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Control room personnel undergo stringent checks for security breeches at all recognised tracking companies.

In May this year, leading vehicle tracking company, Tracker, hit the headlines and TV News broadcasts with allegations that one of its former employees had divulged the whereabouts of tracking units in specific vehicles to hijacking syndicates after bribe money was paid. According to Allen Harington, chairman of the Vehicle Security Association (VESA), the vehicle theft/hijacking industry has an annual turnover of around R5 billion. With that a mount of loot spurring them on, it's no surprise they wag a wad of green under the noses of a few 'insiders'. Paul Collings asks three tracking companies how they prevent staff from 'spilling the beans'.

Tracker
"The reality is that as Tracker continues to make significant inroads in the fight against vehicle crime, the company will increasingly be targeted by vehicle crime syndicates trying either to source valuable information or sabotage its business," says Gareth Crocker, Tracker's communications manager. "In terms of security procedures, Tracker employs various safeguards to minimise its exposure to crime syndicates. All personnel who join Tracker have to pass a stringent security and police check. Tracker will not employ any person with a criminal record. Tracker continuously conducts random Polygraph and Voice Stress Analysis testing. These tests are conducted at every level of the business from the company's senior management team right down to junior staff."

In certain critical areas of the business, these tests are conducted even more frequently, he adds, stating that Tracker spends in excess of R700 000 per annum on Polygraph and Voice Stress Analysis testing alone and employs a large department of people to continuously monitor telephone calls and emails to see what information is being communicated by staff. 

"Tracker maintains a profile of hijack and theft incidents against every one of its installation technicians to monitor any possible suspicious trends that may arise. If there is any cause for concern, that particular installer is immediately investigated," he says. "It would be naïve of us to believe that we are not being targeted by crime syndicates as we are severely affecting their operations. We are confident, however, that we have some of the best security measures in place to safeguard against this."

DigiCore
Bruce Richards, DigiCore marketing director states that: "Because of the sensitive nature of this kind of information, we are obviously reluctant to go into too much detail about our security infrastructure. However, DigiCore has strict security measures in place that cover the comprehensive prescreening of all job applicants as well as stringent ongoing security measures that ensure the integrity of client and vehicle information as well as personnel adherence to confidentially protocols."
 

Leak proofing in place - DigiCore's Bruce Richards is confident in DigiCore's anti-collusion measures.

Electronic Tracking Services (ETS)
Deon Bayley, ETS managing director says: "One of our greatest strengths at present is that we have kept our presence very low-key. Keeping well under the radar has meant that there are not many people in South Africa who have a real understanding of how our technology works, and certainly very few people even know what our device looks like. I am convinced that this low profile probably means that syndicates are far more likely to target the bigger, more visible tracking companies, hopefully leaving us alone (for now). 

ETS services niche markets, says Bayley, specifically, "supplying a self contained, wireless unit which is very difficult for criminals to locate - there are no wires or antennas to find and follow, even if they do suspect that there is a device present! In other words, having knowledge that a device may be present does not necessarily help them that much.

"Our systems are all fully audit trailed - we can see at any time who has been accessing our system and for what purpose. We know what client data has been accessed, and if there is no good reason for that person to be looking at it, we can ask questions. This includes the control room staff. All calls to the control room are also voice logged." 

As Bayley says, whether the Tracker collusion allegations are true or not, "the story has made us all more vigilant and aware of these issues."
 

Underneath the criminals' radar - ETS's Deon Bayley.