Application security

Konica Minolta is making the next big advance in intelligent video technology by launching the MOBOTIX 7 smart solution platform and the M73 IoT camera that uses it. The latest generation of MOBOTIX video cameras offers a whole new set of functions plus application solutions based on deep learning, opening up new possibilities far beyond traditional video security. The M73 comes with more than 15 apps integrated into its camera software, which can be used to optimize business processes in practically any industry. Integrated facial recognition MOBOTIX 7 is the by far powerful and decentralized and secure modular IoT video system" "MOBOTIX 7 is the by far powerful and decentralized and secure modular IoT video system based on ‘Made in Germany’ and Deep Learning modules, jointly developed with Konica Minolta" explains Gary Fletcher-Moore, Head of Sales – Intelligent Video Solutions, Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Limited. "With the MOBOTIX 7 platform and its new range of intelligent apps we will revolutionize numerous IoT processes for our customers." By combining image sensors and environmental sensors with AI-based analytics, industrial enterprises can increase their production efficiency and improve preventive maintenance or fire prevention measures. For transport applications, the integrated facial recognition, traffic monitoring and object recognition capabilities ensure that drivers are immediately aware of hazards, thus improving road safety for drivers, passengers and other road users. High-Quality professional market The new MOBOTIX M73 IoT camera features high-octane processor technology, meaning it easily provides the latest state of the art in camera performance, such as 4K resolution at 30 fps or 120 dB WDR (Wide Dynamic Range). Only high-quality professional market and partner solutions are integrated In keeping with current demands, the camera is also highly energy efficient: despite a total power consumption of less than 25 watts (PoE+), each M73 is a complete video system that features 8-GB DVR as standard — so no additional servers or storage devices are required. The pre-installed apps come with a 30-day free trial, after which users can purchase a license for each app as required. Only high-quality professional market and partner solutions are integrated, all of which have been tested and certified by MOBOTIX as meeting the highest standards in terms of quality and cyber security. Intelligent video monitoring This opens up countless applications for use — for example, one of the MOBOTIX camera apps can detect when a building is in danger of becoming overcrowded. In this case, the camera immediately and automatically triggers a diversion for any further persons wishing to enter the building, thus reliably preventing accidents and panic. There are no limits to the applications the camera can be used for There are no limits to the applications the camera can be used for, and the solution platform is particularly suitable for sectors such as building engineering, energy, civil engineering, industry and production, public services, retail, healthcare, and education. The examples given above show that intelligent video monitoring means much more than simply recording footage and analyzing it. Highest level of cybersecurity Together with MOBOTIX, Konica Minolta aims to develop a multitude of other solutions based on artificial intelligence to help predict events and facilitate the early introduction of effective countermeasures aimed at protecting the environment, buildings, systems, people or animals. The MOBOTIX 7 and M73 provide apps with functions such as the ability to recognize faces, characteristics, age, mood or sex, as well as specialized custom solutions. "MOBOTIX 7 meets the requirements of a wide range of industries, including transport, retail, industry and public services, as well as fire prevention," says Gary Fletcher-Moore, adding: "The MOBOTIX systems had to have the highest level of cybersecurity in order to be released on the market in accordance with global standards such as ONVIF."

Dortronics, a pioneer in electric locking hardware and controls for the security industry, is showcasing several access control solutions at ISC East (Booth 447), November 20-21 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Dortronics will highlight the capabilities of its 4800 series interlock door controller, waterproof pushbuttons, and electric strikes that can accommodate a wide range of applications and markets and can solve multiple security challenges. Operating door interlock and mantrap systems Unlocking or opening one door automatically secures other designated doors within the Interlock The Dortronics Interlock (4800 series) controller is a cost-effective method for operating door interlock and mantrap systems of up to five doors, specifically for applications like cleanrooms, back areas for casinos and prisons, in addition to retail, healthcare, and professional buildings to help improve overall safety and security. The 4800 Series Door is user programmable and can be field configured. It allows for designated doors to be unlocked or open at any time. Unlocking or opening one door automatically secures other designated doors within the Interlock. Additional features include a watchdog circuit to monitor operation, LED input/output status indication and voltage spike/surge protection. Providing end users with customized solutions Dortronics Waterproof Pushbuttons (models 5276 and 5277) have been specifically designed and manufactured to withstand harsh environments. The solutions feature LED illumination, large lockdown & panic buttons, key reset operation, momentary action, pneumatic time delay, adjustable time delay, waterproof & wash-down rated units, narrow, single and dual gang plate configurations with off the shelf or custom engraving and finishes. Model 5276 is guarded and waterproof, while model 5277 is touch sensitive and weather proof. “From our interlocking and mantrap solutions to our door control products, we can provide end users and integrators with customized solutions that can solve multiple needs,” said Bryan Sanderford, National Sales Manager, Dortronics Systems, Inc. “We look forward to showcasing each product’s numerous capabilities to ISC East 2019 attendees.”

BCD International, Inc. is pleased to announce the receipt of its commercial license from the Dubai Development Authority. In January 2020, the company will open its Middle East branch in Dubai Internet City, Dubai. The office will serve as the regional headquarters for Video Storage Solutions (VSS), one of the company’s major divisions. VSS will expand its global presence in the METAI region to supply authorized security distributors with video recording and storage appliances that are pre-engineered for video surveillance. Pre-Engineered video recording appliances “We are excited about the fantastic opportunity that our new Dubai Internet City office brings. As our client base and partner relations continue to grow in the Middle East, the decision to expand our physical presence in order to be able to work more closely with them was a logical step,” said Rohit Khubchandani, Regional Sales Director METAI. “Along with the importance of proximity to our customers, this move also demonstrates a major commitment to the marketplace and ongoing growth of our company. Located in the heart of Dubai, the new location will serve as a regional hub enabling the company to service current clients more quickly and address the growing demand for our pre-engineered video recording appliances with guaranteed performance”. VSS’ portfolio of video appliances come pre-engineered with Milestone XProtect®, Seagate SkyHawk surveillance-grade drives and its state-of-the-art storage accelerator, which significantly increases storage scalability, performance and reliability for Milestone Systems projects.

Allied Universal®, a security and facility services company in North America, announces a strategic partnership with LiveSafe to provide mobile, two-way safety communications between the company’s security professionals and customers in order to prevent safety and security incidents. Allied Universal® Technology Services, a division of Allied Universal, will be utilizing the LiveSafe Mobile App effective immediately. Safety and security risk intelligence LiveSafe delivers actionable community-sourced safety and security risk intelligence and offers Allied Universal’s customers the ability to complete the following: Tip reporting for suspicious activity and other incidents (anonymous reporting available) Two-way communications with Allied Universal’s security team Push notifications/broadcast messages from Allied Universal’s Monitoring, Posting & Managed Services (MaRC) Emergency calls & messaging SafeWalk & SafeDrive features with a panic button Safety resources and security procedures available This alliance with the LiveSafe Mobile App allows our Security Professionals the ability to receive early warning signs" “This alliance with the LiveSafe Mobile App allows our Security Professionals the ability to receive early warning signs of suspicious activity that could help prevent incidents from occurring,” said Steve Jones, CEO of Allied Universal. The Allied Universal/LiveSafe partnership facilitates Allied Universal’s highly trained Security Professionals to mitigate risks and reduce monetary and non-monetary costs to its customers. Valuable community-Sourced risk information "This partnership brings the employees and tenants that Allied protects into the security equation by giving them a mobile app to connect directly to security officers when they have concerns or need help," said LiveSafe CEO and President Carolyn Parent. "We are proud to partner with AlliedUniversal to bring valuable community-sourced risk information to their security professionals and to help the Allied team communicate important safety information to those they protect." Allied Universal® Technology Services division provides electronic access control, video surveillance, fire/life safety, alarm monitoring, emergency communications, hosted /managed services and a variety of Global Security Operating Center (GSOC-as-a-Service) offerings. Leveraging the flexibility and scalability of these platforms delivers efficiency with improved reliability and response.

