergency responders. The incident was broadcast live on local, national, and international media outlets.
Fortunately, the breath-taking event, which saw the duo clinging to the building’s antenna 1,454 feet above the city, was just a publicity stunt without any malign intent. After about an hour, the two individuals descended from the spire and were promptly arrested by NYPD officers, charged with felonies, and released under court supervision. It is believed that they accessed the spire through a maintenance hatch on the 103rd floor, which is supposed to be closed to the public.
Appearing on ABC Channel 7 New York’s Eyewitness News, DSS Vice President-Intelligence, Risk Advisory, and Strategic Initiatives Gren Sanfilippo, called the incident “disturbing.”
“This is every corporate real estate’s security team’s worst nightmare, getting access to the roof or ledges of their building,” he said. “They didn’t just stumble upon that hatch; there is what we’d call pre-observational surveillance, someone cased the joint, if you will, they didn’t just do that today,” Greg explained, adding, “It could’ve been a lot worse, had they had any bad intentions.”
Greg drew on his extensive background as a retired NYPD Sergeant, former supervisor with the public-private intelligence-sharing initiative NYPD Shield, and a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves to provide important security analysis of the stunt and its implications for the Empire State Building’s security program.
At DSS, we pride ourselves on having top-tier security practitioners leading our operational and advisory divisions. Greg’s recent media appearance underscores DSS’s standing as an industry-leading authority in risk management. His expertise aligns with the sophisticated, data-driven security solutions that DSS delivers to our clients every day.
