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Security Technologies Top Trends for 2019

IHS Markit identified ubiquitous video as one of its top transformative technologies earlier in 2018. In public safety installations, we are observing this concept converge video surveillance and critical communications technologies as personnel embrace the benefits of ubiquitous video. Examples include the latest deep learning video analytics powering insights in safe city installations, a first responder live streaming body worn video to control rooms using the latest mobile broadband networks, or the closer integration and analysis of video data from multiple sources within software applications. In the wider video surveillance industry, demand for professional video surveillance cameras has been growing quickly and is forecast to continue in 2019. It is estimated that less than 10 million surveillance cameras were shipped globally in 2006. This grew to over 100 million in 2016. It is forecast that over 180 million will be shipped in 2019. At the same time, the steep erosion in the average price of cameras and other video surveillance equipment is starting to slow. As a result, IHS Markit is forecasting that the world market will grow at an annual rate of over 8% in 2019. Some regional markets, like India and Latin America will grow much faster. So, what will be the big stories in 2019? Future supply base changes, app stores and use of SaaS in emergency response are just some of the trends discussed in our ninth annual white paper on trends for the year ahead. The predictions on the following are to provide some guidance on opportunities across security technologies. Supply Base Changes in 2019  Supply to the professional video surveillance market has become more concentrated in recent years. The world’s three largest vendors accounted for 17% of market revenues in 2007 and 18% in 2012. In contrast, the top three accounted for 40% in 2017. Despite this, the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment remains much more fragmented than the supply base for many other markets. There are still hundreds of relatively small video surveillance equipment vendors, many of them with a market share much lower than 1%. There have been acquisitions in the past decade. Larger examples include Schneider Electric acquiring Pelco, Hanwha acquiring Samsung Techwin and Canon acquiring Axis Communications. In recent years, many smaller video surveillance software vendors have also been acquired. Examples include Canon acquiring Milestone Systems and Briefcam, OnSSI acquiring SeeTec, Panasonic acquiring Video Insight, and Tyco acquiring Exacq. Recent years have also seen some acquisitions combining video surveillance vendors and vendors of other security technologies. These have included Hikvision acquiring Pyronix and Avigilon being acquired by Motorola. There are likely to be further mergers and acquisitions in 2019 as vendors attempt to challenge the three largest vendors – Hikvision, Dahua, and Axis Communications. However, a spree of large scale mergers and acquisitions is not expected. vendors have themselves largely grown through organic means. The rate at which they have done this has been impressive. None of these companies were among even the ten largest vendors in 2005 and Hikvision and Dahua didn’t yet exist at the turn of the century. This shows just how quickly market shares can change and how quickly new entrants can grow. There have been several new entrants to the professional video surveillance market in recent years (e.g., Motorola, Eagle Eye Networks, Amazon, Huawei). There will be more new entrants in 2019. Perhaps some of them will be among the market leaders of the future. Cybersecurity is More than a Political Football Cyber security was one of the buzzwords of 2018. Something of a political football throughout the year, some western brands looked to cybersecurity to differentiate their offerings from products and solutions supplied by Chinese competitors. That said, there are real threats that need to be addressed in the cybersecurity market. As devices become increasingly connected and networked, every node on the network has the potential to provide access to a bad actor. Furthermore, the highly resourced and cyber-advanced vendors such as Microsoft and Adobe are getting much better at protecting their code from attack. The consequence is that cyber criminals are starting to look at the emerging IoT (Internet of Things) markets such as smart home and physical security. Combined with the relative inexperience of self-installers as well as security integrators (remember, analog cameras accounted for over 60% of new camera shipments only five years ago), this makes the video surveillance industry a high profile target. Interestingly, while building technology has been used as a point of entry to steal credit card details, in many cases the cyber-attack is focused on using connected devices to deliver DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. These attacks work by spamming chosen websites with requests from thousands, or millions of connected nodes on the internet, overriding the sites ability to respond and making it crash. These attacks may (but not always) inhibit the ability of the devices to perform their configured function, for example to record video surveillance footage. In response to all this activity the video surveillance market has started a process of education on cyber security. This has included training sessions and seminars, increased feature sets and best practice guidelines and the deployment of some encryption technologies. However, much like GDPR, there seems to be more talk about cyber security than real action or consequence. So, what will happen in 2019? IHS Markit predicts: There will be an increasing focus on where components and software are sourced from and which OEM partnerships are in place. Software auditing is required by end-users in many critical vertical markets which will make this more transparent. In the lower end of the market, ease of use will compete with cyber security. Ultimately, SMB’s are not as concerned with cyber threats and will prioritize ease of use and installation over security unless legislated to do something different. Which leads to regulations and the lack thereof. The industry will continue to lack real regulation and legislation, instead following the lead of the IT industry and large suppliers such as…

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Focus on Critical Infrastructure