Eagle Eye Networks, the provider of cloud video surveillance, announces it ranked 133rd on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, and energy tech companies in North America, now in its 25th year. Eagle Eye Networks grew 936% during the period. Eagle Eye Networks founder and CEO, Dean Drako, attributes the growth to the extensive investment Eagle Eye has made in application development, cybersecurity and data center infrastructure. Video surveillance market “The video surveillance market has traditionally relied on physical on-site storage. Now more than ever, companies are focused on cybersecurity and the costs associated with IT infrastructure. We’re entering an era where customers are demanding cloud because only cloud can deliver the scalability, security, resiliency, and cost savings they need.” It’s always inspiring to see how the Fast 500 companies are transforming business and the world we live" “This year marks the 25th anniversary of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, so we are especially pleased to announce and congratulate the 2019 winners,” said Sandra Shirai, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP, and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “Once again, we saw innovation across the board, with software companies continuing their dominance of the top ten. It’s always inspiring to see how the Fast 500 companies are transforming business and the world we live and work in.” Enabling businesses to drive growth and revenue “As technology innovation trends towards ‘everything as a service’, it's no surprise that software companies dominate the winners list yet again this year,” said Mohana Dissanayake, partner of Deloitte & Touche LLP, and industry leader for technology, media, and telecommunications within Deloitte’s audit and assurance practice. “What’s exciting about celebrating 25 years of the Tech Fast 500 is we now have a quarter-century of innovation stories to draw and reflect upon. These are the companies that push boundaries, help organizations become more efficient and productive, and ultimately enable businesses to drive growth and revenue. We congratulate all the well-deserving winners.”

Datrium, pioneer of the secure multicloud data platform for the resilient enterprise, unveils new capabilities for the recently announced Datrium DRaaS with VMWare Cloud on AWS solution. DRaaS now offers instant Recovery Time Objective (RTO) restarts from Datrium backups on Amazon S3—the lowest RTO with VMware Cloud of any Amazon S3-based DR system. Additionally, a new feature, DRaaS Connect, extends instant RTO DR to any vSphere environment. DRaaS Connect is available for two different vSphere deployment models. Cloud-Based disaster recovery DRaaS Connect for VMware Cloud offers instant RTO disaster recovery from an SDDC DRaaS Connect for VMware Cloud offers instant RTO disaster recovery from an SDDC in one AWS Availability Zone (AZ) to another. DRaaS Connect for vSphere On Prem integrates with any vSphere physical infrastructure on-premises. Now all VMware users, both on-premises and in the cloud, have access to cost-effective, reliable, cloud-based disaster recovery with instant RTO. Unlike most cloud DR approaches, Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS is focused on VMware Cloud on AWS. It requires no conversion to alternative virtual machine or cloud formats, which compromise RTO and require fundamental retraining on a separate type of cloud administration. It also defends against ransomware; by offering direct access to older backups deduped on S3, it can offer a more complete, robust offering for the widest variety of outages. VMware-Based applications This combination of on-demand compute and low-cost backup storage give it exceptional economics. It offers VM images as runnable snaps to VMware Cloud as a live datastore, so failover is a matter of restarting VMs, not copying them back and rehydrating them from a separate archive which can take days – an additional compromise to RTO. Business-critical workloads are no longer limited to on-premises infrastructure"“In the increasingly hybrid world of IT, business-critical workloads are no longer limited to on-premises infrastructure,” said Steven Hill, senior analyst at 451 Research. “Protecting these portable, VMware-based applications calls for a disaster recovery strategy like Datrium’s new DRaaS platform that’s capable of providing instant RTOs—regardless of where the workloads and backup data reside—and can leverage the resilience and efficiency of S3-based object storage without a performance penalty." Enterprise data center According to the State of Enterprise Data Resiliency and Disaster Recovery 2019 report, announces, ransomware is plaguing the enterprise data center, with nearly 90% of companies considering ransomware a critical threat to enterprise business, and this is driving the need for DR. The research also found that the public cloud is increasingly being considered as a DR site. The vast majority of respondents (88.1%) said they would use the public cloud as their DR site if they would only have to pay for it when they need it. The cloud offers greater ease of use and cost-efficient DR, solving several pain points that are holding organizations back from responding to DR events including the complexity of DR products and processes as well as high associated costs. Traditional backup-Based approaches Datrium DRaaS provisions an on-demand SDDC in VMware Cloud on AWS for recovery Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS is the first broadly available DRaaS solution for VMware Cloud based on backups on low-cost Amazon S3. It offers instant mass restarts of thousands of VMs from recent snapshots or backups even more than seven years old. The only cost during normal business operations—i.e., when not testing or deploying DR—is that of storing ongoing backups, which are automatically deduplicated, compressed and encrypted. In the event of a disaster, Datrium DRaaS provisions an on-demand SDDC in VMware Cloud on AWS for recovery. All the snapshots in S3 are instantly made executable on a live cloud-native NFS datastore mounted by ESX hosts in that SDDC, with caching on NVMe flash. Unlike traditional backup-based approaches to DR, Datrium DRaaS delivers the industry's fastest RTO because there is no rehydration time required to copy backup data into an SDDC before restarting the virtual machines. Providing disaster recovery services Datrium DRaaS enables backups to be projected as a live datastore for DR in a simple, cloud-native design. Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS will now provide disaster recovery services for any vSphere infrastructure on-premises including SANs, NAS, HCI and DHCI, and any VMware workload in the public cloud. DRaaS Connect, lightweight software for any vSphere infrastructure and a new feature of DRaaS, will enable customers to start protecting VMs in minutes. DRaaS Connect for vSphere On Prem extends Datrium DRaaS to any vSphere on-premises DRaaS Connect for vSphere On Prem extends Datrium DRaaS to any vSphere on-premises infrastructure and provides efficient replication of vSphere snapshots into DRaaS deduplicated, compressed, encrypted snapshot storage on Amazon S3. It will be managed by a DRaaS cloud-based control plane to define VM protection groups and their frequency, replication and retention policies. On failback, DRaaS will return only changed blocks back to vSphere and the local on-premises infrastructure through DRaaS Connect. AWS availability zone DRaaS Connect for VMware Cloud will enable DRaaS to orchestrate failover from a VMware Cloud SDDC in one AWS Availability Zone (AZ) to another AWS AZ. Snapshots of running VMs in the active AZ will be stored in the DRaaS repository on AWS S3. In the event of a disaster, these snapshots can be instantly restarted on ESX hosts in a different AZ, all based on well-defined runbook policies. Both DRaaS Connect options will be available in Q1 2020. “Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS is radically transforming DR with its cloud-native design,” said Tim Page, CEO of Datrium. “It delivers failproof instant restart from ransomware and other types of disasters for any vSphere environment with unprecedented on-demand economics. It’s like pressing the easy button for DR.” New technology partnerships Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud provides VMware vSphere customers a low cost approach to disaster recovery Datrium also announces new technology partnerships and channel partnerships to drive accelerated adoption and expansion of Datrium DRaaS across the IT landscape. Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud provides VMware vSphere customers a low cost, fast and failproof approach to disaster recovery. Together, with AWS, Datrium offers long-term data retention, using Amazon S3 economically to help enterprises stay resilient in the face of disaster. Datrium DRaaS is now available through Datrium’s channel partners including Champion Solutions Group, Mindsight, PTS Data Center Solutions and Technologent. Data management services "We talk with many enterprises who cannot afford the high cost of today's DR solutions, but require some way to protect their data centers from disasters and ransomware," said Mike Piltoff, senior vice president at Champion Solutions Group. "Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS will be a gamechanger for our customers because it is the first cloud DR solution where customers only pay for DR infrastructure when they need it rather than all the time. It is a cost-effective, easy and reliable DR solution. Datrium DRaaS expands our horizons with new data management services with a very attractive ROI. We’re excited to offer it to our customers.” Reducing disaster recovery time Datrium DRaaS was the only solution we found that could reduce our disaster recovery time from days to hours" "We strive to be thought leaders in the Honolulu community so improving our disaster recovery plans while investing efficiently was an IT imperative in 2019,” said Matthew Yetter, IT Manager, Honolulu Federal Credit Union. “Datrium DRaaS was the only solution we found that could reduce our disaster recovery time from days to hours while simultaneously reducing our risk by getting our data backed up off-island to the cloud with cloud economics. On-demand DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS delivers cost efficiency we have never seen before and resulted in an ROI of less than 12 months.” Developing and delivering transportation solutions "Mindsight has partnered with Datrium because they have brought to market one of the most transformative and disruptive data centre technologies we have seen in a decade," said Jason Wankovsky, vice president and CTO at Mindsight. Datrium DRaaS met all our demanding requirements while reducing our TCO by 80%" “Developing and delivering transportation solutions for riders, drivers, and residents across 34 cities requires highly available and secure IT systems even during disasters,” said Michael Beerer, Senior Section Manager - Information Systems, Orange County Transportation Authority. “Our DR solution had to have low RTO for our users and the high reliability and security of a leading government service that could be audited, tested and verified regularly. Datrium DRaaS met all our demanding requirements while reducing our TCO by 80%.” Providing instant recovery “For more than 20 years, PTS has helped IT teams solve some of their most difficult challenges,” said Pete Sacco, president and founder of PTS Data Center Solutions. “Ransomware attacks are making headlines on a daily basis and we want to ensure our customers are protected if they get hit or if disaster strikes.” We’re pleased to partner with Datrium to help bring disaster recovery into the 21st century" “We’re pleased to partner with Datrium to help bring disaster recovery into the 21st century. Together, we’re delivering a cost- effective, failproof solution that provides instant recovery from ransomware with VMware Cloud on AWS or one of our own data centers.” Demanding risk reduction and cost efficiency “Today’s DR requirements have become demanding and critical to our enterprise customers,” said Marco Mohajer, president of Technologent. “Datrium’s DRaaS, in conjunction with VMware Cloud on AWS, is a simple and seamless solution to any organization, regardless of size. The ability to rapidly have your systems back up and running with near-zero RTO and RPO is a giant leap forward for disaster recovery. It’s no longer about restore, it’s just a matter of rebooting.” “Oil and gas is a regulated business that demands risk reduction and cost efficiency. Cloud backup and disaster recovery is critical to our IT success,” said Josh Rein, Network Manager, Ultra Petroleum. “The efficiency of Datrium’s DRaaS is great because I can instantly restart my entire data center on VMware Cloud on AWS from my backups on AWS S3—I get the best RTO in business for the least cost. Failproof one-click orchestrated failover and failback with auditable reports and ransomware recovery significantly reduce our business risk.”

