Year: 2021

Traditional video cameras provide black and white images, which can be grainy and unclear in low-light environments. To help boost security 24×7, Hikvision has created its ColorVu technology, which gives organizations high-resolution, full-color images, even in near-total darkness. Security breaches are not governed by the seasons, by the weather, and certainly not by the time of day. They can occur at any time, and often under the cover of darkness when traditional, blackand-white security cameras with infrared lighting are unable to capture events clearly enough to collect clear evidence or respond effectively. Hikvision has expanded its full-color camera range with ColorVu technology. This offers a much better visual experience than traditional cameras, providing accurately rendered color images with balanced brightness at all times of the day or night. Now the camera range with ColorVu technology includes 4k cameras for UHD experience, and varifocal cameras for unparalleled clarity. These innovations allow organizations and local authorities to monitor outdoor or indoor spaces, identify breaches as soon as they occur, and react in real time to protect staff, employees and members of the public. Boosting security with leading-edge technology Cameras with ColorVu technology are able to capture high-definition, full-color images in low light conditions because of two key technology breakthroughs – advanced F1.0 large apertures, and high-performance imaging sensors. The cameras also use a new 3D dynamic noise reduction (DNR) algorithm to increase clarity at long range, and a soft and warm supplemental light guarantees colorful images even in zero-light environments. The expanded camera range with ColorVu satisfies different needs of customers, from high performance products to budget friendly choices, as well as smart solutions. For example, the range now includes a 4K camera that offers ultra-high-definition color imaging during the day and at night. With better image quality and richer details, 4K cameras with ColorVu can be applied in wider scenarios such as stadiums, airports, harbors, and parking lots, where clear and high-resolution images are necessary. The cameras with ColorVu can also integrate Hikvision AcuSense technology to distinguish between people, vehicles, and other moving targets such as rain, leaves and animals. Alarms are only triggered when preset intrusion types are detected, allowing security teams to take action. 4 key applications for the cameras with ColorVu The ability to capture clear, full-color images 24×7 is useful for a wide range of indoor and outdoor scenarios. Examples include: 1. Security for outdoor spaces – especially streets and parks Lighting on streets and in parks is rarely uniform, and dark areas can increase the risk of crime and make people feel unsafe. Cameras with ColorVu technology enable local authorities to record high-resolution, full color video footage even in low-light conditions, which helps increase security and enables much faster responses to incidents. 2. Improved perimeter protection for retail and logistics parks Perimeter protection is always a challenge for large retail and logistics parks. With ColorVu technology, security teams can monitor the perimeter 24×7 and react quickly to any breaches before assets or people are put at risk. Cameras with ColorVu can also be combined with other smart video technologies from Hikvision – including AcuSense vehicle and license-plate recognition – to trigger automated alerts for suspected security breaches. 3. Asset protection for small businesses Small businesses around the world need to protect their assets, including vehicles left in driveways or on the street. Because cameras with ColorVu technology are able to capture high-resolution, full-color images 24×7, security breaches can be recorded, and evidence passed on to the authorities – increasing the chance that assets can be recovered and that perpetrators will be brought to justice. 4. Increased security at building entrances High-resolution, full color images can greatly enhance security at building entrances, which are sometimes unlit, or dimly lit. Even though cameras with ColorVu can record footage in extremely low light conditions, teams often choose to turn on the cameras’ supplementary light as an additional deterrent to a break in or other security incident.  