Local authorities and central government departments throughout the world have long recognised the key role that video surveillance systems can play in ensuring that the general public can safely go about their lives. Detecting and deterring criminal activity and anti-social behaviour, enforcing traffic regulations and managing crowds are just a few of the ways in which an integrated video surveillance system solution can assist security and safety personnel provide an effective response to any threat or unacceptable behaviour. In the current economic climate it has to be acknowledged that government bodies are likely to have restrictions placed on their expenditure and yet the need for effective video surveillance systems is just as great, if not greater, than it has ever been. Fortunately, help is on hand in the form of a diverse range of security products which can provide cost effective solutions for virtually any project. A comprehensive choice of cameras is available which includes models that are weather and vandal resistant and are able to perform effectively regardless of the environmental conditions. Many of the latest cameras offer multiple streaming, with a choice of MJPEG, MPEG-4 and bandwidth friendly H.265 compression methods, providing the option to simultaneously transmit images to multiple locations at various frame rates and at different resolutions. This allows different authorised users to monitor live images at one location, whilst recording video evidence at another. At the same time, images can be saved onto an on-board SD memory card and email notifications of any incidents sent to a smartphone. Progressive Scan technology incorporated into a large number of cameras optimises high quality video capture of moving objects making it possible, for example, to read car number plates without a motion blur effect. Advanced features delivering practical benefits to critical infrastructure projects Digital Auto Tracking: 4K (12 megapixel) cameras capture extremely high definition images. Some models such as  those from the Wisenet P range, also feature Digital Auto Tracking which, during times of low activity such as night time, can be used to detect moving objects or people. This makes it much easier for operators to keep a close eye on activity in public areas. Analytics: Cameras with powerful open platform DSP chipsets developed by leading manufacturers such as Hanwha Techwin, mean a diverse range of edge-based specialist analytic applications can be run on the cameras. An audio analysis function can recognise critical sounds, such as gunshots, explosions, screams, and broken glass, and then immediately raise an alarm to enable emergency services to react quickly and effectively to any incident. WDR: Most cameras feature WDR which composes 2 frames with different exposures to ensure clear, sharp images can be captured in locations where there may be strong contrasting lighting conditions. The latest 150dB WDR built into many Wisenet cameras uses 4 frames to create a more natural image and offers sharp images without any blurring, which is a critical weakness of standard WDR. It’s an exciting innovation for cameras which need perhaps to be deployed in areas where they may be exposed to varying degrees of sunlight. 360-degree cameras: A single 360-degree camera is quite often all that is required to efficiently and cost-effectively cover a whole area where a much larger number of standard cameras might normally be required. A 360 degree camera will complement a video solution perfectly by giving the operator a complete view of an area whilst high definition static or pan/ tilt cameras can be deployed to zoom in to see close up detail of any incident and to ensure there are no blind spots. Complementary compression technology: The latest generation of Full HD and 4K cameras could become costly when  there is a need to store the high resolution video for operational or evidence purposes. This is because multi-pixel, high definition images can all too quickly fill up the capacity of an NVR or server when recorded at full frame rate and resolution. Recently available complementary compression technology dynamically controls encoding, balancing quality and compression according to movement in the image. When this is combined with H.265 compression, bandwidth efficiency can be improved by up to 99% compared to current H.264 technology ensuring the cameras are the most bandwidth friendly camera ranges available. Video Management: Manufacturers such as Hanwha Techwin offer management software which maximises the efficiency and ease of use of their IP network cameras, recording devices and servers. Smart Security Manager (SSM) Enterprise from Hanwha Techwin also facilitates integration with third party systems such as intruder alarms, fire detection, access control and ANPR (vehicle number plate recognition), to offer a fully integrated security solution. Full HD images over coax cable: There are many existing critical infrastructure installations where for a variety of reasons security or operations managers are not yet ready to migrate from analogue to an IP network based video surveillance solution. With this in mind, Hanwha Techwin has introduced its HD+ cameras and DVRs that deliver 1080p Full HD images over existing coax cable. The cyber threat The ability of hackers to access live images or retrieve recorded images captured by cameras located in private or security sensitive areas is obviously a major concern for critical infrastructure site security. Manufacturers of video surveillance solutions such as Hanwha Techwin, have recognised that there are some simple actions which can be taken to minimise the hacking threat, including the obvious step of addressing the security credentials of a camera at its design stage, and not as a ‘nice’ added extra feature, as well as removing the potential to gain access through the ‘back door’ and the mandatory setting up of a secure comprehensive password during the initial installation process. Whilst no manufacturer can offer 100% guarantees, Hanwha Techwin have a sustained testing and monitoring programme designed to identify evolving new threats to the integrity of its solutions and is able to move quickly to develop further advanced versions of its firmware to combat them. Video surveillance has for many years provided a powerful tool for those responsible for…

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Business Intelligence Software for Retail Reduces Shrink

