Surveillance & Security News for August 2020

Provider of Gartner recognised Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions and cybersecurity services, SureCloud, teams up with Australian information security, governance, risk and compliance specialist FirmGuard to deliver a suite of pioneering tech-based services. The strategic partnership combines SureCloud’s award-winning technology and methodologies with FirmGuard’s expertise in compliance readiness and advisory solutions across global and regional security standards and regula...

Calipsa and Immix are bringing their proven AI Video Alarm Verification solution to central alarm monitoring stations in the Americas. The news follows the successful launch of the solution, known as AI Link, in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia Pacific region (APAC) in May 2020. The integration, which will be available starting September 1, will allow Immix customers to add Calipsa’s False Alarm Filtering technology to their cameras directly via the AI Link feature in Imm...

Thousands of valuable ISO management system certifications earned by UK companies may now be at risk because auditors from Certification Bodies may not have been able to attend organisations’ premises to conduct essential re-certification audits during the current coronavirus pandemic. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of certifications are at risk of lapsing as lockdown conditions look set to continue for the foreseeable future. Current UKAS guidelines - unchanged since August 2016 - stat...

Risk Management experts SmartWater are working with renowned Telecoms companies to help protect them from attacks on their masts. With many 5G mobile phone masts having been the subject of recent arson attacks, SmartWater has extended its long-running relationship with MBNL (Mobile Broadband Network Limited) to now include the protection of their assets from criminal damage. Jointly owned by telecoms providers EE and Three, MBNL has - along with other telecom companies - been the subject of sev...

Feenics, an Ottawa-based provider of forward-thinking Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) solutions, has announced the availability of the August 2020 update of its Keep by Feenics cloud-hosted access control platform. Keep by Feenics Aug 2020 update The August 2020 update of Keep by Feenics features exciting new functionality, including support for single sign-on authentication and scheduled reports. “We are thrilled that our latest update includes features highly desired by our custom...

According to Omdia (Informa)’s latest access control report, Genetec Inc. (‘Genetec’), a globally renowned technology provider of unified security, public safety, operations, and business intelligence solutions, is the fastest-growing access control software provider in the world. The report showed Genetec Inc. rising to 4th position globally (up from 6th and 8th positions, in 2018 and 2017, respectively) with a growth rate of nearly 5 times the pace of the market. Fast-growi...

Telaeris, a handheld badge verification and emergency mustering solutions provider for physical access control systems (PACS), announced its HealthCheck enhancement to XPressEntry. HealthCheck makes it easy for security and safety professionals to capture and securely store current health status information of personnel and visitors, and deny access if necessary, from compatible XPressEntry handheld badge readers before entry into any workplace. “Stopping the spread of COVID-19 is one of...

Sonitrol, the globally renowned provider of verified electronic security solutions, has announced that CMS Corporation, an award-winning construction contractor, relies on one of Sonitrol’s newest offerings, Sonitrol Network Protection. CMS Corporation’s scope of services encompasses new construction, renovations, fueling systems, and energy and sustainability projects for a wide range of commercial and federal government clients. The company’s projects are approximately 70% F...

Iris ID, a provider of iris recognition technology, announced its contactless IrisAccess® biometric technology is being used for employee time and attendance at hotels in Iraq which are part of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, a London-based hotel company that manages and operates 135 luxury hotels in 80 locations worldwide. The Millennium hotels – the Millennium Kurdistan, the Copthorne Hotel Baranan and Millennium Kurdistan Hotel and Spa – are located in the Sulaymaniyah pro...

Healthcare professionals around the world are beginning to identify a range of COVID-19 related mental health issues that are certain to create new challenges for society. People are in serious distress about the pandemic itself, because of the devastating second and third-order effects of record unemployment and the overall negative economic impact. Safety and security professionals must be prepared to meet the challenges of a ‘new normal’. The new normal is not the old normal. Soc...

Exabeam, the Smarter SIEM™ company, releases new research, revealing that 62 percent of blue teams have difficulty stopping red teams during adversary simulation exercises. Respondents named threat detection, incident response and flexibility/openness to change while working remotely as the top three areas that blue teams must improve upon. This indicates an increase in technical and adaptability challenges since the same study was performed in 2019, where the focus fell heavily on teamwo...

e-BikePort has chosen Hanwha Techwin as the single-source provider of the video surveillance systems to be integrated with its autonomous, sustainable charging stations for electric-assisted bicycles and scooters. With city dwellers and workers throughout Europe being encouraged by governments to abandon their cars and use either public transport or bicycles to get to their destination, e-BikePorts provide a convenient way to re-charge light electric-assisted vehicles, as well as other electron...

Serving customer needs is the goal of most commerce in the physical security market. Understanding those needs requires communication and nuance, and there are sometimes surprises along the way. But in every surprising revelation – and in every customer interaction – there is opportunity to learn something valuable that can help to serve the next customer’s needs more effectively. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: what was the best lesson you ever learned from...

In a multi-faith society, individuals should have the freedom to practice their faith in complete safety. It’s taken a long time for the right to freedom of belief in the UK to be enshrined in law – the Human Rights Act 1998 protects public worship – yet there are signs that religious intolerance is on the increase. Hate crime offences on the rise Home Office figures show that hate crime offences in England and Wales have been rising steadily over the past six years, with 7,...

Latest insights from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Barometer show that 41% of execs think 5G is now less important than it was before the pandemic. There are numerous reasons why this could be the case, one being that 4G and home broadband has been proven to be up to the job of supporting home working.  There’s also no escaping the headlines that surround 5G and political espionage. They read like a script from House of Cards. Presidents, prime ministers, heads of fo...

