Data Security - Expert commentary

Nowadays, there is a lot of hype around data and its utility for almost any industry – from security and law enforcement to business operations and retail. While we are inundated with information about data and its significance to business success, technological development and fulfilling the promise of the Internet of Things, we don’t always get practical feedback as to how to obtain this valuable data from the resources available to us. Security teams feel this challenge acutely....

There has never been closer integration between physical and logical security systems, so there has also never been greater importance when it comes to defining and maintaining the security culture within an organisation. Unfortunately, with increasingly complex security protocols required on a daily basis (and used by every employee), a security regime can easily become lax through apathy – which offers the perfect opportunity for potential intruders to take advantage. Whilst security t...

In today’s world, businesses face a growing threat landscape. Looking back on just the past few months, there have been increased incidents of workplace violence (the recent New York city hospital shooting), terrorist activities (London Bridge attack, Manchester attack), and cyberattacks (Petya and WannaCry). While critical events have become more frequent, more complex, and costly to businesses, organisations’ emergency communications systems, plans and processes have remained surpr...

The corporate mantra “Utilise TCO instead of purchase price when making purchasing decisions” means evaluating a project’s Total-Cost-of-Ownership over its lifetime period as the primary cost factor. It requires the corporate buyer to scrutinise the entirety of the investment as opposed to just the upfront purchase price. Like an iceberg, where the majority of the ice is below the surface, the total cost of ownership of a security system is typically much larger than the upfro...

With 60 percent of all of the world’s data expected to be created and managed by enterprises by 2025 according to IDC, it’s not surprising to learn that enterprise players have moved swiftly to help their customers and organisations maximise the opportunity around this massive data growth. However, when it comes to one of the most significant drivers of this growth in information—surveillance data— many enterprises struggle to understand how they can apply it to do more...

What do users want from their surveillance system? Ask any security professional, and you will hear answers like these: sharp, high quality images; widespread camera coverage; real-time analytics; fast search and retrieval of video footage with minimal, if any, intervention from people in the information technology department. In other words, they want the tools they need to do their job. Delivering those tools requires an underlying technology infrastructure that includes a storage file system...

  Video surveillance systems have some unique requirements that set them apart from other types of enterprise applications.   Determining where and how the cloud can support these systems depends on a set of five primary requirements: bandwidth, storage, cost, security and accessibility. This March Networks white paper outlines some of the key considerations mid- and large-sized enterprises need to examine before deciding to move their video surveillance systems into the cloud...

In today’s connected world, network intrusions and breaches have become a way of life, as hackers and cybercriminals work constantly to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. Because businesses of all sizes rely on their IT infrastructure to a growing degree, technology providers are working just as hard to stay ahead of would-be attackers. However, it’s difficult if not impossible to eliminate every potential threat. Therefore, it is highly likely that most organisations will suffer...

Colleges and universities have been targeted in the last several weeks with a series of bomb threats received via campus printers and fax machines. Targeted institutions included Vanderbilt University, the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia and the University of Detroit Mercy, among others. Businesses were also among the targets. Around 100 organisations in all received print-outs, faxes or emails demanding that a $25,000 ransom be paid to a Brazilian citizen to avoi...

Today, almost every employee carries with them a smart device that can send messages, capture, and record images and increasingly live-stream video and audio, all appended with accurate location and time stamping data. Provide a way for staff to easily feed data from these devices directly to the control room to report an incident and you have created a new and extremely powerful ‘sensor’, capable of providing accurate, verified, real-time multi-media incident information. You need...

Energy security, access to the electrical grid and police and fire safety are just a handful of the networked services that we take for granted and rely upon on a daily basis. Every second of every day, sensors are digitising the real world, creating information and transporting it across multiple networks and interfaces to a broadening audience. While there is obvious utility being gleaned from this process, from our vantage point here in the physical security space, information sharing and tra...

Just when you think you have seen the worst that cyber criminals have to throw at you, they are back with more sophisticated, and in some cases, more severe threats. Understanding emerging and evolving cyber threats is the first step in helping to protect your organisation. The next, and most important, step is shoring up your defence technologies with the proper training, education and deployment. To help prepare for what may be coming next, let’s take a look at what are already shaping u...

Mobile access is probably the largest emerging trend in the security marketplace, but it is only one of several that are changing the face of the access control market. Another factor showing potential to change the market is the emergence of location systems and positioning systems, as reflected by HID Global’s recent acquisition of Bluvision, a provider of real-time location tracking system for assets and employees, and building information modeling (BIM) is impacting how consultants do...

Security consultants are on the front lines of trends such as “smart buildings” and the increasing demand for green technologies. We recently gathered together several consultants to reflect on what’s new in these areas, joined by a representative of HID Global. Participants were Chris Grniet of Guidepost Solutions, Brandon Frazier of Elert & Associates, Terry Harless of Burns & McDonnell, and Harm Radstaak, HID Global’s Vice President and Managing Director, Phy...

When people think of control rooms, images from James Bond movies or intense action stories come to mind. What they fail to realise is the incredible level of ergonomics, technology, precision and craftsmanship required to create a top-notch command and control room. “These are rooms of complex functionalities, where hundreds of elements must be integrated and function in sync,” says Jim Coleman, National Sales Manager, AFC Industries. Professional teams from several different indus...

Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) has grown into a mainstream product offering from many access control manufacturers and the product offering is gaining significant growth in the market. With the adoption of this technology, end users and integrators need to ask several pertinent questions. This White Paper explores several important factors which must be understood in order for end users and integrators to make a sound decision when selecting an Access Control as a Service provider. What...

The security landscape continues to evolve in new and complex ways. This evolution brings change on many levels, which offers an opportunity for improvement rather than an interruption or a distraction. This concept has never been more important as you face today’s combination of new technologies, escalating security threats and the need to derive greater value from the access control infrastructure while solving increasingly complex system integration challenges. Upgrading from older,...

  Demand is increasing rapidly for more video, higher quality video, and increasing use of video for innovations like video analytics that provide enhanced security and operational intelligence.   The growing demand is driving higher resolutions, larger camera counts, and longer retention times, which have all contributed to the growing importance and higher profile of data management and storage systems in the video surveillance industry.   Customers need...

Over the years, video analytics has gained an unfavourable reputation for over-promising and under-delivering in terms of performance. One of the biggest complaints regarding video analytics has been its inability to correctly identify objects in situations which appear trivial to the human observer. In many cases, this has resulted in a tendency to generate substantial numbers of false alarms, while not detecting actual events accurately. This, together with a propensity for complex set-up proc...

CCTV security deployments require high reliability and availability in order to prove truly effective In recent years, there has been incredible growth in the security video surveillance market with law enforcement agencies embracing video surveillance to enhance security in problematic areas across cities. But these projects require connectivity to carry video feeds from multiple deployed CCTV cameras distributed over one or more sites, to the control room for viewing and rec...

Organisations are moving to align their physical and digital security initiatives, especially in today’s more connected world Organisations must address growing security threats using fewer resources in an increasingly challenging regulatory environment. They are looking to ensure data security while also protecting their facilities’ physical security. At the same time, their users are demanding more choices of smart cards, smartphones, wearables, and other mobile...

The top influencing trends in the security industry at ISC West 2017 will be big data, cyber security and the Internet of Things More than a thousand companies will be showing off their latest and greatest technologies and services at this year’s ISC West in Las Vegas. With so much to look at and experience, will you be able to pinpoint the next big thing or things that will dominate the security market in 2017? A good way to predict those upcoming trends is to look at w...

Successful critical thinkers are judged by results that almost always involve deliberation and intuition, logic and creativity Security and safety practitioners responding to evolving threats make decisions every day based on uncertainty, insufficient information, and too few resources for textbook solutions. Unsurprisingly, Chief Security Officers report that critical thinking, decision making, and communications skills are key characteristics for job success. But do we reall...

Many employees who once commuted to on-site corporate offices now spend their time working remotely or travelling between sites Over the past two decades, the workforce has drastically changed. As mobile devices became increasingly affordable and the demand for multiple offices, distributed campuses and globalisation has increased, many employees who once commuted to on-site corporate offices now spend their time working remotely or travelling between sites. In 1997, only 9.2...

Continued consolidation and price pressures were factors in 2016 in the security market, which grew as expected.However, there is still interesting innovation being developed to further the market, such as the industry’s first PTZ with laser focus, says Fredrik Nilsson, VP, Americas, for Axis Communications. “While the video surveillance market is getting close to being 100% converged over to IP, there are many other IoT markets that are early in the cycle of convergence, such as int...

Over the course of 2016, we witnessed a continuation of the prevalent trend towards more integrated and intelligent networked systems using Video Management Systems (VMS) as the central control platform.   One of the drivers behind this is open platform solutions that support more advanced physical devices such as IP cameras with on-board analytics, which continues to shift emphasis from the physical aspects of video and access control systems to the collection and correlation...

Video storage is the foundation for new video surveillance infrastructures. Depending on your platform, storage can enhance your surveillance system’s capabilities, or it can limit them. But one thing is certain: your storage decision can no longer be an afterthought. Tremendous growth in data storage Digital technology is transforming the surveillance industry. In fact, it’s estimated that 66 million network cameras and 28 million high-definition CCTV cameras will sh...

The year of 2016 ended with Vanderbilt finalising the acquisition of Access Control Technology Ltd., which strengthened the company’s product portfolio and introduced an entirely new market segment to partners and customers in Ireland and the United Kingdom. ACT brings an existing cloud-based access control solution to Vanderbilt, thereby complementing the existing product mix. This new technology adds significant value to our customers in Europe, and we plan to deliver it to our customer...

Ongoing attacks on private networks drew attention in 2016. Most public were the Wikileaks and other privacy violations during the 2016 election cycle. Whether or not the information had a bearing on the election outcome will never truly be known, but one’s overall sense of privacy is shaken. In many ways, these attacks and other less publicised cybercrimes were the result of a perfect storm. Organisations struggled with the sheer volume and constantly changing threats from advanced malwa...

At the end of last year, we anticipated that data gathering and analysis would continue to be a strong trend, and that certainly proved to be the case in 2016.   More and more organisations are seeing the value of the intelligence provided by diverse systems’ data. The number and variety of networked systems and devices – both security and non-security – continued to grow steadily in the last year, and the data these disparate sources create has proven highly...