Security service - Expert commentary
Video surveillance has become the king of data—and is known to be the largest producer of data in the world. A single day of video surveillance is estimated to produce more than 500 petabytes of data—for context, a single petabyte is equivalent to 1,000 terabytes – and that number is only expected to grow. Why is it expected to grow? The answer lies with new and emerging technology, and the way that technology operates. For physical security teams, the rapid amount of data the...
We believe in integrated security solutions, so while a solid gate could prevent sight lines from the house, combining it with other measures such as alarms, motion sensing lighting, and CCTV will allow a good level of surveillance to keep you and your valuables safe. Burglary prevention tips Very few burglars are opportunists; instead, they may be regularly scanning and looking for weaknesses to capitalize on. It is therefore crucial never to give a burglar an opportunity to strike. Of cours...
Residential burglaries and break-ins are a problem for many homeowners. The FBI estimates there were approximately 1,117,696 burglaries in 2019 in the United States, which accounted for 16.1% of property crimes. Having proper home security can not only protect your home and belongings, but it can also keep your family safe. Even if you’re new to the idea of having and using smart home security devices, it’s easy to get started. This guide will provide the information and actionable...
For both employers and employees, a safe workplace is crucial. But what about the security of those who keep us safe? Worker safety The physical security industry and its personnel are not only valuable but also indispensable assets in workplaces. Most private and public sectors rely on it to keep their respective communities and stakeholders safe. Hence, it is extremely crucial to ensure the safety of physical security workers. The security industry, regardless of size, must prioritize safet...
Managing the technology stack and known vulnerabilities is becoming a key criteria for cyber insurance pay outs. Open source software has once again made the headlines following warnings to organizations about the release of a new version of OpenSSL. Released on 1st November 2022, the new version patched vulnerabilities in version 3.0 and above of the nearly ubiquitously used cryptographic library for encrypting communications on the Internet. Remote code execution The OpenSSL Project team to...
Two trends in recent years are combining to exacerbate insider threat risks at companies. First, companies continue to foster cultures of openness and collaboration that often run contrary to the needs of a security-oriented mindset. Second, the mainstreaming of hybrid work has made companies’ control over data and device usage during work more tenuous. Addressing insider threats We’ve seen repeatedly that companies have the tools, structural choices, and decision-making power acro...
In the past five years, the retail landscape and the relationship between consumers and businesses has shifted drastically. It wasn’t too long ago when shopping at malls was considered a family activity and consumers shopped at local stores where they knew and interacted with sales personnel. Today, however, malls and interactions with employees are relics that accurately portray the way retail used to work. Retail companies have shifted their consumer model to focus on the online market...
Redevelopment, restoration, retrofit. No longer are these terms modestly viewed as construction buzzwords. Across the world, there’s an increasing appreciation and a budding culture that maintaining older buildings is the way forward for the planet and its people. Globally, cities are said to be responsible for 78% of the energy consumption, of which, buildings account for around a third of the total. And when users consider that up to 80% of the current buildings are expected to still be...
The outlook for advancements in door security solutions is proving to be an extension of the positive trends that have emerged over the past few years and that continue to evolve in exciting new ways. That’s a good sign as we make our way along the road toward an ever-safer world. Improvements in a hybrid workforce Here’s what we’re seeing: More and more companies are rethinking the office space and how electronic access control (EAC) security and data can help better s...
There’s a new security paradigm emerging across malls, server farms, smart office buildings, and warehouses, and its advantage over the status quo are so broad they are impossible to ignore. Instead of a lecture, let’s start with a short narrative scenario to illustrate my point. Darryl's work Darryl works as a security guard at the Eastwood Mall. Like any typical evening, tonight’s shift begins at 9:30 PM, as the stores close and the crowds thin. His first task: Ensure that...
In recent years, multinational corporations such as Cathay Pacific, Facebook, Uber, and numerous others have been heavily fined due to security and data protection violations. This period has seen data protection laws increase as more and more information is gathered and shared online. As such, it becomes crucial to account for security capabilities when choosing an embedded device that touches potentially sensitive data. RFID readers RFID readers very much belong to the ecosystem wherein per...
Hybrid cloud computing enables organizations to segregate their resources and workloads on-premise, in a private cloud, or in a public cloud. But despite its many benefits, the hybrid environment also creates security concerns. AlgoSec’s co-founder and CTO, Prof. Avishai Wool shares his expert insights on some of these concerns and offers best practices to boost hybrid cloud security. Hybrid cloud computing Hybrid cloud computing combines on-premises infrastructure, private cloud servic...
If defense is the best form of attack, then in security, planned preventative maintenance (PPM) is the best way to protect your business from harm. Also known as PPM, the service ensures that your security efforts are up-to-date and effective. In the latest how-to guide, discover the benefits of planned preventative maintenance and learn how to add PPM to your building. What is Planned Preventative Maintenance? You have installed all of the necessary security measures for your business, now wh...
Although inflated fuel prices have somewhat settled since the summer, recent changes in legislation mean construction sites are particularly vulnerable to attempted fuel thefts. Read on to find out what’s changed, and what’s proving effective in mitigating the threat. What are the changes? As of April, this year red diesel can no longer be used in a range of vehicles, including those in construction. That means fuel bowsers are now filled with the same white diesel available to m...
