Commercial security - Security beat

Many employers faced a need to ramp up hiring of drivers to meet a higher demand for product deliveries and transportation logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic. To meet the demand for drivers, employers had to make quick hiring decisions while also ensuring products were still being delivered in a timely fashion.  Safe work environment Businesses have a duty of care to provide a safe working environment for their employees and contractors. It is therefore important to limit exposing dri...

John Wiegand died in 1986, but the communications protocol that bears his name is still alive and well, connecting access control readers to controllers using two wires – one to transmit “zeros” and the other to transmit “ones.” The Wiegand protocol persists despite its limitations, including one-way communication, lack of encryption, and inability to manage the readers in a system centrally. In a Wiegand system, a controller provides no acknowledgement that data ha...

Historically, concerns about inclusion and diversity have not been widely discussed in the security market. In the last couple of years, however, the Security Industry Association (SIA) and other groups have worked to raise awareness around issues of diversity and inclusion. Specifically, SIA’s Women in Security Forum has focused on the growing role of women in all aspects of security, and SIA’s RISE community has focused on “rising stars” in an industry previously domin...

Can a smart card be used securely for multiple applications (and among multiple manufacturers )? End users are demanding such interoperability, and they also want openness to switching out components of their access control systems in the future without being “locked in” to one vendor. Those are the goals of the LEAF Identity consortium, a collection of companies that share and support end user-owned encryption keys stored securely in smart cards with MIFARE DESFire EV2 chips and ar...

Ethics are an important – but some might argue, undervalued – aspect of the security marketplace. To kindle the industry’s interest in ethics, the Security Industry Association (SIA) in early 2019 created a working group on Ethics in Security Technology. The working group developed a list of ethical principles, which were approved by the organisation’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors and became the SIA Membership Code of Ethics. SIA member companies must adher...

Trends in the alarm industry point to a need for a software system that accommodates business patterns such as recurring monthly revenue (RMR). Workhorse Service Company provides a software that combines customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and field service management (FSM) into a “cradle-to-grave” system designed specifically for the alarm industry. “Making an alarm sale is different than making a CCTV sale, and the processes for the sal...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be participating at ISC West in a big way. Representatives of the federal department will be taking part in more education sessions this year, and the DHS tech-scouting team will be on hand to view the latest technologies on display at the show. Exhibitors – and anyone else at the show – are invited to the “DHS Town Hall” on March 19 (Thursday) at 3:30 p.m. in meeting room Galileo 1001. The aim is for DHS to engage with...

ISC West is being affected only minimally by the COVID-19 coronavirus, which is having an impact on international business travel, specifically to and from China. One consequence of coronavirus travel restrictions is a decision by Reed Exhibitions International not to proceed with a dedicated pavilion for Chinese companies at ISC West, March 17-20. In the main hall, however, some Chinese companies will remain in the show and staff their exhibit booths with U.S. office personnel and resources. I...

It is an exciting time at German intelligent video company MOBOTIX, which has launched a next-generation platform that builds on their legacy of video at the edge while opening up the system to third-party partners that can build even more capabilities. MOBOTIX unveiled the new M7 platform and M73 camera at the MOBOTIX Global Partner Conference in Mainz, Germany, in October. MOBOTIX M7 is a powerful, decentralised and secure modular IoT-video system based on deep learning modules. The feedback...

Honeywell Commercial Security is among the companies working to develop security systems that are more proactive than reactive. “Our biggest opportunity moving forward is the ability to have security solutions that do a better job of detecting and predicting threats,” says Tim Baker, Global Marketing Director, Honeywell Commercial Security. Greater use of analytics and intelligence can reduce human error and simplify processes by providing a more unified view for greater situational...

According to the reports of not-for-profit organisation Gun Violence Archive, the year 2018 saw 323 mass shooting incidents as of November. This number is 346 for the year 2017 and 382 for 2016, with ‘mass shooting’ defined as cases where four or more people are shot or killed in the same time period and location. A variety of gunfire detection solutions and other technology approaches seek to address the problem. ShotSpotter SiteSecure and ShotSpotter SecureCampus provide critical...

Coming off a successful ISC West show, Honeywell is sharply focussed on product development, with an emphasis on advanced software. “We have a strong new product pipeline this year – more than two times the number of products than we’ve released in the past several years,” says Luis Rodriguez, Director of Product Marketing, Honeywell Commercial Security. “At ISC West, we received a lot of interest in how AI and new security systems are changing the market.”...

Knightscope’s long-term mission is to “make America the safest country in the world,” says William Santana Li, Chairman and CEO. “The company was started six years ago as we had grown tired and horrified by the ongoing violence in our country and decided to do something about it.” But are security robots the solution to crime and violence in the United States? “There are 2+ million law enforcement and security professionals trying to secure 328+ million peopl...

Despite any negativity you may hear, Hikvision is optimistic about their role in the U.S. market. “We demonstrate that we can be trusted, and that we should be trusted,” says Jeffrey He, Vice President, Hikvision, and President, Hikvision USA and Hikvision Canada. “We have sound products and technology. Our mission in the security industry is to protect, not to harm. Otherwise why would we be in this industry?” Hikvision is committed to investing in the North American m...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, present a range of threats, from the careless and clueless to the criminal. While many incidents may seem harmless, the threat to any location at any time depends on a range of factors. Drones are inexpensive for criminals to buy or make, and there are continuously improving battery, airspeed, and payload capabilities. UAVs can also fly without an RF signal to jam or hack. Fortunately, sensor technologies including radar are available for security ag...