Insider threat programs started with counter-espionage cases in the government. Today, insider threat programs have become a more common practice in all industries, as companies understand the risks associated with not having one. To build a program, you must first understand what an insider threat is. An insider threat is an employee, contractor, visitor or other insider who have been granted physical or logical access to a company that can cause extensive damage. Damage ranges from emotional or physical injury, to personnel, financial and reputational loss to data loss/manipulation or destruction of assets. Financial and confidential information While malicious insiders only make up 22% of the threats, they have the most impact on an organization Most threats are derived from the accidental insider. For example, it’s the person who is working on a competitive sales pitch on an airplane and is plugging in financial and confidential information. They are working hard, yet their company’s information is exposed to everyone around them. Another type of insider, the compromised insider, is the person who accidentally downloaded malware when clicking on a fake, urgent email, exposing their information. Malicious insiders cause the greatest concerns. These are the rogue employees who may feel threatened. They may turn violent or take action to damage the company. Or you have the criminal actor employees who are truly malicious and have been hired or bribed by another company to gather intel. Their goal is to gather data and assets to cause damage for a specific purpose. While malicious insiders only make up 22% of the threats, they have the most impact on an organization. They can cause brand and financial damage, along with physical and mental damage. Insider threat program Once you determine you need an insider threat program, you need to build a business case and support it with requirements. Depending on your industry, you can start with regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, NERC CIP, PCI, etc. Talk to your regulator and get their input. Everyone needs to be onboard, understand the intricacies of enacting a program Next, get a top to bottom risk assessment to learn your organization’s risks. A risk assessment will help you prioritize your risks and provide recommendations about what you need to include in your program. Begin by meeting with senior leadership, including your CEO to discuss expectations. Creating an insider threat program will change the company culture, and the CEO must understand the gravity of his/her decision before moving forward. Everyone needs to be onboard, understand the intricacies of enacting a program and support it before its implemented. Determining the level of monitoring The size and complexity of your company will determine the type of program needed. One size does not fit all. It will determine what technologies are required and how much personnel is needed to execute the program. The company must determine what level of monitoring is needed to meet their goals. After the leadership team decides, form a steering committee that includes someone from legal, HR and IT. Other departments can join as necessary. This team sets up the structure, lays out the plan, determines the budget and what type of technologies are needed. For small companies, the best value is education. Educate your employees about the program, build the culture and promote awareness. Teach employees about the behaviors you are looking for and how to report them. Behavioral analysis software Every company is different and you need to determine what will gain employee support The steering committee will need to decide what is out of scope. Every company is different and you need to determine what will gain employee support. The tools put in place cannot monitor employee productivity (web surfing). That is out of scope and will disrupt the company culture. What technology does your organization need to detect insider threats? Organizations need software solutions that monitor, aggregate and analyze data to identify potential threats. Behavioral analysis software looks at patterns of behavior and identifies anomalies. Use business intelligence/data analytics solutions to solve this challenge. This solution learns the normal behavior of people and notifies security staff when behavior changes. This is done by setting a set risk score. Once the score crosses a determined threshold, an alert is triggered. Case and incident management tools Predictive analytics technology reviews behaviors and identifies sensitive areas of companies (pharmacies, server rooms) or files (HR, finance, development). If it sees anomalous behavior, it can predict behaviours. It can determine if someone is going to take data. It helps companies take steps to get ahead of bad behavior. If an employee sends hostile emails, they are picked up and an alert is triggered User sentiment detection software can work in real time. If an employee sends hostile emails, they are picked up and an alert is triggered. The SOC and HR are notified and security dispatched. Depending on how a company has this process set-up, it could potentially save lives. Now that your organization has all this data, how do you pull it together? Case and incident management tools can pool data points and create threat dashboards. Cyber detection system with access control An integrated security system is recommended to be successful. It will eliminate bubbles and share data to see real-time patterns. If HR, security and compliance departments are doing investigations, they can consolidate systems into the same tool to have better data aggregation. Companies can link their IT/cyber detection system with access control. Deploying a true, integrated, open system provides a better insider threat program. Big companies should invest in trained counterintelligence investigators to operate the program. They can help identify the sensitive areas, identify who the people are that have the most access to them, or are in a position to do the greatest amount of harm to the company and who to put mitigation plans around to protect them. They also run the investigations. Potential risky behavior Using the right technology along with thorough processes will result in a successful program You need to detect which individuals are interacting with information systems that pose the greatest potential risk. You need to rapidly and thoroughly understand the user’s potential risky behavior and the context around it. Context is important. You need to decide what to investigate and make it clear to employees. Otherwise you will create a negative culture at your company. Develop a security-aware culture. Involve the crowd. Get an app so if someone sees something they can say something. IT should not run the insider threat program. IT is the most privileged department in an organization. If something goes wrong with an IT person, they have the most ability to do harm and cover their tracks. They need to be an important partner, but don’t let them have ownership and don’t let their administrators have access. Educating your employees and creating a positive culture around an insider threat program takes time and patience. Using the right technology along with thorough processes will result in a successful program. It’s okay to start small and build.

