Year: 2017

Company will double R&D spending to target growth opportunities in consumer markets and outpace new entrants in thermal detection ULIS, a manufacturer of innovative thermal sensors, announces that the company will again significantly increase its R&D spending for 2017 to reach €15M ($16.8M). This investment marks the company’s strong growth and market leadership progression over the last 15 years. ULIS generated €61.5M ($69.3M) in sales in 2016, a rise of nearly 30% compared to 2015. Buoyed by the spurt in additional growth and market changes, ULIS’ new level of R&D investment will represent 20% of its annual sales. Previously, the company pledged 10% of its annual revenue to R&D. It aims to further simplify access to thermal imaging within growing smart building, automotive and consumer electronics markets by making the key component – the thermal sensor – more compact, more affordable, easier to integrate and available in mass volumes. As applications of thermal imaging become increasingly diversified, attracting new players worldwide, ULIS deems this investment necessary to sustain the pace of market developments and further advance its market lead. ULIS exports 97% of its products. ULIS will accelerate the design of models and features better adapted to system maker and end-user needs in new markets (leisure equipment, smart buildings, driving assistance for cars with or without drivers etc). It will pursue development of disruptive technologies that reach new heights in performance of thermal image sensors for clients in traditional markets, for example defense and security. The company will also commence 24/7 non-stop production to meet new demands for mass volume. “ULIS is happy to mark its 15th anniversary with an even stronger commitment to democratizing thermal image sensors, making them available and affordable for all,” said Jean-François Delepau, Managing Director of ULIS, “It has taken an enormous investment in capital, human resources, skills and technological expertise and much dedication from ULIS staff to gain the market confidence in our products and innovations that we enjoy today. We are very grateful to our customers and the ULIS team. Today, the diversity of market applications for thermal imaging is creating a new dynamics; changing the rules of the game. The barrier to entry has been raised. Success requires a greater intensification of resources and state-of-the-art know-how across all domains, plus the experience to transform these assets into value-added products. We look forward to fulfilling our promise to provide thermal sensors that are the best suited to meeting market demands for the right performance and quality at the right cost.” Since its founding in 2002 as a spin-off from CEA-Leti, ULIS has become the second largest producer of thermal image sensors (micro-bolometers) for defense, surveillance, thermography, firefighting, outdoor leisure and automotive markets. It offers a targeted range of high-quality, compact, low-cost micro-bolometers that are the key component of many top brand cameras and thermal imaging equipment sold across Europe, Asia and North America.

Assisting Law Enforcement Agencies in Securing Remote Access to Criminal Justice Information Services Gemalto has collaborated with Caliber Public Safety (Caliber), a leading provider of public safety software in the United States, to provide law enforcement and other government agencies an efficient way to comply with criminal justice information services (CJIS) policies, ultimately heightening security. By combining Caliber’s public safety expertise in records management and Gemalto’s SafeNet authentication service, the two companies have created a strong portfolio of cloud-based identity and data protection solutions. Gemalto and Caliber’s solutions allow law enforcement to rapidly deploy strong authentication technology to meet CJIS requirements and pass state audits. When it comes to law enforcement, timely information is critical to stop crime. Criminal justice information (CJI) is shared at all levels – including state, federal, and local municipal agencies – meaning that any leakage of sensitive data, ranging from fingerprints to criminal backgrounds, can jeopardize efforts. The CJIS security policy defines requirements for sharing and protecting information such as two-factor authentication, when accessing CJI data. Gemalto and Caliber provide law enforcement agencies with comprehensive, easy-to-deploy CJIS advanced authentication solutions for both mobile soft tokens and physical ones. The authentication as a service approach means public safety organizations have little to no installation overhead and can deploy it almost immediately. The self-service platform allows law enforcement officers to take care of ongoing token management, saving time for IT administrators, while extensive pre-configured reports provide immediate visibility and tracking of all authentication events. “By leveraging our public safety cloud infrastructure, we are able to offer powerful security and risk mitigation, while ensuring the highest levels of compliance possible,” Gregg Merlihan, Senior Executive Vice President at Caliber Public Safety stated, “The technology is simple to use and its design accommodates growth and scale, along with a budget and approach to make quick and effective deployments a reality.” “We have a long history at Gemalto of working in the government space, which helps us understand the unique security needs of these agencies,” said Francois Lasnier, Senior Vice President of Authentication Products at Gemalto, “Since the deadline for meeting the CJIS regulation has passed, law enforcement agencies have now started to undergo formal audits to ensure they are compliant. Gemalto’s authentication solutions provide them with a rapid path to making sure they pass these audits.”

