This Week in Security: How Video Analytics Is Elevating Public Safety, Help Your Customer Protect Themselves & more!

Each week, the marketing team at ESA gathers the latest news from the security industry for our weekly integrator round up!

This week we look at Cybersecurity Readiness: Preparing for the Inevitable, How Security Integrators Can Stay Afloat Amid a Flood of New Tech and more…

Don’t Miss Out on the Latest News and Technology

Between Us Pros: How Security Integrators Can Stay Afloat Amid a Flood of New Tech

Most who know me or have worked with me would undoubtedly characterize my temperament as being somewhat reserved, with a calm, cool demeanor.

Some, like certain spouses, might at times say too much so!

But, fortunately for me, this personality type is prevalent in security, and it’s one of the reasons I have felt so at home for so many years in this wonderful industry.

However, those who witnessed my reaction when Elite Interactive Solutions was named winner of The Monitoring Association (TMA)’s 2024 Monitoring Technology Marvel Award definitely saw me lose my composure a bit when I accepted on behalf of my current company.

It was truly an honor just to be a finalist in a field that included prominent players Rapid Response Monitoring and Stealth Monitoring. Anyone wondering where the industry is heading need only look to these companies, which share the common thread of emphasizing video-centric solutions — two of them specializing in remote video guarding.

That trend sweeping through the industry was evident at the recent Electronic Security Expo (ESX), which was held for the second year in a row in Louisville, Ky.

While this century’s advances, including digital video and networked video, propelled video surveillance to high prominence and profitability for our industry, the past few years’ refinement of video analytics and a surge in AI implementation has sped up the security industry’s traditionally slow and deliberate pace of change.

Read the Full Article - Between Us Pros: How Security Integrators Can Stay Afloat Amid a Flood of New Tech - Security Sales & Integration

How Video Analytics Is Elevating Public Safety

The integration of advanced video analytics tools is changing the way law enforcement and emergency response agencies operate. Technologies such as facial recognition, object detection and behavior analysis are no longer just futuristic concepts; they are now critical components in enhancing situational awareness and proactive threat detection.

Leading third-party central stations and forward-thinking installing security contractors that operate their own monitoring centers are at the forefront of this technological transformation. By leveraging video analytics, these monitoring providers can filter out false alarms, detect suspicious activities in real time and provide actionable intelligence to first responders. This not only improves response times but also allows for more efficient resource allocation and heightened overall security.

Moreover, the collaboration between central stations and law enforcement agencies showcases a new era of public safety where technology and human expertise converge. The imperative for the industry in making these advances come to fruition was expressed by John Mack, executive vice president, co-head of investment banking and head of M&A at Imperial Capital, during the recent PSA TEC where he was a featured panelist for the “State of the Industry” session.

Read the Full Article - How Video Analytics Is Elevating Public Safety | SDM Magazine

Help Your Customer Protect Themselves

In the world of IT, insider threats are on a steep upward trajectory. The cost of these threats - including negligent and malicious employees that may steal authorized users’ credentials, rose from $8.3 million in 2018 to $16.2 million in 2023. Insider threats towards physical infrastructures often bleed into the realm of cybersecurity; for instance, consider an unauthorized user breaching a physical data center and plugging in a laptop to download and steal sensitive digital information.

In recent years, many security system dealers and integrators have put the majority of their enterprise customers’ IT security focus on cyber elements like routers and firewalls. This is of course beneficial, but integrators are realizing that they can no longer pursue this limited approach without placing equal emphasis on physical areas.

As a security system dealer or integrator, how can you best advise your customers on what level of physical protection and hardening is necessary - for sensitive areas like server rooms, data centers, or any facility with stringent security clearances for that matter? What options are available and what makes the most sense?

Read the Full Article - Help Your Customer Protect Themselves -- Security Today

Cybersecurity Readiness: Preparing for the Inevitable

Cybersecurity concerns continue to pose a very real and serious threat for enterprises across every industry sector. And with so many of today’s physical security solutions being IP-based and residing on a company’s IT network, they have become more susceptible to cyber-attacks. Technology, while it has ushered in so many new and valuable capabilities, has also opened a backdoor for the silent threat, the one we cannot see or hear. Our interconnected world has become so advanced that it has become hard for us to keep up with the dangers within it.    

The repercussions of a cyber-attack are far reaching, and can result in data breaches, economic loss, reputational damage, and operational disruptions. And although it is impossible to eliminate the risk of cyber-attacks, organizations can significantly enhance their cybersecurity posture by adopting an initiative-taking approach to preparedness and response. And that is precisely why we introduced Cybersecurity Readiness: Preparing for the Inevitable session at ESX 2024.       

The Dreaded Ransom Note  

In this session, Dee Ann Harn, General Manager at RFI Enterprises spoke about her experience with cybersecurity faults and how she dealt with her very own ransom notes back in 2022 that came shortly after the passing of RFI President Brad Wilson. After this sad loss, the company was working hard to adjust and keep business going with its two hundred employees and five offices. Dee Ann expected there to be bumps in the road during such a challenging time, but she never expected what was to come next.  

After a long weekend, Dee Ann could not get on her email. She thought that was odd and knew something was wrong. Pretty soon her speculations were proven correct when the Seattle office started sending out emails and messages of a note that had popped up on their computers. Dee Ann’s husband who worked for the company as the IT Director for 34 years went white.  

As she pointed out, “He had built our network; it was always something that we knew could happen. It was kind of you know not if but when. Hackers became more advanced during COVID. They really refined their skills and were able to get deeper into our system very quickly and that it where we got notice that we had been hit.”    

The hackers had accessed their HR, Financial and company backups data, which were encrypted. The amount demanded. Over a million dollars. Dee Ann promptly contacted her cyber insurance team and they immediately got to work, but one thing Dee Ann knew was she was going to have to pay due to the backups they had gotten into.         

Read Full Article - Cybersecurity Readiness: Preparing for the Inevitable (esaweb.org)

And that’s all for this week, but don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram for real-time announcements of all our news content!

Sources: Security Today , Security Sales & Integration and SDM Magazine