Today, the world is connected like never before. Your watch is connected to your phone, which is connected to your tablet and so on. As we’ve begun to embrace this ‘smart’ lifestyle, what we’re really embracing is the integration of systems. Why do we connect our devices? The simplest answer is that it makes life easier. But, if that’s the case, why stop at our own personal devices? Connection, when applied to a business’ operations, is no different: it lowers effort and expedites decision making. Integrating security systems Systems integration takes the idea of connected devices and applies it to an enterprise Systems integration takes the idea of connected devices and applies it to an enterprise, bringing disparate subcomponents into a single ecosystem. This could mean adding a new, overarching system to pull and collect data from existing subsystems, or adapting an existing system to serve as a data collection hub. Regardless of the method, the purpose is to create a single, unified view. Ultimately, it’s about simplifying processes, gaining actionable insights into operations and facilitating efficient decision-making. Although integration is becoming the new norm in other areas of life, businesses often opt out of integrating security systems because of misconceptions about the time and resources required to successfully make the change. So, instead of a streamlined operation, the various security systems and devices are siloed, not communicating with each other and typically being run by different teams within an organization. Time-Intensive process When systems are not integrated, companies face a wide range of risks driven by a lack of transparency and information sharing, including actual loss of property or assets. For example, a team in charge of access control is alerted to a door being opened in the middle of the night but can’t see what exactly is taking place through video surveillance. Without integrated systems they have no way of knowing if it was a burglar, an equipment malfunction or a gust of wind. Without integration between systems and teams, the ability to quickly put the right pieces in front of decision makers is missing. Instead, the team would have to go back and manually look for footage that corresponds with the time a door was open to figure out which door it was, who opened it and what happened after, which can be a time-intensive process. Integrating access control and surveillance systems Theft and vandalism occur quickly, meaning systems and users must work faster in order to prevent it This slowed response time adds risk to the system. Theft and vandalism occur quickly, meaning systems and users must work faster in order to prevent it. Security systems can do more than communicate that theft or vandalism occurred. Properly integrated, these systems alert users of pre-incident indicators before an event happens or deter events altogether. This gives teams and decision makers more time to make effective decisions. Integrating access control and surveillance systems allows for a more proactive approach. If a door is opened when it’s not supposed to be, an integrated system enables users to quickly see what door was opened, who opened it and make a quick decision. Integrated solutions are more effective, more efficient and help drive cost-saving decisions. Ideally, companies should establish integrated solutions from the start of operations. This allows companies to anticipate problems and adjust accordingly instead of reacting after an incident has occurred. Security camera system Although starting from the beginning is the best way to ensure comprehensive security, many companies have existing security systems, requiring integration and implementation to bring them together. Typically, companies with established security systems worry about the impact to infrastructure requirements. Is additional infrastructure necessary? How and where should it be added? What financial or human resources are required? These concerns drive a mentality that the benefits gained from an integrated solution aren’t worth the costs of implementation. Thankfully, this is becoming less of a problem as security providers, like Twenty20™ Solutions, work to offer adaptable solutions. With flexible options, operators don’t worry about adding or replacing infrastructure to align with a provider’s model. This allows users to monitor camera footage and gate traffic from one system If a company has an existing security camera system, but identifies a need for access control, a modern integrated solution provider can supply the gates for access points and equip the gates and cameras with the technology to connect the two. This allows users to monitor camera footage and gate traffic from one system. This model also spares operators additional costs by using a sole vendor for supplemental needs. Overall management of security While a single, unified system is beneficial for cost saving, it can also help the overall management of security. The ability to view all operating systems in one dashboard allows security personnel to manage a site from any location, reducing the expense and effort required to manage a system. The mobile world today means security directors no longer need to be in a centralized operations center to see alerts and make decisions. This simplifies processes by allowing users to quickly see an alert, pull up a camera, delete a user or check an access log from a phone. Modern networks are secure and accessible to those with permissions, without requiring those users to be physically present. Consolidating security systems is the first step companies can take toward streamlining work, information and costs. The next step is integrating all sites, both remote and on-grid. Energy and communication technology The integration of sites and systems turns mountains of data and information into actionable intelligence Traditional methods demanded two systems: one for on-grid facilities and another for off-grid locations. With advancements in energy and communication technology, the need for multiple systems is gone. Data from remote sites can be safely and securely fed into an existing system. These remote locations may gather, distribute and manage data in a different manner than a connected system due to the cost of transmission via remote connections (i.e., cellular or satellite connection). The end result, however, is a consistent and holistic view of operations for the decision maker. The integration of sites and systems turns mountains of data and information into actionable intelligence. With connected devices monitoring occurrences at individual sites, as well as events across locations, the data tells a story that is unhindered by operational silos or physical space. Identifying patterns and trends Instead of providing 10 hours-worth of footage that may or may not be relevant, system analytics can provide users with the specific set of information they need. Incidents once discarded as ‘one-off’ events can now be analyzed and data-mapped to identify patterns and trends, directing future resources to the most critical areas first. Consumers are increasingly expecting everything they need to be right where they need it – and businesses are right behind them. The current generation of security professionals are increasingly expecting the simplicity of their everyday personal tasks to be mirrored in enterprise systems, which means giving them the ability to see what matters in one place. A unified system can provide just that, a single view to help simplify processes, promote cost saving and accelerate decision making.