Will fuel new model for security application development and consumption; Entrepreneurs and developers to benefit from accelerated go-to-market opportunities Palo Alto Networks® the next-generation security company, has recently announced that it is forming a $20 million security venture fund. The fund will provide early stage capital investments to fuel development of innovative security applications for the Palo Alto Networks next-generation security platform. The fund will be aimed at seed-, early- and growth-stage security companies with a cloud-based application approach. These companies can accelerate their routes to market for their respective technology by developing cloud-based applications built upon the Palo Alto Networks platform and the new Palo Alto Networks Application Framework, easily engaging the tens of thousands of Palo Alto Networks customer deployments. The fund expects to collaborate with Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital to identify and evaluate innovative security applications for potential co-investment. By providing capital, the fund will enable entrepreneurs and security vendors to focus on developing high-value functionality for customers, instead of developing the infrastructure and data stores necessary to effectively deliver their applications and establish a foothold in the market. The investments in entrepreneurial security companies are designed to accelerate the development of new security applications for the Palo Alto Networks platform. Such applications will help customer organizations more easily access, evaluate, and adopt new advanced security capabilities and activate cloud-delivered security applications from different providers as their security needs change. “This new fund will build upon our reputation for developing innovative, next-generation security technologies and demonstrate the excellent momentum that we have achieved with our ecosystem of security partners. It represents an essential part of our mission to help organizations prevent cyber breaches by inspiring and accelerating a groundswell of security innovation in a model that can be easily accessed and deployed by customer organizations.” – Chad Kinzelberg, Senior VP, Business and Corporate Development, Palo Alto Networks  

Farpointe Data, the access control industry’s trusted global partner for RFID solutions, has just posted the first radio frequency identification (RFID) Cybersecurity vulnerability checklist for access control manufacturers, distributors, integrators and end users to use to protect their access control systems from becoming hacker gateways to their facilities and IT systems. Knowing what to do is especially important now that government agencies such as the United States Federal Trade Commission, have begun filing lawsuits against businesses that do not provide good cyber security practices. “Seemingly daily, end users are being reminded of how their access control systems are no longer secure,” emphasizes Farpointe Data President Scott Lindley, “They learn how a hotel had to pay a ransom to release guests that got locked into their rooms via a hack of the electronic key system or how easy it is to spoof popular access cards.” Since the start of 2017, end users have been informed of a series of hacks on various credentials states Lindley. The Chaos Computer Club stated that they hacked a padlock product and its accompanying mobile app which communicates via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to the padlock. This could potentially also affect hotels with mobile room keys as their door locks also communicate with smart phones via BLE technology and exchange confidential information. IPVM reported how a $30 copier easily spoofed a popular proximity card. The column stated that the copier used to copy the cards works much the same way as normal card readers, with transceiver coil, power supply, IC chip, buzzer and even LEDs components shared by both. Given the principal operation of contactless card readers, the copier excites the coil and delivers power wirelessly to the card, which then momentarily stores energy and then uses it to broadcast card details back to the copier. In an on-site demonstration at the ShmooCon hacker conference, an ESPKey, a small device that costs about $100 to make and has half a dozen wire clamps, a Wi-Fi transmitter and 4MB of memory, showed that it takes two or three minutes to break into an RFID card reader wall plate, attach the ESPKey and reinstall the wall plate to capture the ID codes of everyone in the workplace. To help prevent such attacks, the new Farpointe Cybersecurity Vulnerability Checklist covers a range of topics that can lead to hacks of contactless cards and readers. Sections include default codes, Wiegand issues, reader implementation tips, card protection solutions, leveraging long range readers, assuring anti-hacking compatibility throughout the system and leveraging additional security components. “We are encouraging every access control manufacturer, dealer, distributor, integrator or end user to go to our website to either download or print out this Cybersecurity Vulnerability Checklist and use it,” adds Lindsey, “The link is available right on our home page. With increasing news stories of hacking throughout the world and the fact that government agencies are now reviewing such cybersecurity lapses should make channel partners providing access control products and systems take notice and implement anti-hacking solutions, such as Farpointe provides, to their customers.”