Retailers, like most businesses, are attempting to do more with less in an effort to increase competitiveness and profitability. Hardest hit have been corporate support organizations (Target and Best Buy are recent high-profile examples) where corporate loss prevention personnel who specialize in identifying and investigating corporate shrink typically reside. These developments, combined with growing shrink numbers, are further exacerbated by decreasing employee loyalty as many retailers have reduced employees’ weekly hours. This has resulted in some employers increasing their number of part-time employees by up to 30 percent or more. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the number of involuntary part-time workers has nearly doubled from 2006 to 2013 and that trend continues. The state of the market today Retail employees today have to frequently juggle multiple jobs to earn the same income, further impacting already-low employee loyalty. There are fewer people who oversee a greater number of people who have relatively low-wage jobs and less than stellar loyalty to their employer. Is it any wonder that upwards to 50% of retail shrink is internal? Employees stealing from their company – the type of theft that isn’t opportunistic like most shoplifting – is chronic, and happening over and over again. The focus for retail loss prevention tools is on return on investment (ROI) to be sure, but just as important they must demonstrate a return on time invested (ROTI) as well. That is, if I spend an hour using this tool it will be more productive than an hour using traditional approaches and tools. Also the better, newer tool must be able to capture and apply the insights of those few LP specialists and then make the results available for use to a wider audience within the company. Some retailers outsource this function to companies whose employees will have little insight into the company itself. This means the best loss prevention tools have to be intuitive and easy enough to use for just about anyone. Employee theft that originates at the register is a huge and persistent problem. It generally makes up nearly 50% of the loss in any retail operation, some contending even 80%. This means that a single employee can steal day in and day out from an employer using the same methods, if undetected, and losses exceeding thousands of dollars are not uncommon. Therefore, catching a single dishonest employee generally has a greater impact on shrink than catching several shoplifters who may only steal opportunistically once or twice from that retailer. The sooner a company can identify and remove these employees, the greater the impact on reducing shrink. A Loss Prevention (LP) Manager mentioned that an employee who was doing item returns for cash, started out stealing eight dollars on their first night. By the end of the month, when the employee was finally caught he was doing over $600 a day. A total loss of $18,000 dollars is certainly not a pocket change. The employee is now in jail, but the retailer is out of $18,000. Think about a company that has 1,500 stores across the country. If only 1% of the stores have dishonest employees like Mr. $18,000, It cost the retailer $270,000…in just one month. Implementing business intelligence analysis While a number of companies specialize for sometime in tools to help identify suspect transactions, the new focus needs to be on how to not only identify a suspect individual transaction, but on a comprehensive, data-driven method to identify employees who are the worst offenders – by company, region, division, store etc. All retailers have learned over time which type of Point of Sale (POS) transaction or combinations of transactions may indicate employee theft in their stores. Typically, retailers will have 20-30 types of transactions (cancel followed by… or no sale followed by… or excessive returns, etc). Of the 20-30 transaction types, some are much more likely to be theft. 3xLOGIC’s Cloud-based VIGIL Trends business intelligence solution uses algorithms to identify top offenders by assigning a weight to each type of transaction or exception (giving higher weights to transactions with higher potential for theft), so that chronic offenders visibly bubble to the top of the list. VIGIL Trends combines this with a straightforward and quick way to review all transactions and the associated video, increasing the effectiveness of the trained loss prevention professional, and also provides a tool where regional managers and others can easily get involved and contribute to reducing shrink. This sounds great, but what’s happening in the actual stores? A recent Aberdeen Group study indicated that 45% of retailers struggle to get timely data and only 26% of retailers have implemented any exception reporting program like those described above. Since Big Data management tools that deliver timely data are increasingly available, and there is minimal capital investment to implement a cloud-based Big Data exception reporting solution, we expect the percentage of retailers who implement such reporting systems to greatly increase over next few years. Case studies: Business intelligence in action One of my favorite retail loss stories is from one of the first end users I worked with to implement our VIGIL Trends business intelligence software product. Upon implementation and full monitoring of POS data from this head of loss prevention’s 1,500 stores, the company had 8,000 employees processing over 2.5 million transactions daily. We scheduled a webinar training session with his team to get them started with the Trends software, and in the email invitation we included a login and password he could use for the dashboard of his new LP solution. Five minutes after sending him the email, he wrote back,“I love it, it’s so easy to use I just caught the first person!” The best, most effective BI packages must be very easy to use and capable of finding “the needle in the haystack” without 16 complicated maneuvers and writing your own code. It must provide that all-important return on time invested. I recently learned that this same end user projects that one of their analysts…

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Home Security with First Security System

