Month: January 2020

Airspace security technology leader Dedrone has been awarded certification from the UK’s Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) for its counter-drone technology platform DroneTracker. DroneTracker detects, tracks, and identifies drones by using multi-sensor capability combining RF radar, and optical sensors. The new CPNI drone detection standard is the first official validation of counter-drone technology. It enables organisations deemed to be of critical national importance to adopt drone detection technology with the assurance that it has been tested rigorously. “Any organisation needing drone detection technology should consider platforms evaluated and tested by CPNI,” says Amit Samani, Dedrone’s Regional Sales Manager for the UK, “Dedrone’s DroneTracker platform has successfully met CPNI’s rigorous testing standards, and this certification provides further assurances to our customers and partners that our system meets the security needs of the UK’s most sensitive infrastructures. We will continue working closely with government sector users, risk-critical sites, and major corporate customers to provide the most robust available airspace security and defence against drones and multiple drones.” Dedrone’s multi-sensor system enables security providers to match the best-in-class sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial Systems) detection hardware with DroneTracker, Dedrone’s software. Radio frequency sensors, including the RF-100 and RF-300, provide flightpath, localization and classification of sUAS. A PTZ camera system adds localization information via optical and thermal detection, whilst a 3D radar system adds altitude data and detection of autonomous drones. Hardware data was analysed by DroneTracker 4.1, which provides a near-instantaneous decision regarding whether a drone is a threat, and allows security personnel to respond accordingly. Dedrone creates customised airspace security solutions allowing organisations to identify, track and eliminate sUAS threats. Dedrone’s solution is deployed to customers around the world, including three of the G7 countries, correctional facilities, utilities, airports and corporations, among other public and private organizations.  

AI-powered facial recognition technology will help commercial customers enhance safety and efficiency Avigilon Corporation released the newest version of its video management software, Avigilon Control Center (ACC) 7.4, which incorporates artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology. The new ‘appearance alerts’ capability will help commercial organizations such as educational institutions and hospitals accelerate response times by identifying people of interest in enterprise settings. For example, the technology can alert the security team at a local high school when a banned or flagged individual enters the campus. People of interest are identified based on a secure, controlled watch list created and maintained by authorized users at the commercial organization. For organizations that use the new ACC™ software and license their Avigilon cameras for facial recognition, cameras will seek to identify potential matches based on the watch list. If a potential match is found, the user is alerted within the ACC software, and security personnel can then determine whether further investigation or action is necessary. “Our latest ACC software delivers substantial benefits to our commercial customers by offering facial recognition technology in a secure and controlled manner,” said John Kedzierski, Senior Vice President, Video Security Solutions, Motorola Solutions, “The appearance alerts capability enables our customers to move from a reactive approach – staring at a wall of video feeds where critical information can be easily missed – to a proactive approach that brings important information directly to authorized users so they can make better-informed decisions.” “It’s important to note that we view facial recognition as an aid that can improve the decision-making of the user – it does not make consequential decisions or initiate actions on its own. We refer to this approach as ‘human in the loop,’ and it is foundational to the way we apply AI,” added Kedzierski. ACC’s new facial recognition capabilities reflect Motorola Solutions’ commitment to the responsible use of artificial intelligence as well as individual privacy rights. Data stewardship is integral to these new capabilities, and they build compliance controls into their products to support this. For example, user authentication is required for these capabilities, audit logs of user actions are generated, data retention periods for the watch list can be specified within the application, and records can be expunged or deleted on demand as well as verified through auditing and reporting. Data is locally hosted, owned and controlled by the business or school. The data used to train the AI algorithms is also thoroughly evaluated, ensuring sufficient quantity, quality and diversity to ensure high accuracy and consistent performance.  

Hikvision has introduced AX Hybrid Security Control Panel (DS-PHA series) in India. It contains on board zones, and supports wired/ wireless alarm inputs and outputs expanding. It works with Wi-Fi, LAN, GPRS and 3G/ 4G communication methods, as well as ISAPI, e-home 5.0, and SIA DC09 protocol. It is applicable to the scenarios of market, store, house, factory, warehouse, office etc. It is a best-in class intrusion alarm solution for the SME (Small & Medium Enterprises) business segment. AX Hybrid Security Control Panel (DS-PHA Series) features include dual path communication of alarm events and other signals over LAN, PSTN, Wi-Fi & GPRS, 4/8 onboard wired zones, and expandable with up to 20/ 64 wired zones, camera accessing, pre-alarm (5s) and post-alarm (2s) recording for video verification over mobile app. It uploads alarm events to alarm receiving center, pushes alarm notification via messages and email, AES-128-bit data encryption, supports RS-485 input and output expander and supports lithium battery.  

There are a lot of applications where the pixel clarity of every region of the view has a critical importance. It could be about identifying the person in the stadium or being able to see the license plate of the cars in the large intersection – multi-imager cameras are the best option for those cases. ACTi has released two different multi-imager IP cameras – 8MP bullet camera (Q450) and 20MP dome camera (Q75). They both have the aligned lenses to form a 180-degree panoramic view without blind spots in the middle. The domes can be mounted onto the ceiling without any accessories and the bullets can be mounted on the wall using its integrated bracket. These models come with the built-in IR LED, and are PoE powered. The recommended VMS software to manage these cameras is NVR 3 Corporate and its standalone versions. It only requires 1 channel license per camera regardless of the number of imagers in each camera. The ACTi NVR and CMS architecture allows using up to 6400 multi-imager cameras within one system.