New gold member partners with CII to improve internet security and fortify open source infrastructure The Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII), a project managed by The Linux Foundation that collaboratively works to improve the security and resilience of critical open source projects, has recently announced that Thales is joining as a new gold member. A leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data security, Thales offers advanced data security solutions and services, delivering trust wherever information is created, shared or stored. It is recognized for its deep information and cryptographic security expertise that enables organizations to confidently accelerate their digital transformation. Thales technology is found right across the enterprise, in financial services, retail, healthcare and government and secures more than 80% of debit card transactions around the world. The CII’s mission is to ensure that the open source code that underpins business today is secure and resilient. Many of the world’s largest technology companies already belong to CII, and Thales is the first global security business to join the initiative. “CII is incredibly excited to see our membership base expand and add a security-focused company like Thales, which has a vast understanding of the complex information technology demands we face in today’s digital world,” said Nicko van Someren, CII Executive Director, “Its investment validates the importance of CII and is a great vindication of our work to security harden open source infrastructure to combat today’s complicated threat landscape.” “Thales has implemented open source building blocks and standards both internally and for customers for two decades,” said Jon Geater, Chief Technology Officer at Thales e-Security, “Open Source in general and Linux in particular have become core to delivery of modern products and system, offering distinct utility, cost and performance advantages that we increasingly leverage to solve real-world problems. By joining CII we can bring our expertise and focus on security to bear on strengthening core open source infrastructure and working to eliminate the security weaknesses that can emerge from less well maintained or directed inclusion of Open Source technology into products and infrastructure in the Cloud and IoT era. This shared vision of Thales and the Linux Foundation is critical to Thales’s strategic development objectives, our ability to serve our customers, and to improving the state of the Connected World more generally.” CII recently celebrated its three-year anniversary and announced a new governance structure to enable it to scale up its operations going forward.

To deliver exceptional wireless collaboration experience with ClickShare Barco announced that it has joined the Logitech Collaboration Program (LCP) as an integration partner in the program’s complementary technology provider track. The Logitech Collaboration Program (LCP) provides a unique framework for delivering high-quality video collaboration experiences across customer environments. Through the LCP, Barco augments the Logitech solutions to provide an easy-to-use wireless presentation system that allows up to four meeting participants to simultaneously share their content on the main display using their own laptop, cellphone or tablet, with a single click of a ClickShare button. “We are excited about the opportunity to integrate ClickShare with Logitech’s collaboration solutions to deliver an effective content-sharing user experience,” comments Wim De Bruyne, Vice President Meeting Experience for Barco, “ClickShare is the leading wireless collaboration solution offering excellent image presentation, proven ease of use, and high reliability. All of our models are compatible, offering the perfect complement to enhance the quality and simplicity of Logitech’s video collaboration solutions.” ClickShare is Barco’s wireless presentation and collaboration system that enables any meeting participant to quickly and easily share content on the central meeting room screen. Barco provides a variety of ClickShare models to facilitate collaboration across the entire enterprise, from huddle spaces to executive boardrooms. While each offers unique capabilities and deployment scenarios, all offer extreme ease of use and the same high level of security, with the top-of-the-line model providing enhanced security features. “We are pleased that Barco has joined our program” said Scott Wharton, Vice President and General Manager of Logitech Video Collaboration, “By closely collaborating with Barco, we are able to offer an enhanced collaboration experience to our joint customers.”

