Month: March 2022

Ford and ADT launch Canopy to provide AI-powered connected security cameras and a corresponding mobile app for a variety of vehicle makes and models. Offerings will integrate the Safe by ADT platform to provide professional monitoring and help businesses protect valuable work equipment in vehicles and individual owners strengthen security inside and outside vehicles. Canopy will build and sell its first product and subscription service early next year to protect cargo areas of high-volume commercial trucks and vans in the U.S. and U.K. Canopy was incubated by Ford’s New Business Platform team and plans to begin integrating its security solution with on-board vehicle cameras in Ford vehicles next year. Canopy expects to expand offering to other manufacturers over time. Ford and ADT Inc. will invest in a new joint venture called Canopy that combines ADT’s professional security monitoring and Ford’s AI-driven video camera technology to help customers strengthen security of new and existing vehicles across automotive brands. “The combination of our technologies and our deep security experience creates a new category of protection for work and personal vehicles,” said Elliot Cohen, ADT Chief Business Development Officer, “Vehicles represent the second-most-valuable asset for consumers, and helping to protect them extends ADT’s safe, smart, and sustainable solutions far beyond the home.” Canopy plans to launch industry-first, multi-sensor security systems with available professional monitoring early next year. The first products to be manufactured and sold will be available in the U.S. and the U.K. for the industry’s highest-volume commercial and retail pickups and vans – including the Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, Transit vans and E-Transit – and will be easily installable by customers to protect expensive work and recreational equipment. “Thieves have been even more active during the pandemic and know business owners store valuable equipment in vehicles, often hauling more than $50,000 of gear. Canopy is here for those who’ve had enough of thefts that threaten their livelihoods,” said Franck Louis-Victor, Vice President, Ford New Business Platform, “Key to Ford’s software-led transformation are new ideas such as Canopy and collaborating with other innovators such as ADT, which brings to vehicle security their leadership protecting families, homes, and businesses.” The FBI estimates that stolen work equipment cost more than $7.4 billion in 2020 in the U.S., and theft of valuable work equipment is believed to be underestimated in stolen vehicle reports. Small business owners face even greater opportunity costs with the deferral or loss of jobs while replacing stolen items. Canopy also plans to begin integrating camera security solutions in Ford vehicles next year for seamless protection inside and outside vehicles. Canopy will seek factory-vehicle integrations with other automakers over time. Starting a vehicle security revolution Canopy’s first smart vehicle security system accessory offering will make use of acoustic sensors for vans, onboard cameras, radar, LTE, and GPS. The initial product will have a camera that can be mounted in either a van’s cargo area or on a pickup facing the bed. The platform will use AI technology to identify and report credible threats while reducing false alarm signals. Customers will be connected to the system via the Canopy app to livestream video from the vehicle, get notified of suspicious activity, or review past events. The system will trigger a smartphone alert of any indicators of potential criminal activity, such as breaking glass, metal cutting, or suspicious motion or sound near the vehicle. Customers can warn potential thieves they are being monitored by speaking through the smartphone app, enabled by a two-way audio feature that will be available by next year. The system’s AI is designed to distinguish true threats from benign acts – such as a cat jumping into a pickup bed or construction sounds near a vehicle – before alerting the owner or ADT monitoring agents of potential theft. The system will alert ADT monitoring professionals if it detects a person loitering around or breaching the vehicle. ADT monitoring agents can then contact customers, fleet managers, or police to take additional measures to help prevent theft. Credible threats will trigger additional responses, including audible alerts and programmable voice recordings and two-way audio in future updates. The first-of-its-kind Canopy products will be sold through vehicle dealerships, major retailers, and online. Ford Pro will be an important launch partner delivering these solutions to commercial and government customers of all sizes, helping drive business forward and accelerate productivity at a global scale. “Commercial customers around the world are laser focused on protecting investments from costly replacements that can impact their bottom lines,” said Ted Cannis, CEO, Ford Pro, “Canopy will help Ford Pro deliver another service to fleets helping to improve total cost of ownership by staying productive and avoiding downtime associated with stolen tools and damaged vehicles – including the majority with mixed fleets since Canopy technology will be available across brands.” More innovation to come The Canopy team has been developing and testing its first technologies for two years as part of Ford’s New Business Platform innovation incubation group. They will now be headquartered in Detroit and London and led by Interim CEO Christian Moran. The Canopy team has been developing and testing its first technologies for two years as part of Ford’s New Business Platform innovation incubation group. They will now be headquartered in Detroit and London and led by Interim CEO Christian Moran. Canopy also will seek relationships with other automotive, insurance, and technology companies to expand offerings, explore insurance benefits for use of the technology, and co-create new innovations. Ford and ADT’s investment in Canopy is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, and initial funding is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. The partners expect to invest approximately $100 million during the next three years.  