Nest Labs, Inc., architect of the thoughtful homes, introduced a home security solution that includes the Nest Secure alarm system, Hello video doorbell, Nest Cam IQ outdoor security camera, and corresponding software and services. Nest Secure Alarm System A home security system designed to be tough on intruders and easy on residents. The Nest Secure starter pack includes following products: Nest Guard is an all-in-one security base that provides the alarm, keypad and a motion sensor, along with a friendly voice. Nest Detect is a category first sensor that detects both motion and open or close movement in one compact, battery-powered product. Put it on a window and it will know when it opens. Stick it on a wall and it senses motion in a room. Place it on a door and it can do both. Nest Tag is a convenient fob that can attach to a keychain, allowing you to easily arm and disarm Nest Secure without a passcode. Nest Tags are easy to share with family members and trusted people who regularly enter the home, like dog walkers. Nest Hello video doorbell combines the trusted security and intelligence of a Nest Cam with the familiar convenience of a doorbell. Nest Cam IQ outdoor security camera is a purpose-built outdoor security camera that protects homes with best-in-class imaging and intelligence, and tamper resistant, weatherproof components. “Today, Nest is delivering on the next phase of our strategy to create the thoughtful home,” said Marwan Fawaz, Chief Executive Officer of Nest, “We’ve had quite a year so far, expanding into 11 more countries, growing our product portfolio with the successful launches of Nest Cam IQ indoor and the Nest Thermostat E, and today we’re debuting yet another product industry – home security. By building product experiences, Nest has experienced more than 60% growth on devices shipped in recent years and continues to expand to millions of homes around the world.” Nest Secure Nest Secure is the first alarm system that is actually enjoyable to live with, designed to be convenient for homeowners as they come and go. “When we looked at the home security market, we saw a similar landscape to when we entered the thermostat market,” said Matt Rogers, Nest’s Founder and Chief Product Officer, “Just as people tend not to use programmable thermostats because of their complexity, the current home security offerings are also a huge pain to live with – whether it’s bulky hardware, false alarms or loud and stressful countdowns. That’s why 43 percent of people with alarm systems don’t ever arm them. We set out to design a product that isn’t just effective during a security incident, but is delightful and easy to use when people are at home with their families, living their lives, which is the majority of the time.” Everyone in the family has a different routine, so Nest provides multiple ways to arm and disarm – by tapping Nest Tag onto Nest Guard, through the Nest app, or by entering a code on the Nest Guard keypad. Nest Secure makes it easy to monitor from anywhere, sending a notification if something needs attention. Customers have the option to add additional monitoring and deterrence by adding Nest Cams to their system, which are all controlled from the same Nest app. Nest Detect sensors combine both motion and open/ close detection so they can be placed on either doors, windows or walls. They also provide the option to temporarily bypass the alarm on the way out, with the press of a button, thanks to a feature called Quiet Open. And if someone forgets to turn on the alarm, Nest sends a ‘remind me’ notification to arm it directly from the app. Nest Guard is designed to remain on guard – with battery backup and an optional cellular backup service – even if Wi-Fi is down or the power is out. And with an easy, voice-guided setup that doesn’t require tools, screws or wires, it’s simple for either the customer or a Nest Pro to install. Nest Hello Video Doorbell Today, Nest is shipping intelligent and powerful cameras, but there is one important area of the home not completely addressed by Nest Cams – the front door. It’s the place people come in and out. Where the action happens. And one of the first places burglars check for occupants. Nest Hello can detect a person, then send an alert and a snapshot, even if that person doesn’t ring the bell. With Nest Aware, customers can get alerts when strangers or suspicious activity like people talking or dogs barking are detected. Nest Hello customers can engage with guests and strangers at the door from anywhere and have a natural conversation with HD Talk and Listen. Echo suppression and ambient noise cancellation ensure it’s easy to hear each other, even on noisy streets. A list of pre-recorded responses makes it easy to quickly and effortlessly answer visitors with one tap from the app. Nest Cam IQ Outdoor Buying a security camera is driven by the peace of mind that comes from knowing the home and family are protected. But when it comes to keeping an eye on the home, we know people don’t want more information, they want better, actionable information. Earlier this year, with the launch of Nest Cam IQ Indoor, Nest introduced one of the most intelligent and powerful cameras on the market to bring better security to the inside of your home. Now, Nest is extending that intelligence outside. Featuring a brand new design, Nest Cam IQ outdoor is a camera that does more and requires less time from customers. Instead of just showing what’s happening, it will deliver critical, actionable information via an alert – like spotting someone unfamiliar in the yard – so users know that the alert is important. Google Assistant on Nest Cam IQ Indoor Not only is Nest bringing new hardware to its camera portfolio, but will provide customers the option to add the Google Assistant to Nest…

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Machine Learning Algorithms Improve CNP Fraud Detection by 30%

Silicon Valley analytic software firm FICO’s new Falcon consortium models for payment card fraud detection include machine learning innovations that improve card-not-present (CNP) fraud detection by 30% without increasing the false positive rate, a standard metric for fraud model performance. These new Falcon consortium models for both credit and debit cards will be available first for FICO® Falcon® Platform customers in the UK and Europe this fall, and then to customers in other markets worldwide. CNP fraud, which includes online card and e-wallet transactions, is the most prevalent form of card fraud in most countries. FICO and Euromonitor International found that CNP fraud represented some 70 percent of card fraud in 19 European countries, and rates are similarly high in many other parts of the world. “Consumer convenience is driving rapid growth in online transactions. As a result, criminals are looking to use this convenience to their advantage as chip cards and other security features have made physical card fraud more difficult,” said TJ Horan, Vice President for Fraud Solutions at FICO, “Our goal is to help card issuers promote a positive consumer experience while protecting them from financial harm. These CNP machine learning innovations are important tools to help issuers spot fraud faster, and take on even greater importance in the light of recent data breaches, which will lead to more fraud attempts.” The Falcon consortium – a pool of anonymized transaction details collected from 9,000 financial institutions worldwide – allows FICO data scientists to test and prove the performance of new models prior to release. Developed based on analysis of 4 billion transactions, these new CNP machine learning models have demonstrated the ability to: Cut CNP fraud losses by 30% without increasing false positive rates. Reduce CNP transaction review rates without increasing fraud risk. Double the detection of fraudulent, high-value CNP transactions on the first attempted transaction. “Machine learning algorithms are greedy – they gobble up data,” said Dr. Scott Zoldi, FICO’s Chief Analytics Officer, “Fortunately, our unique Falcon consortium has rich, anonymized transaction data on billions of payment cards and merchants, allowing us to build and validate algorithms that represent deep behavioral patterns. In production, these learned highly predictive behavioral variables and profiles of cardholders and merchants are updated with each transaction, in real time, in order to identify and adapt to behavioral outliers.” For 25 years, FICO has applied AI-based behavioral analytics to detect fraudulent transactions across billions of payment transactions, with sub-second response times. The FICO® Falcon® Platform protects more than 2.6 billion payment cards worldwide. The company today holds more than 90 patents related to artificial intelligence and machine learning in fraud detection.