Increased AML regulatory oversight and enforcement actions anticipated by about 45% of respondents NICE Actimize, a NICE business provider of a single financial crime, risk and compliance software platform for the financial services industry has recently released a global survey outlining the top operational market drivers and spending priorities that are shaping the strategies behind current CDD/ KYC anti-money laundering programs. Titled ‘Accelerating Value of CDD/ KYC Programs with Automation Technologies in a Complex Global Market,’ the survey showed that an overwhelming 63 percent of respondents from financial services organizations said their number one budget priority was to increase spending on automation through the adoption of new technologies over the next 12-18 months. Additionally, 49 percent indicated that their budgets would increase over the previous year while only 8 percent indicated that they were anticipating budget cuts or decreases. Other spending patterns covered in the survey noted the importance of training programs for existing staff (38 percent) and increased staffing requirements (36 percent). “We feel that this survey exposes the dissonance between long-term strategy and short-term reality. While looking to incorporate more automation and technology, respondents are grappling with the expense of additional overhead to address regulatory requirements,” said Joe Friscia, President, NICE Actimize, “We are currently focused on developing intelligent automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence-based solutions that function as enablers to enhance the quality and consistency of CDD/ KYC programs while reducing the cost of compliance.” The NICE Actimize survey also focused on the top market trends influencing CDD/ KYC program strategies. According to the findings, some of these trends include the importance of company reputation in the marketplace (indicated by 59 percent as ‘very influential’); new beneficial ownership regulations (indicated by 51 percent as ‘very influential’); and regulatory focus on model risk management and model validation (indicated by 45 percent as ‘very influential’). In response to anticipated changes within the regulatory landscape following the recent US elections, about 45 percent stated that they expected to see an increase in anti-money laundering regulatory oversight and enforcement actions. The NICE Actimize market surveywas conducted online in March 2017 via a range of digital channels. About 36 percent of the survey respondents came from financial institutions across North America, with respondents from EMEA and APAC comprising about 45 percent of the total. The majority of the respondents, about 69 percent, indicated that they were responsible for banking segment business units. The remaining mix of respondents consisted of money service bureaus (7 percent), securities firms (5 percent), and insurance (3 percent) segments. Respondents from payment processor/ networks, government, gaming and other segments each contributed 2 percent or less of the total. About 18 percent of the institutions surveyed had assets greater than $100 billion, 2 percent between $60 and $99.9 billion, 5 percent of $40 to $59.9 billion, 13 percent between $10 billion to $39.9 billion, and 45 percent had less than $10 billion.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded $38.5 million to 33 research and development (R&D) projects aimed at advancing broadband communications technologies for first responders. “Through programs like FirstNet, President Trump and this administration are working hard to keep Americans safe,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, “These grant awards will help fulfill our mission, ensuring that first responders have access to advanced tools that can save lives.” The multiyear grants are intended to help modernize public safety communications and operations by supporting the migration of data, video and voice communications from mobile radio to a nationwide public safety broadband network, as well as accelerating critical technologies related to indoor location tracking and public safety analytics. The grants are part of the Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program funded by NIST’s $300 million allocation from the 2015 auction of advanced wireless service licenses. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 provided the funding so that NIST could conduct an R&D program to help public safety overcome critical technical barriers, spur innovation as well as investment in public safety broadband, and realize the full potential of wireless broadband capabilities. NIST reviewed 162 proposals from a diverse pool of national and international applicants across industry, academia and public safety organizations. The 33 selected projects span five key technology areas that have the potential to greatly enhance public safety communications and operations: Mission critical voice: Moving from traditional radios to cellular systems. Location-based services: conducting indoor positioning, navigation and mapping. Public safety analytics: handling and exploiting more data. Research and prototyping platforms: enabling low-cost R&D tools. Resilient systems: ensuring systems work in poor conditions.

