Cloud security - Expert commentary
Although video camera technology has been around since the early 1900s, it was not until the 1980s that video started to gain traction for security and surveillance applications. The pictures generated by these initial black and white tube cameras were grainy at best, with early colour cameras providing a wonderful new source of visual data for better identification accuracy. But by today’s standards, these cameras produced images that were about as advanced as crayons and coloring books....
The banking market continues to evolve through the growing use of digital and mobile devices, as more branch operations aim to enhance convenience and service for the customer. These advancements also create more significant opportunities for fraud and loss. Together, these two trends come full circle: Increasingly sophisticated fraud techniques require organisations to pursue new approaches to preventing and detecting such activities. Digital transformation But before we lead down that path,...
One of the biggest security trends in the last two years has been the adoption of cloud-based services, spearheaded mainly by an increasing number of video surveillance-as-a-service (VSaaS) offerings. VSaaS market value According to MarketsandMarkets Research, the global VSaaS market value is expected to reach $6.2 billion by 2026. This growth is propelled by demand for remote access video services, less local hardware to maintain, new internet-enabled devices, and a lower total cost of owners...
Organisations have shifted business focus countless times since the onset of the pandemic. While many leaders have been primarily concerned with the immediate health and safety of their customers and employees, 2022 has given rise to a new trend: More than ever, business leaders are seeking security solutions that increase operational efficiency and cost savings as well as improve logistics and business insight. As working environments become more complex, organisations looking to drive higher...
Integrators need to be well versed in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), when discussing video surveillance options with their customers. Business leaders are looking for the best, most economical technology that will address their security needs, and they also want to avoid being blind-sided by unplanned technology operations and service costs. While most folks understand that the initial cost of a video surveillance system is not the same as the total cost of ownership, many might be surprised to...
Back in 1890, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis published a ground-breaking article in the Harvard Law review called ‘The Right to Privacy’. To this day, it is regarded as one of the most influential essays in the history of American law and is widely regarded as the first publication in the United States of America to advocate a right to privacy, articulating that right primarily as a ‘right to be let alone’. In this essay, the authors questioned whether the arrival of p...
The world around us is full of technological innovation. Smart locks are commonplace in our homes and control access to buildings, but when it comes to industrial locking and access control for equipment cabinetry, options can seem limited. Equally, there’s not enough accessible information to act as a guide. The development of new technologies and cabinet capabilities feels as though it is being held back. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Common problems are seen across the l...
Trevor Dearing, the EMEA Director of Critical Infrastructure Solutions at Illumio, said “It is encouraging to see NIST releasing updated guidance acknowledging the increase in cyber-attacks targeting the supply chain and the consequent necessity to bolster the supply chain’s cyber security. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the exponential increase in attacks on the IT systems of manufacturers, logistics companies and organisations, which ultimately target the operational part of...
Today, RFID readers can be found in numerous devices requiring user authentication, authorisation and access control, from doors to multi-function printers to point of sale terminals to computers and more. RFID is a simple, secure and convenient access control solution for end users and original equipment manufacturers. RFID readers/writers come with a broad range of form factors, capabilities and configurations. Choosing the right RFID reader When choosing a reader to embed into a system or d...
With increasing security and public health concerns, contactless credentials are gaining more and more importance. Contactless credentials can be divided into two main categories: soft credentials that include mobile phone applications that tap into their BLE/NFC hardware and transmit the data, and hard credentials that typically include low frequency (125 kHz) and high frequency (13.56MHz) based passive RFID transponders. With the help of these credentials, organisations can tackle safety conc...
In the era of the ‘Great Resignation’, it may seem counterintuitive to say that people will power business security in 2022. However, a convergence of challenges over the past few years has led to an undeniable trend in the security industry: With more technology comes the need for more people to monitor, analyse and leverage the data that technology produces. Always-on approach to security Since businesses were forced into lockdown two years ago, we’ve seen technology adopti...
Most individuals have strong opinions about what is more essential to our civilisation: personal privacy or security. After more than a decade of technology enabling greater and greater amounts of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and data harvesting, now the pendulum is swinging towards a society that places more emphasis on individual rights and privacies. This shift is manifesting in a variety of ways, quickly changing the technology, security and cyber security landscapes, and requi...
Software as a Service (SaaS) provides computer equipment, OS, and software customised to the user’s purposes as a service. Access control can work in the same way. If you work in the physical security industry, especially concerning access control, you have probably heard about the term ‘ACaaS’ recently. ACaaS is a combination of ‘access control’ and ‘SaaS’ (Software as a Service). From a semantic point of view, ACaaS means providing cloud-based access c...
This is an era of digital revolution and with it comes dozens of new security dangers. Every gadget, from our smartphones to our security cameras, need some kind of protection from external hacking. However, how can we assure the safety of our devices, workplaces, etc.? Biometric security is one such security method that has emerged, since it is both efficient and perceived foolproof. It offers an additional layer of security for businesses and personal security systems. Biometric security syste...
Access control for buildings is nothing new. Early forms of security access for business security systems were introduced in the 1960s, as business owners and managers looked for alternatives to keys, as a result of needing to frequently replace them, when there was a change in personnel. It’s only in recent years that the urgency to implement smarter, more efficient, and convenient forms of access control has increased, in the context of public and private sector digital transformation....
