Other Publications - ICOM ICMS

Insider Threat in the Art World | Theft of Art and Heritage Objects from Museums with Inside Help

Kim Covent | Advisor, Local Police Department, Ghent (Belgium) & ICMS member

Any museum employee with privileged access and knowledge can, in principle, steal or help teal an artwork or cultural heritage object. Insiders become a threat only when they are sufficiently motivated to use their abilities to attack the institution or its collection. This contribution aims to provide an overview of what we currently know about insider threats in the world of art and heritage crime and what we can measure. That is not much. We will then limit ourselves to the discussion of theft and leave other phenomena out of consideration. Through a number of historical and high-profile art thefts, we will discuss various forms of insider threats. We will describe the types of insiders and their motivations. Finally, we offer an initial approach to insider threat management based on a threat analysis linked to a non-exhaustive overview of preventive and repressive measures.

Securing heritage of religious interest

Stéphane Thefo

Cultural heritage protection handbook No. 6

English French

This handbook, with witty illustrations accompanied by short and easy-to-read texts, gives general advice to everyone and anyone in contact with heritage of religious interest who wish to protect it more effectively from malicious acts (theft, vandalism, intrusion, even arson and terrorism).

Manuale per la sicurezza nei musei

ETAS 2003 331 p., ISBN 88-453-1190-2

Sammlungsgut in Sicherheit

Handbook with basic rules in many fields regarding the security of museums and collections, as protection against fire, theft, intrusion, pests, pollutants, lighting, climate conditions and more, written in German language

Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7861-2348-9