Promise Technology, a leading developer of open storage platforms for video surveillance, announced that its Vess A-Series network video recorders (NVRs) are certified for use with Bosch video management system software (BVMS). Certifying Vess A-Series NVRs with the BVMS strengthens the companies’ partnership and offers customers an optimized solution that has been tested to deliver the highest levels of performance and reliability. Extensive documentation of the testing results is available and ensures that customers can fully leverage the performance offered by the integrated Vess A-Series and the BVMS solution while also reducing deployment and management costs by having the VMS and surveillance storage on a single device. The BVMS is a unique enterprise IP video security solution that offers seamless management of digital video, audio and data across any IP network. It provides the best VMS to go with Bosch video devices and integrates seamlessly with Promise’s servers and storage solutions for video surveillance. Vess A-Series NVRs are purpose-built for video surveillance and include a suite of features unique to Promise called SmartBoost Technologies, which optimize system performance. The Bosch and Promise solution is resilient, affordable and scalable for systems of any size. “The last few years have seen the ecosystem surrounding BVMS become very robust,” noted Mario Verhaeg, Product Manager for Bosch Security Systems, “BVMS integrates with third-party cameras, storage devices and software applications to provide end-to-end solutions. We look forward to the collaboration between Promise and Bosch, as it will ensure that customers can benefit from the many advantages provided by our combined solution.” “We place great importance on working closely together with our ecosystem partners to certify our solutions, ensuring that they are compatible and optimized for our shared customers,” said John van den Elzen, General Manager, Surveillance Business Unit, Promise Technology, “Bosch is one of the most innovative companies in the surveillance industry, so it is really exciting to certify our solutions for interoperability. Now, the unique capabilities of our NVRs and storage solutions can be fully leveraged with BVMS.”

A CYBER security centre opened in Adelaide, South Australia, as part of a global network to thwart cyber crime The Global Security Intelligence Centre was established by NEC and is the newest hub of its worldwide network, which includes Japan, Brazil, Singapore, the United States and Austria. NEC Director of Solutions and Sales Andy Hurt said that Adelaide centre would allow the company to offer around the clock services to its clients. “This is a hub of an international services model where we have offices in five other countries servicing 24/7,” Hurt said, “The AU$4.38 million cyber security centre had been built to operate within the high security certifications and standards required by government and enterprises for the management and support of their data and applications. Zones are built for various levels of security and the zones and operations undergo rigorous assessment to achieve certifications.” The centre employs 50 security staff recruited from around the world. NEC is also working with South Australia’s three universities to train new staff in the specialised skills. South Australia’s Minister for Investment and Trade Martin Hamilton Smith said that the new security centre was a good fit in a state heavily invested in defence infrastructure such as the AU$50 billion project to build Australia’s future submarines. “Cyber security is important to our defence industry, and it’s also important to business,” Hamilton Smith said. A 2016 Lloyd’s-Cambridge study found that cybercrime was the seventh biggest global economic threat and would cost Australia an estimated AU$16 billion over the next decade, and US$294 billion globally. Australia features prominently as a target for cyber-attacks due to its rapid adoption of technology and relative global wealth. NEC Australia also manages the central and local data networks of all South Australian government agencies. The company was recently awarded a contract by the South Australian Police to develop facial recognition software and is working with the University of Adelaide to develop smart city technology. Investment and Trade Minister Hamilton Smith said that the centre was an example of how a state, which has been reliant on more traditional industries such as automotive manufacturing, could transform itself into a service centre. “South Australia’s total services exports were $2.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 11 percent on the previous year and better than the national average of nine per cent,” Hamilton Smith said.