When choosing a video management software, a person wants something easy to install, operate, and maintain as well as scaling up. The recently improved AXIS Companion is a user-friendly and cost-effective VMS that works for many installations. Read on to find out how. To make the most of your network video surveillance system, you need the right video management software (VMS) to get the features and functionalities you need. Also, you want something reliable and which provides ease of use, from design to maintenance. Axis’ network VMSs, AXIS Camera Station and AXIS Companion, are the heart of Axis’ all-in-one and validated end-to-end security systems. AXIS Companion is constantly improving when it comes to features and functionality. “With the most recent release of AXIS Companion, we have added new functionalities that make it much more competitive,” said Mitch Mershon, Business Development Manager End-to-End Solutions, “It’s a very cost-effective solution, as the software comes included with the hardware. It works with any Axis-branded camera, and we can do onsite recording, either to an SD card or to a recorder.” Today, AXIS Companion is a well-rounded and secure VMS that is easy to set up and operate. And it is scalable and flexible. Depending on your needs, you can integrate network video, audio, and door stations. Moreover, if your needs change considerably, you can migrate easily to AXIS Camera Station to access its extra features and functionalities. Crucial to focus on the user needs Traditionally, project size and the camera count have dictated what surveillance VMS you would choose. But this perspective can set you off in the wrong direction. “Axis is trying to shift the conversation away from any camera count or licensing structure to refocus on ‘what are you looking to do?’” Mitch said, “What are the end-user needs, and based on that, we can discuss which is the best software?” Many end-users have the need just for a system to record, playback, and export video. AXIS Companion provides the much-appreciated Axis quality for end-users where cost can be prohibitive. AXIS Companion is a cost-effective and solid solution that can also serve large multi-site installations in a great way. It is true even if you have thousands of cameras distributed across hundreds of sites. Among the several customers using AXIS Companion, there is a large oil and gas company with around 100 sites. Another example of a large multi-site installation with AXIS Companion is a chain of convenience stores in Latin America that uses AXIS Companion to manage approximately 9,000 stores with more than 35,000 cameras. An easy to use and reliable solution In fact, there is more to AXIS Companion than many realize. Dan Vogl, Business Development Manager End-to-End Solutions, said that – “If a customer is looking for an easy to install, reliable, plugand-play solution, AXIS Companion is a great fit. Anyone with access to internet and Axis cameras can benefit from the wide variety of functionalities with live viewing and forensic research, which this end-to-end solution provides.” Mitch agrees, explaining – “AXIS Companion is very much a hybrid system. You have the cameras and all the recording on-premises in your local network. Then there are all the remote functionalities such as user administration, remote access, health monitoring, which is done by our backend, by the cloud.” Open platform offers new functionalities The ability to integrate AXIS Companion with AXIS Camera Application Platform (ACAP) opens up many possibilities. This open platform makes it possible to download and install value-adding analytics that can significantly improve the performance of your system, for example, within security or business intelligence. One example is AXIS Guard Suite license-free analytics that provides motion, intrusion, and loitering detection. Another is AXIS object analytics for AI-based object detection and classification of humans and vehicles. These analytics can be used to send push notifications to a mobile phone. By pressing these notifications, the recording of a specific incident will instantly open. This functionality is available in the apps but also on the PC client. Dan added, “We have just recently implemented support for I/O based notifications, which provides the possibility to integrate third-party sensors like Alarm Panels or relays to receive push notifications.” New recorder improves cybersecurity The launch of the new, compact network video recorder AXIS S3008 opens many possibilities, bringing more overall performance to the system. For example, Axis has improved cybersecurity such as encrypted hard drives – a welcome feature. “Preventing cyberattacks is crucial,” Dan said, “We’ve made extensive investments to make AXIS Companion highly secure, especially as it’s an IoT solution relying on the internet.” All in all, AXIS Companion offers excellent bang for the buck. When choosing an Axis endto-end solution and AXIS Companion as your VMS, you get installation and operation simplicity, for example, through low maintenance work and automated updates. And with the entire system from one supplier, you also get a tailor-made solution with matched products and a technical support team trained on every product.  