Global and domestic threats have highlighted the need for tighter security across all verticals. One of the technologies that has redefined situational awareness and intrusion detection is thermal imaging. Once a technology exclusively manufactured for the military operations, thermal cameras today are deployed across hundreds of security applications and continue to see strong demand in existing and emerging commercial markets. With thermal technology, security personnel can see in complete darkness as well as in light fog, smoke and rain Technology Overview And Early Adoption What distinguishes thermal cameras from optical sensors is their ability to produce images based on infrared energy, or heat, rather than light. By measuring the heat signatures of all objects and capturing minute differences between them, thermal cameras produce clear, sharp video despite unfavorable environmental conditions. With thermal technology, security personnel can see in complete darkness as well as in light fog, smoke and rain. Originally a military developed, commercially qualified technology, the first thermal cameras for military and aircraft use appeared in the 1950s. By the 1960s, the technology had been declassified and the first thermal camera for commercial use was introduced. However, it wasn’t until the late 1990s - when FLIR Systems introduced a camera with an uncooled thermal detector - when the technology began to see substantial adoption beyond government defense deployments. Installations At Critical Infrastructure Sites In the 2000s, industrial companies were some of the first adopters of thermal, using the technology for predictive maintenance to monitor overheating and machine malfunctions. In the years following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, there was an increase in thermal camera installations across critical infrastructure sites. Stricter security requirements drove the deployment of thermal cameras for perimeter protection, especially in the nuclear power sector. Thermal cameras produce clear video in daylight, low light or no light scenarios and their sharp images result in higher performing analytics In 2010, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Committee released its 73.55 policy, which states nuclear facilities must “provide continuous surveillance, observation and monitoring” as a means to enhance threat detection and deterrence efforts onsite. Because thermal cameras produce clear video in daylight, low light or no light scenarios and because their sharp images result in higher performing analytics, thermal cameras quickly became the preferred option for nuclear facilities. Likewise, following the 2013 sniper attack on PG&E Corporation’s Metcalf transmission substation, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission introduced the Critical Infrastructure Protection Standard 014 (CIP-014). The policy requires utilities to identify threats to mission critical assets and implement a security system to mitigate those risks. This statute also led to more thermal installations in the utility sector as thermal cameras’ long-range capabilities are ideal for detection of approaching targets beyond the fence line. The demand from both industrial and critical infrastructure entities, as well as other factors, helped drive volume production and price reduction for thermal, making the technology more accessible to the commercial security marketplace. Commercial Applications In recent years, the increasing affordability of thermal cameras along with the introduction of new thermal offerings has opened the door to new commercial applications for the technology. In the past, thermal cameras were designed for applications with enormous perimeters, where the camera needed to detect a human from 700 meters away. Locations like car dealerships, marinas and construction supply facilities can be protected by precise target detection, thermal analytic cameras providing an early warning to security personnel Today, there are thermal cameras specifically designed for short- to mid-range applications. Developed for small to medium enterprises, these thermal cameras ensure property size and security funds are no longer barriers to adoption. Lumber yards, recreation fields and sports arenas are some of the commercial applications now able to implement thermal cameras for 24-hour monitoring and intrusion detection. Affordable thermal cameras with onboard analytics have become attractive options for commercial businesses Innovation And Advancements Innovation and advancements in the core technology have also spurred growth in thermal camera deployment, providing faster image processing, higher resolution, greater video analytic capabilities and better camera performance. In particular, affordable thermal cameras with onboard analytics have become attractive options for commercial businesses that need outdoor, wide area protection. Car dealerships, marinas and construction supply locations all store valuable merchandise and materials outside. Without protection, these assets are vulnerable to vandalism and theft. However, by providing precise target detection, thermal analytic cameras provide an early warning to security personnel so that they can intervene before a crime is committed. By helping to deter just one incident, the thermal solution delivers a clear ROI. New Market Opportunities Not only are there more thermal cameras in use today than ever before, but there are also more thermal sensors being integrated with other multi-sensor systems, driving the adoption of thermal in new markets. For large perimeter surveillance applications, thermal is repeatedly being integrated with radar and drones to expand situational awareness beyond the point of fixed cameras. Users get immediate, accurate alerts of approaching targets and evidentiary class video for target assessment In the commercial market, thermal imagers are combined with optical sensors, analytics and LED illuminators into one solution that integrates with central monitoring station platforms. By bringing these technologies together, users get immediate, accurate alerts of approaching targets and evidentiary class video for target assessment. The result is a lower number of false positives, reducing the total cost of ownership for the solution. These multi-sensor solutions also feature two-way audio capabilities, which enable remote security officers to act as “virtual guards” and speak to intruders in real-time to dissuade them from illegal activity. The introduction of solutions that integrate all these state-of-the-art technologies under one unit reduces the amount of capital and infrastructure needed for deployment. Consequently, more small businesses and alarm monitoring companies can implement advanced perimeter security technologies like thermal sensors, some for the very first time. Thermal cameras have gone from military defense devices to widespread commercial security cameras Multi-Sensor Thermal Solutions Multi-sensor solutions featuring thermal are quickly gaining traction and opening the door to new business opportunities for the security channel. One of the primary reasons for the strong market interest in these systems is they enable integrators to increase their recurring monthly revenue (RMR). With intense price competition and eroding margins on CCTV equipment, integrators have to rely on RMR to grow their businesses. Offering remote video monitoring services and virtual guarding technologies is one of the best ways to do so.  Additionally, there is a clear demand for it. Central stations are continually looking for new technologies to offer their customers and businesses are interested in economical alternatives to physical guards. In conclusion, thermal cameras have gone from military defense devices to widespread commercial security cameras that are a substantial segment of the outdoor security protection market. From nuclear power plants to construction locations, thermal technology is being implemented to secure sites around the globe.

Video, access control and visitor management are among the technologies that are enabling greater safety and security at hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Video surveillance systems enable hospital management and security professionals to know what goes on in and around a medical facility. Recording images in high resolutions (megapixels and gigapixels) is becoming more and more important in healthcare, says Jason Ouellette, Product Line Director – Access Control, Tyco Security Products. Video event management software Video analytics are now being leveraged for patient tracking, asset tracking, and operational purposes If an incident occurs in a medical facility, the security staff has to be able to identify faces easily and accurately. Storage and costs have to be considered, of course. With technology improving and prices decreasing, video solutions can even be used for purposes beyond traditional security. For example, video analytics are now being leveraged for patient tracking, asset tracking, and operational purposes, and captured video can be used to defend against liability claims. What’s next? Video analytics will continue to be a valuable addition to any surveillance infrastructure due to its ability to address patient needs, operational efficiencies and early risk detection, says Brandon Reich, Senior Director of Surveillance Solutions, Pivot3. Through video event management software (VEMS), hospitals can customize the statistics that are relevant to their individual buildings or campuses without having to spend extra time or money on rigorous employee training. Data capture form to appear here! Real-Time access control security updates Furthermore, once healthcare facilities are able to digitize all of their patient records, secure any of their ingress and egress points with real-time access control security updates, and fully transition from analog to IP video surveillance cameras, VEMS systems that house analytical software will be able to multiply the benefits offered to hospitals, not just in real time, but in planning ahead for future risk, expansion and safety protocols. It is vital to implement integrated and innovative access control solutions With large, complex facilities, directors of security at hospitals struggle with controlling access to various levels of the facility, according to Eric Widlitz of Vanderbilt Industries. To manage the risks that hospitals face and ensure a comprehensively protected atmosphere for patients and staff, it is vital to implement integrated and innovative access control solutions. For example, ease of access with controlled entrances is vital to medical crash teams, as is the need for a zonal access control lockdown in the event of a contagious disease outbreak. Strict access limitations Different hallways, rooms, floors and waiting areas within a hospital require different amounts of restriction, and sensitive materials, such as medical files, controlled substances and sterile environments (such as operating and procedure rooms) all necessitate an additional layer of protection. Access control in particular has advanced significantly to offer healthcare facilities the ability to control access remotely, through mobile applications, confirm identity quickly and easily and program varying levels of access for visitors, patients, doctors and staff. One area that is recently experiencing rapid growth – and drastic change  –is the securing of narcotics within healthcare facilities, says Robert Laughlin, CEO and Chairman, Galaxy Control Systems. In the past, all medicine was controlled in a central pharmacy located somewhere in the hospital or health facility. These pharmacies were highly secured areas, with strict access limitations; only authorized staff could get near the medicine stocks. Fiber optic communication lines For vehicle access control, medical centers and hospitals prefer beam barricades and shallow foundation barriers To improve the speed of delivery, and to have the necessary medicines ready at hand for in-patients without retaining a large delivery staff, the current trend is to have distributed pharmaceutical closets or carts that hold medicines much closer to the intended patients. For vehicle access control, medical centers and hospitals prefer beam barricades and shallow foundation barriers, according to Gregg Hamm of Delta Scientific. Manual beam barricades are installed at the Fort Bragg Veterans Administration Hospital in North Carolina to shut down certain areas of the facility when a higher alert is sounded. They will stop a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling 50 mph. The Navy Hospital in San Diego uses high speed, high security and very shallow foundation barricades to control all vehicles going in and out of the facility. With their extremely shallow foundation, they obviate the concerns of interference with buried pipes, power lines and fiber optic communication lines. They will stop a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling 50 mph. At the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, even stronger shallow foundation barriers are used for traffic control and protection. These barriers will destroy a 65,000-pound (5.4 million foot-pounds) dump truck traveling 50 mph and continue to stand. Physical access control systems Controlling visitors to hospitals and healthcare facilities can directly impact security Controlling visitors to hospitals and healthcare facilities can directly impact security. Traditional methods of visitor management, such as paper visitor logs and handwritten badges are insufficient given today’s variety of security challenges. A hospital using paper-based systems cannot easily cross-check information, confirm patient information, check visitor names against up-to-date watch lists, or visually confirm identity. An increasingly popular and important application is secure and simplified visitor management, integrated with the physical access control systems (PACS). Today’s visitor management systems enable the screening, badging and tracking all visitors or, at a minimum, those visiting critical areas or during ‘after hours’ periods, Quickly identify inappropriate visitors One other growing technology is the ability to link to internal or governmental watch lists, to quickly identify inappropriate visitors before they gain access to the facilities. For example, Visitor Management systems can be configured to perform a Sex Offender search in both Children’s Hospitals and Pediatric areas, further decreasing the likelihood that someone of the list could gain access. Wayfinding is indoor navigation to guide a person step-by-step on the way to a desired destination HID Global and Phunware Inc. are addressing the need of healthcare institutions to deploy standardized technology to provide a better wayfinding and visitor engagement experience inside the hospital, across campus and even in parking lots. The companies are collaborating to improve the experience for hospital patients and visitors to find their way within medical facilities, using wayfinding on their mobile phones. Wayfinding is indoor navigation to guide a person step-by-step on the way to a desired destination. Enterprise-Level mobile wayfinding “It’s easy for visitors and patients to get lost in hospitals, and every time they do it puts appointment times and patient satisfaction at risk,” says Rom Eizenberg, Vice President of Sales, Bluvision, part of HID Global “With our location-aware app on a mobile device, we equip the visitor to get instant, turn-by-turn navigation that creates a better experience than that which is currently available on the market.” HID’s healthcare IoT solution-enablement platform simplifies the delivery of real-time location of clinicians, patients and devices. The platform is enabled by Bluvision (part of HID Global). Phunware’s Multiscreen-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform also provides enterprise-level mobile wayfinding, engagement, data and more for other vertical markets, including retail, residential, hospitality, media and entertainment and more .Missed the rest our healthcare mini series? Read part one here and part two here.