UK CCTV camera manufacturer, 360 Vision Technology Predator ‘all-in-one’ PTZ range is now an accredited Vision HS camera solution, certified to have completed the CAPSS approval process by the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). Ensuring cyber security measures are capable of protecting against the very real threats faced by surveillance system operators, 360 Vision Technology’s team of software developers is constantly working to ensure that these threats can be averted. “There has been a lot of negative press relating to the potential vulnerabilities integrators may accidentally introduce into their customers’ surveillance systems,” said, Adrian Kirk, Strategic Account Director at 360 Vision Technology,” With concerns over the ease at which some edge devices can be used as an access gateway by cyber criminals, we’re taking cyber security seriously and helping integrators to mitigate that risk by specifying Predator UK manufactured cameras and Vision HS video management software. “Action to remove these threats is unlikely to happen fast as the UK market is still flooded by potentially unsafe Far East CCTV cameras, that are being sold at bargain basement prices, which make them commercially attractive to some purchasers. The problem is further compounded by installation companies who may have limited expertise when it comes to providing tight network security. For example, steps should be taken to prevent the edge device’s set-up browser being accessed – enabling a hacker to disable or change critical camera settings, or worse, access the wider corporate network. However, supporting peace of mind for any integrator or end-user, when a 360 Vision Technology Predator camera is deployed at the edge, it cannot be used to enable unauthorised access to a security or corporate network.” Despite the increased emphasis on cyber security, and more and more sophisticated cyber-attacks taking place, many leading camera manufacturers still supply easy to get to, direct access points (typically via an RJ45 port), located within a camera’s power supply – but removing this risk is essential to ensure security and corporate confidentiality is not compromised. “360 Vision cyber security protection ensures surveillance capability is not compromised, by removing the risks associated with insecure camera access,” Adrian concluded, “To provide additional protection for our customers, we are proud to announce that the ‘Predator HS’ product range is now an accredited camera solution to work with Vision HS – certified to achieve CAPSS approval by the CPNI.”

Johnson Controls introduced the latest generation of Tyco American Dynamics victor workstations, now with a space-saving compact option. Users will be able to choose the optimal platform for their environment from compact, standard, performance, and high performance servers. These workstations provide scalability from small, single-site locations to enterprise-level deployments. Pre-bundled with the victor video management system (VMS), the hardware features high-quality processors that ensure both speed and reliability as well as support for memory intensive applications, making them ideal for demanding deployments that thrive on install flexibility and next business day on-site service. The high performance workstation is custom-tailored to facilities with a large amount of event and alert activity while the standard and performance models are better suited for video display. When paired with monitors such as those available through Tyco American Dynamics, the workstations can support single to quad displays with up to 4K resolution. This allows for individual agent or fully-functional command centers to be implemented as needed. The victor compact conserves space and maximizes uptime with the victor client pre-installed on a small, versatile hardware platform that can be deployed in constrained environments. The full-featured VMS can be utilized for live viewing and playback without taking up the amount of space required by traditional PC workstations. It is a natural fit for smaller or complex environments where an additional tower server is too bulky in both the physical and networked environment.

With the new Alvium 1800 U-501 NIR, Allied Vision further broadens its range of Alvium USB cameras powered by ALVIUM® technology. The 5.1 megapixel USB3 Vision camera is equipped with ON Semi’s near-infrared enhanced sensor AR0522, which is designed for both low light and high dynamic range performance. The combination of small size, light weight, low power consumption, and NIR sensitivity makes the Alvium 1800 U-501 NIR the perfect choice for surveillance and security applications, especially with low light conditions. The camera is also ideal for applications where NIR sensitivity is beneficial. This is usually the case when visible light would blind people or interfere with the purpose of the application (e.g., traffic monitoring and eye tracking). NIR cameras can reduce costs and simplify system design as the illumination of the scene would cause additional costs and complexity. By offering a frame rate of 67 frames per second at full resolution the camera can also be used in applications demanding a higher frame rate. The camera will be available in monochrome with different housing variants (closed housing, open housing, bare board) as well as different lens mount options (S-Mount, CS-Mount, and C-Mount). The USB interface can be located either on the camera back side or left side (as seen from the sensor). The Alvium 1800 U series now includes four models from 0.5 to 5.1 megapixels.

With the release of ClickShare software update 1.9.1, Barco steps up security and functionality of its wireless presentation and collaboration system Barco ClickShare products are designed with security, privacy and confidentiality in mind, and with every quarterly software release new features and fixes are added to the product range. Next to being ISO27001 certified, Barco also has a product security incident response team (PSIRT) that continuously monitors privacy and security risks on our portfolio and drives security improvements to ensure ClickShare maintains its earned reputation as one of the most trusted wireless collaboration tools on the market. The newest December update from Barco addresses, amongst others, a set of exposures discovered through ethical hacking. “In October of this year, consultants from F-Secure reached out and shared that they had managed to gain access to our ClickShare solution,” explained Michael Vanderheeren, Director Product Management, “By upgrading to our 1.9.1 software release, customers can further harden their devices and continue enjoying the best experience and security on their ClickShare. We strongly recommend all customers to upgrade to this latest version.” How to play safe, now and in future PSIRT expert David Martens added, “Security flaws always sound very scary, as most of us think of intercepting information, installing malware or retrieving passwords. To date, we have not received any reports of vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild, and when upgraded to the 1.9.1 software, the only way to get access to confidential information will be through physical access to the ClickShare Base Unit. Simply put: unless you go through the hassle of tampering with the electronics inside the Clickshare hardware, you will not get access to any information.”