There are many new technologies at ISC West this year. There are also some tried-and-true solutions on display. More mature products have the benefit of being fully vetted and battle-tested, which may make them a more comfortable choice for security customers. I had a couple of discussions on Day 2 of the show about the advantages, and possible drawbacks, of new products. “To a security director, when you say ‘new,’ he translates that into ‘risk,’” says Bill...

Recent technology advances – from the cloud to artificial intelligence, from mobile credentials to robotics – will have a high profile at the upcoming ISC West exhibition hall. Several of these technologies were recently designated by the Security Industry Association as the Top 8 security technologies for security and public safety. Some of them will also be a focus at the ISC West conference program, SIA Education@ISC, April 9-11 at the Sands Expo Center. This article will highligh...

ISC West in Las Vegas is the first of several major security trade shows planned for 2019 as part of the Reed Exhibitions ISC Security Events portfolio. Next up will be Expo Seguridad México in May in Mexico City, followed in June by ISC Brasil in Sao Paolo, and ISC East this fall in New York. Expo Seguridad México, May 7-9, will serve the important Mexican market for security goods and services. In Mexico City alone, a large population translates into plenty of buildings and fac...

A futuristic alternative to plastic cards for access control and other applications is being considered by some corporate users in Sweden and the United Kingdom. The idea involves using a microchip device implanted into a user’s hand. About the size of a grain of rice and provided by Swedish company Biohax, the tiny device employs passive near field communication (NFC) to interface with a user’s digital environment. Access control is just one application for the device, which can be...

How’s this for a simple access control scenario? You walk up to a door, wave your hand in front of a button, the button lights up, and the door opens. That’s the simplified user experience that startup Openpath is promoting as it enters the crowded and mature market for physical access control. Openpath says a simple user experience provides the extra boost needed for mobile credentialing to gain momentum. In this case, it’s even simpler than using a card credential (no s...

There is a new event on the calendar for the security industry in 2019: The Security Event 2019, 9-11 April, at NEC, Birmingham. For additional details and a preview of the new trade show and conference, we spoke with Tristan Norman, Founding Partner and Event Director, The Security Event. Q: It seems recently that some trade shows have been on the decline in terms of exhibit size and attendance. Why does the physical security industry need another trade show? Norman: I think there are numer...

When Linus Yale Sr. invented the pin tumbler cylinder lock, it was the start of an iconic security brand that would eventually be known all over the world. What began in a lock shop in Newport, New York, would eventually evolve into the global presence of the brand “Yale” that we know today. The Yale brand was purchased in August 2000 by the Swedish lock manufacturer ASSA ABLOY Group, which expanded Yale’s global presence in the ensuing years and recently has led the way into...

Security and Safety Things GmbH (SAST) is a new company that has announced its vision for an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for the next generation of security cameras. The Bosch startup plans to build a global ecosystem for the development of innovative security camera applications. Based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), SAST provides libraries, an API framework, and codecs for developers to work with. The SAST App Store will allow developers to build and market new applications,...

I have been thinking a lot about the U.S. government’s ban on video surveillance technologies by Hikvision and Dahua. In general, I question the wisdom and logic of the ban and am frankly puzzled as to how it came to be. Allow me to elaborate. Chinese camera manufacturers Reality check: the government ban is based on concerns about the potential misuse of cameras, not actual misuse. Before the government ban, you occasionally heard about some government entities deciding not to use camer...

It has been an eventful few months for Arecont Vision, which has gone through Chapter 11 bankruptcy and, ultimately, was acquired by Costar Technologies Inc. What emerged is a new company, Arecont Vision Costar, poised for future growth unfettered by previous debt. For insights into what’s next for the newly minted company, we posed several questions to Jim Pritchett, CEO, Costar Technologies Inc., and Raul Calderon, President, Arecont Vision Costar. Q. Please relate how Costar came to...

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted 351-61 to ban federal agencies from buying Chinese-made surveillance cameras. The measure was passed May 24 as an amendment to House Bill 5515, the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is the funding plan for the military that also maps out a variety of policy priorities. The bill is at least several months away from becoming law, and it must still be considered by the Senate and then by a House-Senate conference committee...

Arecont Vision is a company in transition to say the least. With its balance sheet burdened with debt, the company is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and simultaneously being acquired by a private equity firm. The ‘new’ Arecont Vision that will emerge after several months when the process is complete will have a new owner, a clean balance sheet, and be poised to succeed in the competitive world of video surveillance, says Raul Calderon, Arecont Vision CEO and General Manag...

After the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, Jody Allen Crowe set out to develop a threat suppression tool to address school violence. Five years later, the result of that effort is the Crotega Threat Suppression System, displayed this year at ISC West. The remotely-deployed threat suppression system drenches a perpetrator with a repulsive water-based solution, thus impairing their ability to enact violence. The solution irritates eyes, throat, lungs and skin, but does not cause permanent injury....

Technology is a valuable tool for increasing security, but occasionally technology can create a threat. An example is the threat 3D printing technology poses to one of the most mature security technologies, mechanical locks and keys. The ability of 3D printing to duplicate keys presents new challenges for lock manufacturers, and new vulnerabilities to end users. Keys that could previously only be duplicated by skilled thieves can now easily be copied using off-the-shelf technologies and informat...

2016 is shaping up to be the year of the billion-dollar merger in the security market. After last month's mammoth Tyco/Johnson Control merger, a second big merger has rocked the market, this one involving one of the most familiar names in the consumer market – ADT. The home and small business security company, which traces its history back to 1874, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and will merge with competitor Protection 1, a subsidiary of Apollo-...