A video analytics system that provides ‘behavioral understanding’ can yield more meaningful and actionable data for a range of applications. In public safety and security, such a system can alert on violent or suspicious behaviors, such as people fighting, vandalism, people with weapons, etc. In advanced traffic surveillance and monitoring, it can provide alerts to vehicle collisions (accidents), traffic hazards or vehicle that aren’t using the road properly, such as a car that stops in the middle of the junction. For enterprise and campus security, it can provide advanced anti-tailgating and detect unauthorized activity. Video surveillance infrastructure viisights was founded by a group of entrepreneurs with track records in developing technology businesses These uses are among the benefits of viisights’ video analytics technology based on behavioral understanding of video content. “It means we can extract more meaningful data from the huge amount of video content that is captured, and we can transform that data to actionable insights that eventually justify the massive investment in video surveillance infrastructure,” says Asaf Birenzvieg, CEO of viisights. Their behavioral understanding systems for real-time video intelligence leverage artificial intelligence technology. viisights was founded by a group of serial entrepreneurs with track records in developing technology businesses. The Israeli company’s founders recognized a growing global need for intelligence to make physical and virtual public areas safer – and realized the role that smart video understanding technology can play. Developing artificial intelligence technologies viisights is committed to developing artificial intelligence technologies that facilitate human-like video understanding, which in turn serves as the basis for fully autonomous video intelligence systems powered by pattern prediction technology. “Behavioral recognition is the future of video analytics and the next generation of the object classification analytics systems that hold the majority of the market today,” says Birenzvieg. viisights has developed a video understanding technology for real-time video processing “To date most video analytics systems still base their product features on static analysis of objects from images using image recognition, even the ones that use ‘AI analytics.’ Products built using such object classification technology are extremely limited.” For example, object classification analytics cannot recognize behavioral events in a video such as people fighting or a car collision because such behaviors can’t accurately be concluded in large scale from analyzing a single static image/frame. Video understanding technology viisights has developed a video understanding technology for real-time video processing. The technology can process live video feeds. In addition to recognizing a particular object (e.g., person) and its attributes (e.g., red shirt), the system can understand an object’s actions, interactions with other objects (events), the scene being viewed (i.e., crowd is gathering, riots) and the context (a car is driving on the road or on the sidewalk). The main verticals are smart cities, enterprises and campuses, banks and ATM security“Basically, we are able to extract more meaningful data from a live video feed and therefore create actionable insights and greater ROI,” says Birenzvieg. The company focuses mostly on security and safety use-cases. The main verticals are smart cities, enterprises and campuses, banks and ATM security, security guard companies and transportation hubs. The company is working on a new product for in-vehicle monitoring mostly for security, safety, vehicle protection and proper vehicle use; it monitors passengers’ behavior inside a bus, train, or taxi. The product will come to market next year. Video management system viisights’ video analytics offering is currently optimized for server-side deployment, and the integration architecture is similar to most video analytics systems. From one side it is integrated with the video management system (VMS). They are a Milestone verified partner and soon will be part of Milestone's marketplace. From the other end, it is connected to a command-and-control system for processing the data and presenting the alerts to the end-user. The analytics company makes most sales through system integrators. They have partnerships with big system integrators like Motorola Solutions and NEC and are also working with smaller ones. They are looking to expand their system integrator network, mostly in the USA and Europe. Behaviors can have many variations and they can be very diverse Cloud video surveillance “We will continue to invest in performance and accuracy, meaning higher recall and lower false positive rate,” says Birenzvieg. “Since our major value proposition is in behavior recognition, behavior events many times are not clearly defined, which is very different from object classification. Behaviors can have many variations and they can be very diverse.” An example is a simple behavior like a person falling on the floor. A person can fall on the floor in many ways, but the challenge is to ignore similar behaviors that are not a person falling and that confuse the system, such as a person bending over to tie his shoelaces. With cloud video surveillance becoming a trend, viisights is also looking into offering some of their advanced functionalities in a video-analytics-as-a-service-model.

As a security service provider with a rich history in manguarding, Allied Universal is launching a new technology platform to increase productivity and accountability of security officers and to transform guard service operations from an ‘observe and report’ mission to a ‘detect and respond’ function. Mark Mullison, Allied Universal’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), says the new Heliaus platform also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze data, predict outcomes, and prescribe optimum responses. The platform includes a smart phone app that guides security officers to ensure post orders are followed and provides a ‘virtual’ coach or supervisor to guide security officers throughout the day. “The walls between technology and people need to come down in the future,” says Mullison. “We need an ecosystem in which people and technology can cooperate well and respond to threats and drive outcomes.” Real-Time situational awareness Technology plays an increasing role in security and safety, but it will never replace humans"Heliaus is a step in that direction. It has two components – the mobile app used by security officers; and a cloud-based portal, like a command and control center that compiles information from the app and other inputs and performs AI analysis of data. Heliaus is an add-on for Allied Universal customers and is offered for a per-device subscription fee of $199 per month. A customer company’s managers can also access the portal for data visualization tools and real-time situational awareness, or to input data such as ‘approving’ an incident report or action. “Technology plays an increasing role in security and safety, but it will never replace humans,” says Mullison. “It will augment and enhance the workflow and make people more effective.” “We are focusing on delivering better outcomes for safety and security,” he adds. “The impacts are as broad and diverse as the clients we serve.” Customization of forms enables the system to collect and use any information that was previously collected on paper. Monitoring and Response Center (MaRC) A system is effective only to the extent that it is used, and Allied Universal has engineered the user experience to make the mobile app easy – almost fun – to use, says Mullison. Elements of ‘gamification’ drive greater user adoption. “It is designed to support the work [security officers] do and make information collection a by-product of people doing their jobs.” The system brings together rich data, AI, location-aware workflow automation, and friendly user experience design Effective AI depends on data, and Heliaus pulls data from Allied Universal’s Monitoring and Response Center (MaRC), where a cloud server integrates the company’s managed security services, including access control, video surveillance and video analytics. It also incorporates current weather information and forecasts, and information specific to the industry segment. Additional data is generated as officers enter data through the mobile app. The system brings together rich data, AI, location-aware workflow automation, and friendly user experience design. It provides insight into the drivers of risk, makes recommendations about how to reduce incidents, and, through dynamic workflow automation, ensures that those recommendations are implemented. Location awareness is a combination of the global positioning system (GPS), Bluetooth beacons, and near-field communication (NFC) tags. Improves the accuracy of responses AI understands the data and applies reasoning capabilities to predict an outcome and prescribe a response“Information is organized to facilitate AI analysis. If you have the right knowledge representation then problem-solving is easy,” says Mullison, echoing a common principle of artificial intelligence. AI works to analyze data and make predictions and recommendations to guide responses by security personnel. AI understands the data and applies reasoning capabilities to predict an outcome and prescribe a response. The AI system also learns and improves the accuracy of responses with more data and over time. Responses come much faster than older ‘trial and error’ models of analysis. Another element of Heliaus is a ‘robust workflow engine’ that ensures recommendations are carried out, either by a security professional on site or by the client. Mullison says implementation of the system can result in a 20% reduction of security and safety incidents. Multiple applications of Heliaus Heliaus is already being used by some Allied Universal customers. For example, a major Hollywood production studio is using it to identify and address workplace hazards such as stray electrical cords, dripping water hoses, etc., across a 50-acre area. In the logistics sector, Heliaus is being used to facilitate checking delivery vehicles in and out of a truckyard A manufacturer created a custom compliance application using the platform to track more than 140 unique incident types, such as monitoring elevated temperature in a truck trailer or drivers without proper identification. In the logistics sector, Heliaus is being used to facilitate checking delivery vehicles in and out of a truckyard. The flexibility of the platform can enable expansion to incorporate other technologies in the future, too. For example, sources of data for the system could include robots, drones or various Internet of Things (IoT) sensors; or workflow engines could be used to dispatch a robot or drone to handle a situation (rather than a human).