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Bridging Privacy and Cybersecurity for Federal Systems

Because information technology (IT) deeply affects privacy at individual and societal levels, systems should be built in a trustworthy manner, consistent with widely recognized, high-level privacy principles such as the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly conducts research into technology, aiming to improve innovation and competitiveness, thereby advancing U.S. national and economic security and quality of life. Much of NIST’s previous guidance into the trustworthiness of systems in various technical areas – including cybersecurity, cloud computing, big data, and cyber-physical systems – has focused on the security objectives of confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA). While unauthorized access to personally identifiable information (PII) is a subset of information security and a critical aspect of privacy, there is a less-developed understanding of other ways in which a system impacts individuals’ privacy and how to identify and address risks that extend beyond unauthorized access. Thus, there is a need to bridge cybersecurity and privacy as two different attributes of trustworthiness. NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory has developed a new Internal Report (NISTIR) 8062, Introduction to Privacy Engineering and Risk Management in Federal Systems – building on several years’ collaboration with public and private sector partners – including two public workshops and a webinar. While all organizations benefit from effective privacy engineering, NISTIR 8062 will be particularly helpful for U.S. federal agencies. Federal privacy protections have been in place for more than four decades, and the need to protect individuals’ privacy remains as critical today as ever. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s recent update to Circular No. A-130 includes a new emphasis on managing privacy risk, so federal agencies will need guidance on repeatable and measurable approaches to bridge the gap between privacy principles and effective implementation. To that end, NISTIR 8062 will: Lay the groundwork for future guidance on how federal agencies will be able to incorporate privacy as an attribute of trustworthy systems through the management of privacy as a collaborative, interdisciplinary engineering practice; Introduce a set of objectives for privacy engineering and a new model for assessing privacy risks in federal systems; and Provide a roadmap for evolving these preliminary concepts into actionable guidance, complementary to existing NIST guidance for information security risk management, so that agencies may more effectively meet their obligations under Circular A-130 and other relevant policies. NISTIR 8062 is an introductory report intended to foster further discussion. To better support the operational needs of agency privacy programs, and to help develop guidance that is comprehensive enough to promote compliance with policy directives, NIST will continue to collaborate with the privacy community through open processes. An Engineering Approach to Privacy A significant body of work already addresses security in federal systems. Recently, the term ‘privacy’ has begun to be added to these security documents. This addition implies that privacy shares enough characteristics with security that the guidance should be applicable to address privacy. However, even the fact that ‘privacy’ is used as a separate term confirms that privacy has a separate meaning and brings with it issues distinct from security. That is why it is important to understand the relationship – particularly the distinctions – between information security and privacy. Doing so will improve understanding of how to apply established systems engineering and risk management processes to address privacy concerns. As noted in Circular A-130: “Federal information is a strategic asset subject to risks that must be managed to minimize harm. Protecting an individual’s privacy is of utmost importance. The Federal Government shall consider and protect an individual’s privacy throughout the information life cycle. While security and privacy are independent and separate disciplines, they are closely related, and it is essential for agencies to take a coordinated approach to identifying and managing security and privacy risks and complying with applicable requirements.” At the same time, throughout the Circular, there is clear recognition that privacy and security needs require separate leadership with unique skills, and that a coordinated approach does not necessarily mean an identical approach. Public discourse on the relationship between security and privacy often includes colloquial phrases such as ‘Security and privacy are two sides of a coin’ and ‘There is no privacy without security.’ Clearly, confidentiality of PII plays an important role in the protection of privacy. However, there are security issues unrelated to privacy (e.g., confidentiality of trade secrets), just as there are privacy issues unrelated to security. For example, some communities have responded negatively to smart meters due largely to concern that the information being collected can reveal behavior inside a person’s home, and less so from concerns that the utilities cannot keep the information secure. Even actions taken to protect PII can have privacy implications. For example, security tools such as persistent activity monitoring, can create concerns about the degree to which that monitoring reveals information about individuals that is unrelated to cybersecurity purposes. These cases illustrate that systems designed to achieve beneficial objectives (e.g., improved efficiency of the electrical grid and increased security) can adversely affect individuals’ privacy as an unintended consequence or byproduct of the system as it is collecting and using information about individuals. This by product risk model is conceptually distinct from the security risk model. In the security risk model, concerns focus on unauthorized activity that causes a loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information or systems. In the by product risk model, the processing of PII is planned and permissible (i.e., authorized), but it creates implications for individuals’ privacy. So, while some privacy concerns arise from unauthorized activity, privacy concerns also can arise from authorized processing of information about individuals. The below figure shows a non-proportional representation of the relationship between the privacy and security domains. Recognizing the boundaries and overlap between privacy and security is key to determining when existing security risk models and security-focused guidance may be applied to address privacy concerns – and where there are gaps that need to be filled to achieve an engineering approach to privacy. For instance, existing information…

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Interview – Kunwar Vikram Singh, Global President, WAD

