Using performance testing to assess security system effectiveness

A balanced assessment of any complex system, including security systems, can be divided into two parts, namely 1) determining whether all critical components are present, and 2) determining whether all components function as intended, both individually and as a system. Many times, however, assessment focus only on the first part, which, for government-regulated security systems, can be thought of as compliance; whereas the second part, the actual system performance, is ignored, When performance testing is used, it often occurs at the individual component or sub-system level, leaving untested the complex interactions among all the combined system components. To achieve balanced assessment one must not only look at compliance, but at performance as well, both at the component or sub-system level, and at the overall system level. This paper describes why performance testing is essential to a balanced assessment, how performance testing can be applied to various parts of the security system, and some inherent limitations on its use