NICE and Magnet Forensics recently announced a partnership to digitally transform police case building and investigations to accelerate the pursuit of justice. The integration of NICE Investigate and Magnet REVIEW will enable police agencies to automatically merge digital forensic evidence from Magnet REVIEW with other digital evidence sources in NICE Investigate to streamline case building and investigations. As a one-stop solution for managing digital evidence and investigations, NICE Investigate improves operational efficiency by enabling investigators to collect, analyze and share digital evidence through a single login. NICE Investigate automatically pulls evidence into electronic case folders from records management, CAD (computer aided dispatch), body-worn video, mobile apps and other core systems. When investigators log into NICE Investigate, their evidence is waiting. With the additional integration of Magnet REVIEW, investigators will receive automated alerts when additional forensic evidence becomes available. Chris Wooten, Executive Vice President, NICE, commented, “We’re excited to partner with Magnet Forensics. Our partnership will create seamless workflows and efficiencies for investigators and further simplify the digital evidence review process across more data types. Now, police departments will be able to review all evidence, connected in one place, to accelerate case building, and get to the truth faster.” Adam Belsher, Chief Executive Officer, Magnet Forensics, said, “Police agencies are burdened with an overwhelming volume of digital evidence from a variety of sources, which require their own specialized investigative tools and highly trained specialists. It’s slowing down their investigations and compromising justice. We’re partnering with NICE because we’re both committed to making our digital investigation solutions interoperable so that investigators can consolidate critical digital evidence and leverage analytics tools to complete their cases in a more timely and effective fashion.” Magnet REVIEW is a cloud-based, collaborative and secure digital forensic review platform that enables investigators to access and examine digital forensic evidence and associated metadata acquired through a variety of digital forensic tools (from sources such as smartphones, computers, and IoT devices). Through the integration of Magnet REVIEW and Evidencentral’s NICE Investigate, forensic evidence from Magnet REVIEW will be pulled into NICE Investigate case folders through a seamless, automated, electronic process, where it can be consolidated and cohesively analyzed alongside other types of digital evidence, using analytical tools. As both solutions leverage Microsoft Azure, agencies will also be able to leverage the cloud to facilitate remote work and collaboration, scale to handle heavier caseloads, better safeguard and manage growing digital evidence, reduce infrastructure and overhead costs, and improve security and resiliency. “This collaboration between NICE and Magnet Forensics enables public safety organizations to use the power of the cloud to improve digital evidence review processes,” added Kirk Arthur, Microsoft’s Sr. Director of Worldwide Public Safety & Justice, “This is the future of digital evidence management and processing, especially for law enforcement agencies who can now leverage these technologies together to reduce case backlogs and accelerate investigations, while also benefitting from the security and scalability of the trusted Microsoft Azure cloud.” Under the partnership, Magnet Forensics is also joining NICE’s Evidencentral Marketplace. The Evidencentral Marketplace is the first open digital evidence management ecosystem created specifically for public safety and criminal justice agencies.  