Alexey Parfentiev Senior Business Analyst, SearchInform What are other key security threats except for the risk concerning remote work amid the pandemic and the upsurge of phishing related to Covid-19, charities, sellers of protective equipment, hand sanitisers? Let’s dig into the risks which had been gaining significance even before the lockdown and only took deeper roots during it. Ransomware Ransom attacks are on the rise and present a tremendous threat to multiple businesses denying companies access to their own data and demanding huge payment to get it back. Two large-scale ransom incidents cause FBI director Christopher Wray emphasise the need to discourage the attackers by not transferring them any money in a doubtful exchange for the data. Colonial Pipeline oil and gas transport network as well as JBS USA, one of the biggest meat producers, paid ransom up to $4.4 million and $11 million in June. User awareness User awareness still requires boosting. 97% of users can’t identify a phishing email. Companies begin to focus on security policies more actively than ever to successfully conform to corporate and general rules and regulations. Healthcare sector attacks I t’s no surprise, the pandemic affected healthcare security in a major way. Cybersecurity of this sector will receive $125 billion by 2025, which is 4 times more than it was planned to invest till 2027 back in 2019. Multi-factor authentication As far as many violators have learned how to bypass these authentication methods, it is recommended now to use app-based authenticators and security keys, hardware multi-factor authentication. Machine learning Ever-growing cybersecurity significance needs data to be analysed with implementation of machine learning. Threat patterns and violators’ behavior can be constantly learned by the program to respond to incidents proactively. The number of SOC will increase SOC (security operations centres) is expected to grow to $1.6 billion by 2025 from $471 million in 2020, according to Markets and markets. A security operation center is created within a company to unceasingly monitor and assess the level of corporate security. The center detects, analyses and manages incidents continuously as they occur. The key point of SOC is to track an organisation’s activity inside and outside the perimeter in real time. SOC teams are responsible for employee and customer data control, ensure that hardware and software usage is super vised. A SOC accumulates and processes all the data sent via various communication channels within a corporate network. Passwordless authentication People tend to forget their passwords no matter how much they would want their details to be safe, and begin to use passwords which are easy enough to remember and too simple to break. Non-password authentication principles are provided by FIDO Alliance, where access is enabled via logging with biometric data, tokens etc. Zero Trust Due to having to ensure access to a big number of remote users, zero trust approach is gaining momentum. Least privilege access is required to be given to both gear and users. The security levels are to be represented by any of these 3 concepts – enhanced identity governance, micro-segmentation, network infrastructure and software defined perimeters (SDP). Cloud security In order to cut the costs and due to remote work necessity cloud deployment software models are becoming increasingly popular, as well as cloud security measures which have to be taken and cloud storages. Surge of cloud usage influences hacker to refocus onto cloud sometimes poor security or lack of password protection, but also it promotes further developing of predictive security, thanks to which it will be possible to identify potential threats. GDPR compliance GDPR compliance keeps being a popular objective. The personal data protection issue appeared to be a complicated one, the bigger the company is the more the data it processes and stores. Higher education threats Switching to remote studying impacted the safety of students’ data. In the US education isn’t a priority sector for cybersecurity improvement. Besides, 11% of attacks on US educational institutions are motivated by espionage. Supply chain The attack might stem from international espionage, state enemies, or get originated by hacktivists. The purpose is to destroy the systems, exploit the vulnerabilities, undermine the work of suppliers and contractors by making use of inadequate security practices, inserting a time bomb, compromise the assets. IoT The majority IoT gadgets present high risks of information security issues. Irrespective of whether it is consumer-facing or enterprise-focused, the reality is that IoT devices need better security. Manufacturers must take responsibility to protect these devices and warn users of possible cybersecurity threats. Sadly, making the sale seems to be the only priority. But the situation might improve if vendors are motivated to take IoT security more seriously. For example, regulators could fine manufacturers if found guilty of neglecting their corporate responsibilities when it comes to securing devices. One of the biggest problems is the login and password details of connected devices. These are typically preconfigured by manufacturers. Using sophisticated tools, hackers can ‘snoop’ the Internet for these standard details and can easily gain access to them, severely compromising the user. Another challenge is how easy it has become for manufacturers to send through updates to connected devices. Because this communication is unencrypted, patches can be installed remotely for bug fixes. While ostensibly a good thing, they do leave back doors open for malicious users to exploit. Financial services cyberattacks Phishing is both a remaining and growing problem depending on which sources it exploits – it’s still as prevalent via email and is increasing in number via social networks and other messaging platforms. Malware and data breaches are among the popular security problems for financial institution as well. Boston Consulting Group found that financial services companies are 300 times more likely to face cybersecurity attacks than enterprises in other industries. Moreover, cyberattacks on financial institutions spiked by a massive 238% from the beginning of February to the end of April In 2020 cyberattacks on financial institutions were rocketed by 238% amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Infosecurity Magazine. Eventually, attacks cost the banking sector $18.3…