As we navigate the new normal, the power of choice and flexibility continues to take centre stage. We’ve grown accustomed to the choice to work from home or virtually anywhere and the flexibility to have everything delivered (sometimes even right into your fridge!). Seamless access control With this, we are seeing heightened demand for seamless access control through smart locks and mobile credentials. This powerful combination creates exciting new opportunities to meet resident demand f...
As a result of COVID-19, artificial intelligence (AI) has become table stakes for factories. Google’s 2021 Cloud Manufacturing Report found that 76% of manufacturing executives increased their adoption of disruptive technologies, including AI, during the pandemic. AI-based facial recognition technology AI has long been used in the sector to monitor the pace of work and anticipate machine failures, a trend that is expected to continue this year as factories look to optimise operations. Ho...
Corporate global security operations centres (GSOCs) bear the responsibility for protecting C-suite executives from physical and reputational harm amid the social upheaval, extreme weather events, and escalating cyber threats. That mission, daunting as it is, becomes more difficult when GSOCs lack the data necessary for conducting a comprehensive threat assessment. Threat intelligence Unfortunately, many centres never move past basic threat intelligence which focuses on scenario-driven queries...
As we enter into 2022, there is still a level of uncertainty in place. It’s unclear what the future holds, as companies around the world still contend with the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working has been encouraged by most organisations and the move to a hybrid working system has become ‘business as usual’, for the majority of businesses. Some have reduced their office space or done away with their locations altogether. Following best security practices With all this change in...
There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the way we work. In May 2021, 31% of the countries workforce was still working remotely, with 71% of businesses in professional, scientific, and technical industries remote-working. Work patterns shifting Although the conversation often focuses on office workers, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way many other, non-office sectors operate. In the security industry, since the introduction of lockdowns and social distancin...
They say nothing stays the same for long, and this has never been truer than in today’s world of technology and innovation. The 21st century has seen rapid changes and every day brings a new update in one of the many segments of technology. Technology is evolving at such a rapid rate, due to a phenomenon dubbed accelerating change. Each new improvement is now a stepping stone, enabling stronger and better generations of technology, at faster speeds. Accelerating change evolving across all...
In the new era of work, our relationship with the workplace is defined by flexibility and mobility. Employees are working across the home, office, and blended spaces more than ever before, as well as working varied hours to suit the modern work schedule. This new hybrid workforce model holds the potential for more diverse talent and better productivity, but it also comes with its challenges – one being how to ensure security, health, and safety in the workplace. Strong a...
Technology has certainly become an intrinsic part of our day-to-day lives, from the retail industry, to food and beverage outlets, and even within the health and fitness industry. It’s all around us, in varying formats, making processes more efficient. It has refined some of our older approaches, and in the hospitality industry, this is certainly true. Technological advances are leading the way forward for the future of hotels, and with the sector now free from COVID-19 restrictions, venu...
In the field of access control, face recognition has come a long way. Once considered too slow to authenticate people's identities and credentials in high traffic conditions, face recognition technology has evolved to become one of the quickest, most effective access control identity authentication solutions across all industries. Advancements in artificial intelligence and advanced neural network (ANN) technology from industry leaders like Intel have improved the accuracy and efficiency of fa...
Gregor Schlechtriem has worked in the access control market for over 20 years and is now responsible for the Access & Intrusion Business Unit at Bosch Building Technologies. In this interview, the expert talks about key industry trends, the impact of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, technical innovations and his company’s strategy. Mr. Schlechtriem, you have many years of experience in the security technology market. What is your background and what are your responsibilities as Se...
Recent cyber-attacks have disabled and even shut down physical assets. Robust foundational security and training staff, able to recognise an attack can help mitigate the threat, as ABB’s Rob Putman explains. Edge devices and data analytics As cyber security specialists, we must navigate an ever-changing threat landscape, one that is made even more complex by the increased interconnectivity between Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT), as companies look to leverage...
The COVID-19 pandemic is only accelerating the expansion of Automation, Robotics, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and changing how people live their daily lives. This expansion leads the way with technologies that are developed to solve problems, improve operations, streamline processes and assist people, to focus on learning new skills, creativity, and imagination. Transformation of the physical security industry One of the latest industries to be permanently transform...
Schools were never designed and built with social distancing in mind. So it’s perhaps not surprising that as children returned to schools for the autumn term this year, the prospect of outdoor classes and assemblies was mooted in the media and by the Government. Many in the education sector are making the case that, should there be further COVID-19 outbreaks, in the coming months, it would be better to utilise outside space, rather than resort to closing schools. In the COVID-19 era, head...
The past year has elevated consumer awareness about personal safety, from COVID-19 issues to social unrest, making safety top-of-mind and the need for personal safety solutions, even more prevalent. In addition, consumers spent more time at home, as schools closed, events were canceled and remote work increased. This prompted two major shifts that, in my opinion, most significantly opened the need for and raised the popularity of mobile safety solutions. Demand for grocery and food delivery...
Today’s organisations face numerous diverse threats to their people, places and property, sometimes simultaneously. Security leaders now know all too well how a pandemic can cripple a company’s ability to produce goods and services, or force production facilities to shut down, disrupting business continuity. For example, a category three hurricane barreling towards the Gulf of Mexico could disable the supplier’s facilities, disrupt the supply chain and put unexpected pressure o...