Around 33,000 donations are needed every week in Australia. These are critical to the healthcare system as donations help patients experiencing cancer, surgery, trauma and childbirth complications or might support patients who have serious health conditions such as auto-immune disorders. The Milestone Blood Drive runs between 1 November and 31 December and staff members, as well as suppliers, friends and family have been invited to donate blood or plasma. As states emerge from lockdowns, regular donors are likely to face more competition for their time, especially during November to December. They will be figuring out new routines that include returning to sporting and lifestyle activities, work commutes and socialising. In an effort to address the ongoing need for blood, Milestone staff are rolling up their sleeves and donating blood and plasma, as an important part of their ‘new normal routine’. In doing so, they hope to form new giving habits, whilst also raising the awareness of blood donations and are taking a collaborative approach to encourage the wider industry to join the blood drive. To ensure donations can be counted towards this blood drive, a Lifeblood team has been set up for Milestone staff, friends, family and suppliers. The Lifeblood Team forms part of the blood donation program run by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood and the blood drive is designed to bring people together to save lives. As each blood donation is broken down into three parts and sent to three different recipients, the blood drive has the benefit of counting donations, as well as the amount of lives saved by participating donors. In this way, every donation is considered a gift of life. “In this time of Covid-19 where people are feeling vulnerable, and discouraged, our team in Australia decided to come together to spread the word amongst the security industry about the importance of blood donation. The idea is that we work together and encourage our partners, customers, and wider industry community to join the Milestone ‘Lifeblood Team’ with the goal of helping others and saving as many lives as possible by the end of the year,” said Brett Hansen, Country Manager for South Pacific at Milestone Systems. When blood is separated, there are parts that last for only 7 days, so maintaining this supply, regardless of the upcoming festive period, is essential. “The need for donations never stop, so it is important to keep supplies flowing. By spreading information or donating blood, we are doing our best to save lives. We can see this initiative spreading across the video technology industry here too, and strongly encourage our friends, partners, and colleagues to join us in our quest.” said Danielle Joynson, Marketing Manager for Milestone Systems South Pacific. “While it is very much a part of Milestone’s DNA to contribute to the greater good and give back to society, this particular program is much bigger than just us. It takes only a little effort to donate blood, but this small act can have a huge positive impact on somebody’s life. We urge our friends in the security and tech industries to help us and turn a small act of kindness into a major movement of goodwill,” concluded Hansen.  

Eagle Eye Networks, the global company in cloud video surveillance, has partnered with access control provider SALTO Systems to showcase its cloud video surveillance capabilities at the coworking and coliving facilities of La Pinada Lab in Valencia, Spain. This cooperation is designed to expand the ways video surveillance is used in coworking and coliving spaces. In addition to security, video surveillance can foster collaboration and deliver insights into building usage and how visitors interact with the property. Eagle Eye Networks installed a cloud video surveillance system at La Pinada Lab to demonstrate the value of sharing video and the system’s easeof-use. In 2022, Eagle Eye Networks and select technology partners will offer courses to professionals who work in the smart cities and smart buildings field. The Eagle Eye Networks integration with SALTO cloud access control is a powerful example of the role that integrated security will play in providing holistic security and insights into buildings. “We are excited to contribute to the La Pinada Lab initiative in Spain to foster innovation and collaboration,” said Rishi Lodhia, Managing Director, Eagle Eye Networks EMEA, “Our ecosystem of technology partners help expand the possibilities of our own products and services, making them even more useful for our customers. After moving to Eagle Eye Networks, the City of Elche, Spain has reduced the number of employees needed for camera monitoring and maintenance, while city officials are gaining more insights from the cameras. In La Pinada Lab we go one step further to not only show the advantages of cloud video surveillance but how cloud video surveillance and cloud access control create an integrated security solution. Employees are able to focus on creativity, customer experience and innovation, the Eagle Eye Networks platform, with cloud access control from SALTO, provides ease-of-use and does the heavy lifting of maintaining the system.” Christian Schmitz, Vertical Lead for Shared Living and Work Spaces at SALTO Systems, said the solution gives La Pinada Lab the ability “to connect the dots between lifestyle and technology, allowing them to build the right tech infrastructure.” SALTO and Eagle Eye Networks are joining La Pinada Lab’s partnership program as Project Partners. The first step is to incorporate both SALTO smart access products and technology and Eagle Eye Networks cloud video surveillance into the infrastructure of the La Pinada space, Schmitz said, “And being installed in a lab, it is only natural to observe and experiment with the use of Eagle Eye technology and SALTO’s keyless experience, identifying opportunities for new solutions and the impact of digitization and automation on daily life.” Miguel Tito Malone, Director of La Pinada Lab said, “A space like this only comes to life if you have the right partners in the ecosystem that want to drive collaboration and innovation. To have two state-of-the art global partners like SALTO and Eagle Eye Networks is a real asset. They are leading the transformation of physical security, showing how cloud security is an important element of the building experience. Together with Eagle Eye Networks and SALTO we are able to deliver on our promise to foster collaboration in contemporary building design and usage.” Fernando Fernandez of TGT Consulting is the Eagle Eye Networks certified reseller who did the installation at La Pinada Lab. He said, “This was one of my first installations of the Eagle Eye Cloud VMS (video management system) product and I am truly impressed with its capabilities and flexibility. Now I am able to offer my clients a broader range of services, from telecommunications to physical security as a service.”  