The city of Bologna has chosen Wisenet video surveillance cameras to help it create a smart traffic management system. Bologna is the seventh most populous city in Italy. It is at the center of a metropolitan area of approximately one million people with a diverse range of traveling requirements within a very large area. The City has always invested in traffic control and monitoring systems with the aim to make travel easier and faster for its citizens. An example of this is a centralized traffic light management system which has been in operation since 2013 and has helped reduce travel times within the urban area. Video surveillance solution The purpose was to provide a tool to allow authorities to take strategic planning measures The City wanted to invest in a video surveillance solution which would allow the monitoring of 12 vehicle access gates to the city in order to provide authorities with reliable real-time information about urban mobility. The purpose was to provide a tool to allow authorities to take strategic planning measures and optimally redistribute the traffic load on the road network. After extensive research, which included the evaluation of a wide range of possible solutions, a decision was made to procure a total of 89 Wisenet cameras manufactured by Hanwha Techwin. The implemented solution consists of cameras dedicated to vehicle counting and classification, and ANPR cameras which have been installed on strategic gates. The cameras monitor both directions of travel to allow local authorities to study the most important and strategic vehicle access flows to the city. Detecting illegally parked vehicles This is made possible thanks to the latest generation of Wisenet cameras. By integrating high image quality and advanced video algorithms, Wisenet ‘intelligent’ cameras are able to enhance the value of video surveillance by supporting mobility and security in Smart Cities. 24 of the cameras installed are Wisenet XNO-6120R/TD bullet cameras equipped with Traffic Data 24 of the cameras installed are Wisenet XNO-6120R/TD bullet cameras equipped with Traffic Data, an edge based application developed in cooperation with Sprinx Technologies which facilitates the collection of statistical data about vehicle flow. By tracking the vehicles moving in a camera field of view, the application is able to provide information on vehicle counts, classification and average speed. 24 of the other cameras installed are Wisenet XNO-6120R/FNPs. These feature Roadway Licence Plate Recognition application which is able to help the local authority’s control room operators detect illegally parked vehicles and other traffic infringements. Built-In IR illumination Effective with all European number plate formats, the application has more than a 95% recognition accuracy whatever the environmental conditions, even when vehicles are moving at speeds of up to 150 km/h. The Wisenet XNO-6120R is a 2 megapixel bullet camera which is able to capture high definition images with the help of a 12x optical zoom, digital image stabilization with built-in Gyro sensor, a Defog feature and built-in IR illumination. Part of the Wisenet X camera series, the XNO-6120R features the World’s best Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), which performs at up to 150dB to produce clear images from scenes that contain a challenging mix of bright and dark areas and normally result in overexposed or underexposed images. Real time automatic incident detection The Wisenet X series provides an opportunity to run on-board third-party video analytics plug-ins The processing power of the Wisenet 5 chipset incorporated into the Wisenet X series provides an opportunity to run on-board third-party video analytics plug-ins for different applications, such as number plate recognition, vehicle counting/classification and real time automatic incident detection. Completing the camera line-up are 41 Wisenet SNP-L6233RH 2 megapixel 23x IR PTZ dome cameras which have been carefully located at major road junctions throughout the city, in order to allow control room operators to zoom in to see close up detail of any incidents. Traffic management solution “We are delighted with how easy it has been to successfully integrate the Wisenet cameras with our existing video management platform and our other supervision monitoring systems,” said Alberto Nuzzo, Head of Office 'Digital Infrastructure and Telecommunications', at Comune di Bologna, when commenting on the success of the traffic management solution. “The data captured by the Traffic Data and ANPR applications running onboard the cameras, is allowing us to far better manage the existing levels of traffic, whilst also helping us capture and store valuable data which we will be able to analyze to assist us to plan for the future. Our control room operators have been particularly impressed with the exceptional clarity of the images captured by the cameras and the data analytics capabilities of the system, which are enabling them to accurately visually verify what may be occurring and quickly take appropriate action.”

ANSecurity, a specialist in advanced network and data security, announces the successful delivery of a project with New College Oxford to streamline its network architecture and strengthen its security by moving to a Zero Trust model. Founded in 1379, New College is one of the largest Oxford colleges, with some 430 undergraduates and 360 graduates. The college, together with 37 other academic institutions across Oxford, uses the University’s switched Gigabit backbone along with some centralized services, such as e-mail for students, backup, remote access, VPN systems and more while the individual colleges runs their own core servers and applications. Good technical knowledge The project aim was to join two separate networks that had multiple subnets in the same native VLAN The college decided it needed to upgrade its aging 3COM networking kit and after an evaluation process selected ANSecurity to help it specify, design and upgrade to new switches and a firewall from Juniper. James Dore, IT officer of New College at Oxford University, commented: “ANSecurity was a great company to deal with. It had good technical knowledge around the Juniper products and managed the project efficiently from start to end.” The project aim was to join two separate networks that had multiple subnets in the same native VLAN. This was overcomplicating the network because of how the VLANs had to be tagged and untagged when traversing the networks. As part of the move to a Zero Trust model, all users and server VLANs would be routed through the firewall. In addition, the project would also free up IP addresses from one of the subnets in order to re-allocate them to other colleges. High availability solution ANSecurity implemented a high availability solution using technology from Fortinet and designed and implemented a VLAN migration processes that by leaving the hosts in their original VLAN, allowed them to pick up IP addresses from a different subnet freeing up addresses to be re-allocated. The team from ANSecurity was easy to work with and had a deep knowledge of the network" “The design allows us to set up VLANs in a much simpler fashion, and is easier to manage while allowing us to better share resources across multiple colleges,” said Dore. “The team from ANSecurity was easy to work with and had a deep knowledge of the network and all the technologies we used. They have fielded questions from us at odd hours of the day and have kept us updated about new technologies on a regular basis.” Reducing annual charges It is estimated that the project will reduce annual charges related to client licenses, hardware and maintenance fees by several thousand pounds annually. The project would also offer the benefit of allowing three of the colleges to share access to core security platforms to better utilize the technology and reduce upfront and ongoing maintenance contract costs. The successful project, delivered on time and within budget, allowed the college to refresh its infrastructure and start a relationship with ANSecurity that resulted in it becoming the trusted provider for the college’s networking and security needs. “It is fair to say that they have never let us down and we value the relationship which is now into its 7th year and look forward to working with them on future projects,” concluded Dore.