India is hosting the 92nd Annual Conference of World Association of Detectives (WAD) and a Roundtable Dialogue on Anticorruption Partnership during 10-14 October 2017 in Shangri-La, New Delhi. It is an impressive assembly of global leaders in Cyber Security and Corporate Intelligence who will discuss and develop tools to deal with internal and external corrupt practices, and launch a well-coordinated corporate campaign against corruption to support agenda of good governance of the Prime Minister of India. World Association of Detectives (WAD) is a global alliance of investigators and security professionals from around the world. WAD aims to promote and maintain the highest ethical practices in the profession of private investigation and security service, and to establish and further a mutual feeling of trust, goodwill and friendship among agencies throughout the world. WAD has members from more than 80 countries across the world, where India has one of the largest representations of 71 members. Coincidently, Kunwar Vikram Singh who is the current Global President of WAD, is also from India. He joined WAD more than 30 years back, and was elected President at its 91st Annual Conference held at Bucharest, Romania last year. Kunwar Vikram Singh is the founding Chairman of Lancers Network Ltd. which is South Asia’s leading Risk Consulting firm, operating in the high-on-risk countries of the region and the other parts of the world including Europe and CIS countries. Equipped with a highly experienced operational team drawn from the financial sector, armed forces, police, security services and industry professionals; the company has developed a reputation for providing quality driven, customer focused and highly successful actionable intelligence solutions. He is also the founding President and Chairman of Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), a leading organization for security professionals in India which has emerged as an ‘elite association’ nationally and internationally. It is an association of renowned security professionals managing the world’s largest workforce of 7 million guardsmen and women engaged in providing private security cover to the nation. The unique bouquet of experience and entrepreneurship has taken CAPSI to new heights, especially after the enactment of the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005. Mr. Singh is also the founding President and Chairman of the Association of Private Detectives & Investigators (APDI), a preeminent national association of professional investigators in India. In addition to free-lancers, other investigation personnel as well as students are offering their involvement with APDI to better understand the constant changes in investigation issues and solutions. The members of the APDI work in compliance with the code of ethics of the Association. A majority of members of APDI are also members of WAD and the Association is actively involved in the hosting and organization of the upcoming WAD Annual Conference in India. SecurityLink India spoke to Kunwar Vikram Singh about the World Association of Detectives and the WAD 92nd Annual conference to be held in New Delhi. Some excerpts: SecurityLink India: Kindly give a brief about the global entity WAD. Kunwar Vikram Singh: World Association of Detectives (WAD) is the foremost international association of private investigators, security professional and security service organizations which was founded in 1925. It is the world’s largest and oldest association of its kind. It was formed as a joint venture by the combined membership of the World Association of Detectives, and the International Secret Service Association which was founded date back in 1921. The purpose of the establishment of WAD were primarily to promote and maintain the highest ethical practices in the profession of private investigation and security service; to grant membership to only those individuals whose personal and professional backgrounds and business affiliations are based on the precepts of truth, accuracy and prudence; to eliminate unreliable, incompetent and irresponsible members of the profession; to foster and perpetuate a spirit of cooperation among its members and with all those engaged in law enforcement; and to further and establish a mutual feeling of trust, goodwill and friendship amongst agencies throughout the world. WAD is registered in Colorado, USA. SecurityLink India: How was WAD conceptualized? Kunwar Vikram Singh: All nations, around the globe, have their own internal intelligence organizations such as RAW, CBI, FBI, KGB, or CIA and so on. However, their investigations and related activities are focused and dedicated to the government, government organizations and the safety of the country. Especially during those days, the private corporates and economic leaders across the globe who generally generate finance and employment, and who have the major contribution in making the nation’s economy, did not avail adequate facility and infrastructure to protect them. They lacked proper assistance and support in procuring intelligence either about the rivals or about the internal and external frauds caused especially in banking and financial sectors, or about any other private crimes for that matter. That caused huge economic losses to them and consequently to the respective nations. That conspicuous vacuum germinated the seeds of organizations like WAD. Retired police officers and intelligence professionals all over the world conceptualized and set up a pan-world organization called WAD to work together and exchange relevant information to settle the issues and help establish an environment of ease of doing business. Over the period, the flavor of the crime has drastically changed. For example, corporate, cyber, IPR crimes, financial frauds etc., were not there earlier. Several banks, companies and corporations have failed owing to internal frauds. For last three conferences, I impressed upon them to start a certificate course for young people who may even not essentially be an investigator. Several other professionals such as chartered accountants, lawyers may also opt for this field and become an investigator, as they are the experts of finance and laws respectively. Today we need huge number of young investigators, but that needs training and training facilities which are available only for the government personnel. – Kunwar Vikram Singh Global President, WAD  Today the world has shrunk and become one village. People have multiple operations in various countries including import, export, banking and all kinds of…

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Building a Structure for Growth