The growing mobile ownership rate, the emergence of more user-friendly banking apps, the tech-native younger generation, and, of late, the pandemic-induced shift to online, all create a fertile ground for mobile banking. Unfortunately, the acceleration of banking app adoption today goes hand in hand with the increase of targeted security threats. In 2022, a month wouldn’t go by without a headline-making mobile banking attack or incident that resulted in stolen funds and sensitive personal...
It’s clear that despite recent layoffs in the tech industry and general unease about the economy, there are still significant gaps in the number of jobs available and the amount of workers available to fill them. According to the Labor Department, there are 5.5 million more job openings than workers available. The physical security industry is not immune to these shortages. Last fall, Allied Universal reported being unable to fill thousands of open roles nationally while other smaller se...
The smartphone is an integral part of our daily routines. The communication and entertainment device of yesteryear has become a serious player with which we increasingly handle sensitive processes, such as payment transactions. BLE or NFC authentication At the supermarket checkout, more and more customers are pulling out their smartphones instead of their wallets. Apple Pay, Google Pay, or specific banking apps make it possible: to hold the smartphone in front of the reader of the checkout sys...
Although video camera technology has been around since the early 1900s, it was not until the 1980s that video started to gain traction for security and surveillance applications. The pictures generated by these initial black and white tube cameras were grainy at best, with early color cameras providing a wonderful new source of visual data for better identification accuracy. But by today’s standards, these cameras produced images that were about as advanced as crayons and coloring books....
The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR as it is more commonly known, is a privacy and data protection law within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). Despite opting to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom (UK) also uses the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which is currently identical. For businesses, the legislation throws up a number of potential challenges related to how data is obtained, handled, and kept secure. Companies are obligated to com...
The banking market continues to evolve through the growing use of digital and mobile devices, as more branch operations aim to enhance convenience and service for the customer. These advancements also create more significant opportunities for fraud and loss. Together, these two trends come full circle: Increasingly sophisticated fraud techniques require organizations to pursue new approaches to preventing and detecting such activities. Digital transformation But before we lead down that path,...
One of the biggest security trends in the last two years has been the adoption of cloud-based services, spearheaded mainly by an increasing number of video surveillance-as-a-service (VSaaS) offerings. VSaaS market value According to MarketsandMarkets Research, the global VSaaS market value is expected to reach $6.2 billion by 2026. This growth is propelled by demand for remote access video services, less local hardware to maintain, new internet-enabled devices, and a lower total cost of owners...
Enterprise security directors often count on an integration firm to handle jobs ranging from day-to-day activities to long-term, technology-laden projects. However, before entering a relationship, you must know what's reasonable to expect from an integrator – as not all are created equal. Here are some tips that might make the selection process easier. Completing comprehensive classwork An integrator's experience working in an enterprise environment is an obvious consideration. Ideally...
Organizations have shifted business focus countless times since the onset of the pandemic. While many leaders have been primarily concerned with the immediate health and safety of their customers and employees, 2022 has given rise to a new trend: More than ever, business leaders are seeking security solutions that increase operational efficiency and cost savings as well as improve logistics and business insight. As working environments become more complex, organizations looking to drive higher...
Integrators need to be well versed in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), when discussing video surveillance options with their customers. Business leaders are looking for the best, most economical technology that will address their security needs, and they also want to avoid being blind-sided by unplanned technology operations and service costs. While most folks understand that the initial cost of a video surveillance system is not the same as the total cost of ownership, many might be surprised to...
Back in 1890, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis published a ground-breaking article in the Harvard Law review called ‘The Right to Privacy’. To this day, it is regarded as one of the most influential essays in the history of American law and is widely regarded as the first publication in the United States of America to advocate a right to privacy, articulating that right primarily as a ‘right to be let alone’. In this essay, the authors questioned whether the arrival of p...
Many people, quite correctly, point to Salesforce.com—which launched in February of 2000—as the first example of cloud computing. In the years following, the term ‘cloud’ became so popular and was applied to so many products and service offerings, that it became almost meaningless. The result was cloud confusion in the business world and in the media. In one stark example from 2008, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison described news stories about cloud as, ‘complete gibberis...
We must leverage existing technologies like social media monitoring, gunshot and weapons detection, and real-time watchlist alerting. We owe it to our children. The recent news of the Dallas elementary school shooting absolutely gutted me. It’s a tragic and incomprehensible loss of life. A question I hear being asked again and again – could technology have made a difference? From my experience, modern technologies can help schools mitigate some of the damage and provide an early w...
Currently and unfortunately, there is no such thing as Cloud Police. If there were, two-thirds or more of the companies using ‘cloud’ in their advertising and documentation would be in Cloud Jail for seriously misusing the word in their marketing. The term ‘Cloud’ is over-used and misused—sometimes intentionally and knowingly, but also often in ignorance. It’s just a word—but in the context of cloud computing technology, it does have a specific meaning...
Trevor Dearing, the EMEA Director of Critical Infrastructure Solutions at Illumio, said “It is encouraging to see NIST releasing updated guidance acknowledging the increase in cyber-attacks targeting the supply chain and the consequent necessity to bolster the supply chain’s cyber security. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the exponential increase in attacks on the IT systems of manufacturers, logistics companies and organizations, which ultimately target the operational part of...
Today, RFID readers can be found in numerous devices requiring user authentication, authorization and access control, from doors to multi-function printers to point of sale terminals to computers and more. RFID is a simple, secure and convenient access control solution for end users and original equipment manufacturers. RFID readers/writers come with a broad range of form factors, capabilities and configurations. Choosing the right RFID reader When choosing a reader to embed into a system or d...