JEWISH CARE has placed its trust in the latest access control, door entry and CCTV technology, to help create a safe and secure environment for residents living in Anita Dorfman House, a new 64-bed care home facility recently erected at its Sandringham care and community hub in Stanmore. Phase 1 of the project has seen the MEPH contractor Harvey Group, award a contract to South London system integrator WLS, to install a Paxton Net2 access control and door entry system with the objective of ensu...

The Security Industry Association (SIA), the globally renowned trade association representing security solutions providers, has released its new policy principles guiding the development and deployment of facial recognition technology. Facial recognition technology SIA believes all technology products, including facial recognition, must only be used for purposes that are lawful, ethical and non-discriminatory. “SIA recognises that some community leaders have expressed deeply-held views...

Milestone Systems has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Thomas Jensen as Chief Executive Officer. Thomas Jensen will assume the role on October 1, 2020. After an extensive search for the right candidate for the CEO position at Milestone Systems, the Board of Directors is delighted to announce that Thomas Jensen has accepted the role. “Milestone is a strong company with a strong leadership team. Adding Thomas’ broad experience in strategy and execution puts us in a...

As the application scenarios are becoming more and more demanding, traditional security systems are having problems catching up and often face issues such as: too much false alarms triggered by pets, insects, leaves and other non-target objects; can only rely on video playback for confirmation after an event; and difficult evidence retrieval due to uncoloured images at night with Black/White monitoring. What’s worse, for a relatively comprehensive system, the user will need to spend more...

Security and Safety Things GmbH is pleased to announce that 21 new and innovative applications are currently in development as part of its App Challenge to create new solutions for the retail, transportation and manufacturing sectors. Developers from 16 different companies have been working on apps that can provide solutions to COVID-19 specific needs or common industry pain points. The apps will run on cameras powered by the operating system developed by Security & Safety Things. AI-enabl...

Assured Clarity - a global consultancy, specialising in risk management, cybersecurity and data privacy – is advising every organisation to press the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) reset button, as a result of fundamental changes to workplace and practices arising from the response to COVID-19. The Allowlist preferred supplier has outlined a four-point plan to help organisations ensure they are not exposing their business to even greater and unnecessary risk through non-complian...

Systems consultants and end-users who want to use products from Axis Communications now have a choice of easy, off-the-shelf options, following a distribution agreement between Ingram Micro and Quanika. Quanika’s latest portfolio of software solutions, already being used in the NHS and at major distribution and manufacturing sites, is designed to make integration more straightforward. The company’s modular, ready-made approach means that it is now simple to deploy Axis Communication...

Co-op, a large consumer co-operative in the UK and one of the largest retailers in the country, is rolling out an integrated body-worn video solution from Motorola Solutions to front-line colleagues, with a focus on further increasing safety in-store against a background of rising retail crime in the industry. The Co-op has seen in-store crime increase by more than 140% year-on-year, despite communities recognising the critical role played by retail workers in society - true frontline workers i...

Smarter Security, Inc., a provider of premium, innovative entrance and access control solutions, proudly welcomes a new addition to the Sales team. Bruce Kutsche joins as the company’s Senior Director of Solution Sales. Kutsche brings valuable security experience and leadership to strategically direct Sales initiatives, delivering smarter solutions that redefine intelligent Access and Entrance Control. Complex security problems “We’re thrilled to have Bruce lead our Solution...

Marian University is a school with a mission. Having transitioned from a liberal arts college to a comprehensive university in 2009, it has become one of the private education institutions in Indiana. And that’s not all: the university has ambitious goals to grow its programs and broaden its mandate even further. Currently, the school has over 500 staff members and more than 3,500 students from across the United States and around the world. And by 2025, it aims to double its number of ann...

Synectics announced that it has received LenelS2 factory certification and joined the LenelS2 OpenAccess Alliance Program (OAAP). Synectics' command and control platform, Synergy 3, interfaces with the OnGuard® access control system, allowing customers to fully benefit from the respective feature sets with ease and peace of mind. "Synectics has completed required factory testing at LenelS2 to validate the functionality of its interface to the OnGuard system," said John Marchioli, OAAP Prod...

Ava, a unified security company, has announced that former Cisco sales executive, Rick Hill, has joined the company as Vice President/General Manager of U.S. Enterprise Sales. Global Sales expert Over the last 15 years, Rick has built and led global sales teams and channel development. He will play a strategic role in building a world-class sales team and the rollout of Ava’s unified security solutions to partners and customers in the Americas region. We are excited about Rick’s i...

Smart security is advancing rapidly. As AI and 4K rise in adoption on smart video cameras, these higher video resolutions are driving the demand for more data to be stored on-camera. AI and smart video promise to extract greater insights from security video. Complex, extensive camera networks will already require a large amount of data storage, particularly if this is 24/7 monitoring from smart video-enabled devices. With 4K-compliant cameras projected to make up over 24% of all network camera...

Stadiums around the world are still paralysed from the effects of COVID-19. Fans and spectators in masses have been absent from stadiums since April and there doesn’t seem to be a concrete plan on how or when they’ll be able to return to near capacity. The NBA recently opted to form a bubble philosophy concept in Disney’s facilities, although it’s been a relative success, it’s also been a $200 million temporary solution. This then begs the question: How long can st...

The purchase price for the Acquisition amounts to approximately EUR 506 million, equivalent to an adjusted purchase price per agta record share of EUR 70.54. The Acquisition is expected to close during August 2020. After the Acquisition ASSA ABLOY will own approximately 93% of the share capital and voting rights of agta record. As previously announced, ASSA ABLOY has entered into agreements with Italy-based FAAC Group for the sale of certain agta record and ASSA ABLOY businesses, as part of the...