India is well on the way to digitisation helped along by consumer adoption of mobile devices and technologies, availability of high speed internet, and a strong push from the Government. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of cybersecurity. With the country becoming a favourite target of cyber criminals, it is imperative that Indian enterprises and institutions secure themselves against cyber attackers who are becoming smarter and bolder with days. Although most business organisations have made some provision for security, it usually exists as a complex maze of vendors and solutions that rarely integrate or even communicate with each other. Managing overall security in such an environment is challenging, expensive and not fully effective. What Indian organisations need to aim for is an integrated security solution that is open, automated and simple. Perceptions Despite escalating threats, confidence in security technology is riding high in Indian organizations. In 2016, 69 percent of CISOs and security operations professionals in India said that their security infrastructure is very up to date and is constantly upgraded with the best technologies available; in the previous year, this figure stood at 61 percent. Note that the number is also significantly higher than the 58 percent of respondents in the global Cisco 2017 Security Capabilities Benchmark Study who said the same thing. Only 26 percent of respondents from India, compared to 37 percent globally, said that they replaced or upgraded their security technologies on a regular cadence but were not equipped with the latest and greatest tools. Constraints Despite being equipped with the right solutions to detect threats and minimize their impact, security professionals in India find it a challenge to fulfil their agenda. Contrary to the global situation where budget is the primary constraint, in India, budget is no longer a key issue, having slipped to the joint 8th position in 2016, from 2nd place in the previous year. In 2016, the biggest barrier to adoption was organizational culture and attitude to security, closely followed by compatibility issues with legacy systems, and certification requirements and competing priorities in equal measure. Lack of knowledge about advanced security processes and technology was in fifth place. In 2016, 30 percent of security professionals in India said that organisational culture and attitude to security was the biggest barrier to adopting the latest security technology and processes. This is sharply up from the 2015 figure of 21 percent, when organizational culture issues ranked a low 9th among 10 obstacles. Incompatible legacy systems came 2nd, named by 28 percent of respondents. Last year, this was the top barrier, named by 36 percent of security professionals in India. Globally too, incompatible legacy systems were voted the 2nd biggest barrier in 2016 after budget constraints. Although they realize the importance of securing the business, Indian organisations seem to view security as an  impediment to business growth, which creates some amount of resistance to adoption. The presence of a large number of disconnected legacy security solutions makes it hard to implement a cohesive security policy. Having to meet the certification requirements of so many solutions is another challenge. Last but not least,organisations find it hard to stay abreast of the rapid advancement in security processes and technology. Ironically, too many point solutions can increase an organization’s vulnerability to attack if they don’t communicate and integrate with each other. Unfortunately, most security professionals in India, like their counterparts in other countries, have a tendency to juggle products from many vendors. This opens up gaps in time and space that cyber criminals can exploit, and prevents organisations from presenting a seamless defense to attack. A sizeable majority of companies – 56 percent of the total – use more than 5 vendors, and 69 percent use 6 or more products; these proportions are very similar to the global figures, which stand at 55 percent and 65 percent respectively. However, when it comes to using a very large number of vendors and products, Indian organisations are ahead of their global counterparts – about 19 percent use 21 or more vendors and almost 30 percent of companies have at least 26 security products, compared to 10 percent and 17 percent respectively, globally. A cause for concern is that the strong security infrastructure of Indian organisations is not translating into strong governance. The reasons include incompatibility of solutions, unavailability of trained staff, and a lack of knowledge about the latest advances in security processes. Only 63 percent of alerts are investigated, of which 39 percent are deemed legitimate. Finally, only 47 percent of legitimate alerts are remedied. This is only marginally better than the global performance – globally, 56 percent of security alerts are investigated, of which 28 percent are legitimate. Only 46 percent of legitimate alerts are remedied. The following hypothetical example illustrates the seriousness of the issue. If an organisation in India records 5,000 alerts every day: It investigates 3,150 alerts (63 percent) and ignores 1,850 (37 percent). Of the 3,150 alerts that are investigated, about 1,229 (39 percent) are found to be legitimate, while 1,921 (61 percent) are not. Of the 1,229 legitimate alerts, the organization remedies only 578 (47 percent) and does not remedy the remaining 651 (53 percent) alerts. It is worrying that approximately 1 in 3 security alerts go uninvestigated. Organizations must introspect to understand what types of alerts are ignored and why. Do these alerts signal relatively trivial threats that might only spread spam, for instance, or do they pertain to much more serious issues such as a possible ransomware attack or critical damage to a network? Clearly, there is a need to raise the level of investigation. However, given the large number of alerts a typical organization receives every day, it would not be possible for an already burdened security team to investigate them all manually. The solution is to use automation and properly integrated security solutions to probe and analyse a greater area of the threat landscape. The fact that Indian organisations ignore so many threats each day creates doubts about their…

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SSSDC Offers for A Designate Safe and Sound School