In its latest tech round-up video, IDIS highlights its complete line up of NDAA-compliant cameras and recorders. Featuring HD and UHD network cameras, plus powerful NVR and enterprise-class PC servers that connect seamlessly to a choice of VMS. IDIS’s end-to-end, NDAA-compliant solutions are now being chosen for a growing list of European projects in sectors ranging from education, retail, hotels, data centres, and commercial office space. The updated IDIS camera lineup, designed for a wide range of settings and environments, includes a range of 2MP, 5MP, and 8MP domes, bullets, and turret cameras, plus the company’s best-selling and award-winning 5MP and 12MP IR Super Fisheyes. The new NDAA-compliant models come with IR, true WDR, IDIS smart failover, alarm in/ out, and two-way audio and vandal resistance options. New NDAA-compliant recording enabled with 16- to 32-channel network recorders (NVRs), featuring built-in PoE switches, incoming throughput of up to 370Mbps, and allow 960ips UHD real-time recording. Or large and multi-site users can choose PC severs that come pre-installed with IDIS Solution Suite VMS and support up to 256 Full HD cameras in real-time. With redundant power and equipped with RAID 5 & 6, they offer mission-critical reliability and feature a two rack-mount chassis for easy maintenance and options for sliding rails and cable management. Both the NVRs and PC servers are powered by Intel chipsets, and support H.264/ H.265 dual codec, allowing users to utilise existing monitors, making premature screen, smartphone, or tablet upgrades unnecessary. All IDIS equipment is backed by extended warranties and benefit from IDIS DirectIP® plug-andplay technology, enabling easy and fast installation, streamlined cybersecurity, and simple maintenance and firmware updates. Customers can choose to seamlessly connect to the costfree IDIS Center VMS for applications encompassing up to 1,024 devices or the enterprise-class and modular IDIS Solution Suite to manage an unlimited number of sites and devices. The flexible end-to-end solution, combined with forward and backward compatibility, results in a compelling low total cost of ownership (TCO). U.S. President Joe Biden recently signed the Secure Equipment Act of 2021, which requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to establish rules stating that it will no longer review or approve any authorisation application for equipment that is on the list of covered communications or services. “The IDIS NDAA-compliant range follows the rules imposed by the U.S. government,” said James Min, Managing Director, IDIS Europe, “All IDIS products are designed and manufactured in South Korea, bringing the reassurance needed for enterprises that have businesses in the US or plan to enter the market in the future.”  

To ensure that federal employees have a broader set of modern options for accessing facilities and electronic resources, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has increased the number of acceptable types of credentials that federal agencies can permit as official digital identity. The increase is part of the latest update to Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201, which specifies the credentials that can be used by federal employees and contractors to access federal sites. The update, formally titled FIPS 201-3: Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors, also allows for remote identity proofing and issuing, in addition to doing so in-person as was previously required. “We have expanded the set of credentials that can be used for gaining access to federal facilities and also for logging onto workstations and other IT resources,” said Hildegard Ferraiolo, a NIST Computer Scientist, “It’s not all about PIV cards anymore.” The preceding FIPS standard, version 201-2, came out in 2013 and specified credentials embedded on PIV cards as the primary means for authentication with limited exceptions for credentials designed for mobile devices that lacked PIV card readers. Millions of PIV cards have been issued to federal employees. The 201-3 update, the result of a regular review cycle, still specifies that PIV cards can be used but now offers additional options. It keeps the standard aligned with the most recent federal policies, including the Office of Management and Budget’s Memorandum M-19-17 on identity, credential and access management. It also ensures that the standard reflects current technological capabilities and needs, Ferraiolo said. “It has become important to provide more flexibility to agencies in choosing credentials to use for authentication,” she said, “Not all laptop computers are available with built-in PIV card slots, for example, and often, there are cloud-based applications that don’t use public-key infrastructure that PIV cards provide. For these situations we need alternatives.” The new options are a subset of credentials that are specified in NIST SP 800-63-3, a multivolume publication on digital identity. Branches of the government will have a richer set of multifactor credentials for different devices – including, for example, FIDO (Fast ID Online) tokens and one-time passwords (OTP). With the revision milestone now complete, the focus for NIST has shifted to providing additional guidelines and implementation details, Ferraiolo said. NIST is currently in the process of updating guidelines for the expanded set of PIV credentials in Revision 1 of NIST SP 800-157. Additionally, to ensure that different credentials are interoperable across different agencies, a concept known as ‘federation,’ NIST will provide guidelines in NIST SP 800-217. Ferraiolo said these and other NIST publications associated with FIPS 201-3 would be updated in coming months.