Ping Identity, the provider of Identity Defined Security, announces its successful completion of the Financial-grade API (FAPI) conformance testing, as part of the process defined by Open Banking Ltd. This builds on Ping Identity’s previous success as the first identity platform to pass all 70 technical security tests, as set by Open Banking Ltd., with zero warnings. The most recent set of FAPI conformance testing evaluated the latest versions of the Ping Intelligent Identity platform, including PingFederate, PingAccess and PingDirectory, within a mock banking environment. Additional technical requirements It switches to an API model with structured data that utilizes a token model such as Open Authorization The inclusion of FAPI within the Ping Identity solution for Open Banking helps allow banks to overcome insecure practices such as screen scraping by using stored user credentials. Instead, it switches to an API model with structured data that utilizes a token model such as Open Authorization. FAPI is a technical specification developed as a multi-industry standard by the FAPI Working Group of OpenID Foundation (OIDF). It leverages OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC) to define additional technical requirements for the financial industry and other sectors requiring higher security. For banks specifically, FAPI provides various advantages. This includes enabling applications to securely interact with financial accounts, while also enhancing the user’s ability to control security and privacy settings. Secure identity requirements In concurrence with the specification, OpenID Foundation maintains a cloud-based testing suite for conformance testing by banks, certified third-party security providers and platform vendors—such as Ping Identity. The Ping Intelligent Identity platform is used by hundreds of financial services enterprises, including many of the CMA 9 and Open Banking Ltd. itself. Additionally, FAPI is of increasing relevance to the growing number of new fintech start-ups in areas such as investment, wealth management, insurance, payments and even real estate. “This is significant beyond the Open Banking and financial services sector,” explains Rob Otto, EMEA Field CTO, Ping Identity. “Other digitally-focused sectors, with similar secure identity requirements, now have a proven template that can allow them to quickly deploy their own security controls, which have been stringently tested by the largest financial institutions in the UK.”

Everbridge, Inc., the global pioneer in critical event management, announced that it has been awarded a multi-year contract to support the deployment of Australia’s next-generation national early warning system. In combination with Australia’s major telecommunications companies, the Everbridge Public Warning solution will be used to power Emergency Alert in Australia, providing population-wide alerting to help reach the country’s over 25 million residents and approximately 9 million annual visitors. If residing within an area where a sudden, critical event occurs such as fire, extreme weather or a terror attack, residents and visitors to Australia will receive location-based SMS notifications on their mobile phones, in addition to smart phone mobile app notifications and fixed line voice alerts, among other modalities.  Supports first responder communications Everbridge Public Warning leverages telecom infrastructure to reach everyone within a geographic areaEverbridge Public Warning leverages existing telecom infrastructure, with no opt-in required, to reach everyone within a geographic area to reduce disaster risk, support first responder communications, and analyze disaster communication effectiveness for subsequent mitigation activities. “Our Public Warning solution enables government organizations and public safety agencies to immediately connect with every person in an affected area during a critical event regardless of nationality, residency or mobile telephone handset type,” said Jaime Ellertson, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Everbridge. “Australia has served as a model example for population-wide alerting and emergency preparedness over the past decade, and we are honored to support them on the evolution of their national system.” The next-generation system is scheduled to become operational in 2020.  

Everbridge, Inc., the global pioneer in critical event management software that helps keep people safe and businesses running, announced that its mass notification solution will be used to power alerts for Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee in times of emergency. The Metro Emergency Alert & Notification System (MEANS) will deliver safety instructions via cell phone, landline, and SMS for localized emergencies such as flooding, public health emergencies or active shooter situations. “This is an important way for us to keep the community updated on incidents happening in Nashville and Davidson County,” said Chief William Swann, Director, Nashville Fire Department. “The Everbridge system will be leveraged by Metro Government to communicate directly to the public. Residents and visitors can feel confident that when they receive alerts, they are getting accurate information straight from a Metro public safety agency.” Everbridge Mobile App delivers alerts to cell phones based on a user’s physical location during emergency Receiving alerts on cell phones Metro officials also urge residents to download the Everbridge Mobile App, which brings the added security of delivering alerts to cell phones based on a user’s physical location at the time of an emergency. “The Everbridge app provides Metro with a key alerting capability because it enables us to send safety instructions to residents who happen to be in the vicinity of an emergency in real time,” said Department of Emergency Communication’s Director Michele Donegan. Nashville joins a growing list of America’s largest cities, counties, and entire states that have rolled out the Everbridge platform including the cities of New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa, and Washington, DC; hundreds of counties including Napa, Sonoma, Ventura, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Cook, Harris, and Maricopa; and the states of Florida, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York.

Mobile-device and application-security technology company Trustonic announces that Hyundai Motor America will demonstrate its new Digital Key app, secured by Trustonic Application Protection, at the New York International Auto Show 2019. The Digital Key will launch with the all-new 2020 Hyundai Sonata in the fall. Hyundai’s Digital Key is a downloadable smartphone app that can replace a traditional car key by leveraging Near Field Communication (NFC) to detect an authorized smartphone. An NFC antenna is located in the driver’s door handle for locking and unlocking while a second antenna for starting the engine is located in the wireless charging pad in the center console. Seamless Vehicle Sharing The Digital Key allows a smartphone to control select vehicle systems remotely using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication Once authorized, the Digital Key allows a smartphone to control select vehicle systems remotely using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication. A user can lock and unlock the vehicle, activate panic alert and start the engine within a range of about 30 feet of the car. The new Digital Key can be utilised by up to four authorized users, facilitating seamless vehicle sharing. Users’ preferred settings are also stored in the car, meaning that when a user is recognized, the vehicle automatically adjusts settings for side mirrors, radio presets, sound settings, and seat positioning. Hyundai is using Trustonic Application Protection (TAP) to secure the Digital Key. TAP ensures that Digital Key transfer requests are securely displayed to and approved by a real, authenticated user on a trusted device. Cybersecurity Approach TAP utilizes a multilayered industry-recognized security approach for communication to and from the customer’s phone. “Hyundai has been a leader in connected car technology for a long time now, with new features like Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Smartwatch and Smart-speaker integration into our vehicles,” said Manish Mehrotra, director of digital business planning and connected operations, Hyundai Motor America. “Digital Key adds convenience for 2020 Sonata owners and allows us to be ready for future shifts in the mobility space, such as car sharing. We chose Trustonic because of their multilayered, industry recognized cybersecurity approach.” Vehicle-Function Permissions Hyundai’s Digital Key will enable easy car sharing and improved user experiences" Car owners have a deeper level of access than other authenticated users, enabling them to set vehicle-function permissions and the duration of access for each shared user. This enables uses beyond car sharing, such as enabling couriers to access the trunk within a pre-agreed window of time to deliver a package. Future uses that the app could enable include car rentals, triggering an alarm when a vehicle travels outside a designated area and remote control of features, such as autonomous parking. Ben Cade, CEO, Trustonic, adds, “Consumers expect to be able to manage their lives on their smartphones, and this includes their vehicles. Hyundai’s Digital Key will enable easy car sharing and improved user experiences for drivers—and as international leaders in app security, it’s up to us to ensure this can happen in a scalable and secure way.”

Ethical hackers are familiar to the world of cybersecurity. As cybersecurity awareness increases in physical security, they are also playing a larger role to ensure the safety of networked and information technologies used in our market. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the role of ‘ethical hackers’ to ensure cybersecurity of networked products in the physical security market?

The new year 2019 is brimming with possibilities for the physical security industry, but will those possibilities prove to be good news or bad news for our market? Inevitably, it will be a combination of good and bad, but how much good and how bad? We wanted to check the temperature of the industry as it relates to expectations for the new year, so we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How optimistic is your outlook for the physical security industry in 2019? Why?

The concept of how security systems can contribute to the broader business goals of a company is not new. It seems we have been talking about benefits of security systems beyond “just” security for more than a decade. Given the expanding role of technologies in the market, including video and access control, at what point is the term “security” too restrictive to accurately describe what our industry does? We asked the Expert Panel Roundtable for their responses to this premise: Is the description “security technology” too narrow given the broader application possibilities of today’s systems? Why?