The brutal murder of seven year old Pradyuman Thakur at Ryan International School, Gurgram has left the Nation shocked and horrified. While the entire country is sharing grief with Pradyuman’s family, parents are raising concerns about the security and safety of their children in schools and other academic organisations. Frequent similar cases of security and safety lapses substantiate that institutions are not able to carry out due diligence in their premises on their own, and they need the assistance of expert agencies/ individuals to guide them in this endeavour. Security Sector Skill Development Council (SSSDC) has sought to engage with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to educate school management and administrators to provide them with the objective and expert based school safety and security principles, and help them become ‘a designate safe and sound school’ as enumerated in CBSE safety guidelines. SSSDC works under the aegis of National Skill Development Council (NSDC) and Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in the security domain. Maj. Gen. K. Sakhuja (Retd.), CEO, SSSDC said, “The Council is responsible for standardization of security training across the country. It has the expertise in training ‘security risk management auditors’ for both physical and electronic security systems. The auditors so trained are professionally competent to identify the gaps in security and advise the stakeholders on optimum solutions. They are fully aware of the statutory guidelines enumerated in Government directives, thereby contributing in the national focus of crime prevention.” The Council offers to help schools in identifying security gaps, upgrading their safety and security mechanisms and systems, and creating, updating and exercising emergency preparedness and crisis management plans. This is done through security audits, deployment of security guards through PSARA licensed private security agency, training and assessment of presently employed security guards under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program, and psychometric testing of the deployed workforce, if necessary. “SSSDC has devised a two day special audit module for security auditors whereby experienced security personnel will be taught about specialized ways of dealing with safety and security of school children,” said Kunwar Vikram Singh, Chairman, SSSDC. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India has issued a comprehensive set of guidelines vide D. O. letter No. 10-11/2014-EE.4 dated 09.10.2014 (Annexure-1) regarding preventive mechanisms and procedures for institutionalizing a system to ensure safety and security of children in schools. From time to time the CBSE Board has also issued instructions to the affiliated ones to implement and sensitize the schools towards ensuring the safety and security of students during school time and while in transit to school and back home. It is a fundamental right of a child to engage and study in an environment where he/ she feels safe, and is free from any form of physical or emotional abuse or harassment. As the children spend most of their time in school, the concern of parents about their safety in schools is obvious. Growing incidents of child abuse are increasing their anxiety day by day and they are more concerned about the physical safety, and mental & emotional health of their children. The onus for safety and security of children in school campus solely lies upon the school authorities. Schools should strive to promote a better understanding amongst their teachers and staff on the laws protecting the safety, security and interests of the students, and devise means to take immediate remedial and punitive action against such violations. The staff members should be educated to recognize their protective obligation towards students and to ensure safety and well-being of children in schools. The Board has recently reiterated to all schools affiliated with CBSE to strictly adhere to all the guidelines issued by MHRD and Board from time to time. Any violation/ lapses with regard to safety and wellbeing of children in school campus would invite appropriate action including the disaffiliation of the school as per the provisions under Affiliation Bye-Laws of the Board. Guidelines Get the security/ safety audit done of their premises and personnel from their respective local police station, and follow the security related advice for the safety of school children. This may be compiled and reported online on CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in within 2 months of receipt of the circular. Install CCTV cameras at all vulnerable areas/ points in the school premises and ensure they are functional at all times. They must get the police verification and psychometric evaluation done for all the employed staff. Ensure that supporting staff is employed only from authorized agencies, and proper records are maintained. Constitute a parent-teacher-students committee to address the safety needs of the students and to take regular feedback from parents in this regard. The access to school building by outsiders should be controlled and visitors monitored. Provide training and development for staff to address their responsibilities to protect children from any form of abuse. The school shall constitute separate committees for redressal of public/ staff/ parents/ students grievances; internal complaints committee on sexual harassment, and committees under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offence) Act, 2012; and details of the these committees along with contact details shall be displayed prominently on school notice board and conspicuously on the school website for information of all stakeholders. After the unfortunate incident of the death of Pradyuman, many schools have approached us to help them carry out security audits of their institutions. Since SSSDC supervises and guides the government approved institutes where security guards are taking trainings today, we decided to collaborate with the CBSE to help schools strengthen their safety and security apparatus Kunwar Vikram Singh Chairman, SSSDC  

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Securing Outdoor Assets with Trusted Alerts

Safeguarding outdoor assets in a reliable and cost-effective manner often comes down to a single requirement – accurate intruder alerts and timely information about the unfolding event. While there are many technologies available for outdoor security, smart cameras with video analytics have emerged as the solution of choice for detecting intruders in real time outdoors. Yet the best technology will be handicapped if the alerts generated cannot be trusted. Repeated false alarms can eventually condition security operators to ignore real intrusions, undermining trust in the perimeter security system. In most cases the shortsighted response is to single out the security force as scapegoats, which ignores the real problem – alert fatigue. After responding to hundreds of perimeter breach alarms that turn out to be nothing more than small animals or windblown branches, even the most conscientious security guards lose confidence in the system and start to ignore its warnings. There is no longer any reason for this situation to exist. This design guide relates how smart video security technology, when properly deployed according to best practices, can cost-effectively protect outdoor assets with high accuracy and low nuisance alerts to help security forces stop intruders before they act. Start with the best detection: Use smart thermal cameras Viable outdoor security must start with a sensing system that is accurate, 24-hours per day. For this reason, conventional wisdom asserts that smart thermal cameras are the best system for detecting intruders outdoors. This is because thermal cameras see heat rather than light, so they are a perfect ‘human detector,’ and will ignore headlights, reflections off water, and other light-based activity, expanding their usefulness from their traditional role as night vision cameras to 24-hour intrusion detection solutions. Smart thermal cameras with built-in video analytic software offers several advantages: They detect in the dark with no need for costly artificial lighting. They work 24 hours/ day. They ignore reflections, shadows, moving headlights, direct sunlight, and other light-based phenomena that can trigger alarms in a visible camera detection system. Because humans give off heat, thermal sensors are far more effective in spotting a person than visible cameras. They detect body heat as far away as 600 meters – a third of a mile. A single thermal camera can protect an area the size of a football field. Proper physical design makes them immune to the effects of weather and other environmental factors. In the past, the higher price for thermal technology limited their use in commercial applications, but as costs continue to fall, many organizations are now able to choose thermal cameras as the foundation for their outdoor detection applications. Geo-registration and detection accuracy Smart thermal cameras are designed to detect movement, but outdoors, everything moves. A smart camera must be able to tell the difference between small objects such as leaves or debris and a person entering a secured area. One of the best ways for a camera to make this determination is through ‘geo-registration’ which provides the actual location and true size of all pixels in the camera’s field of view. Consider how human vision works: Our eyes give us depth perception – we can tell which object is close and which is far. But a ‘one-eyed’ camera can’t, unless it’s geo-registered. For example, a small animal near the camera will look much larger than a man at 300 meters away. (Figure 1) A smart camera needs to ignore the animal at right while alerting on the distant person, even though the animal will cover more of the camera’s field of view. The same approach applies to blowing trash, clouds, and other moving things which are always present outdoors. With a camera that is geo-registered, such non-security related movement will be ignored and will not send alarms. Essentially, geo-registration enables a three-dimensional capability for a smart thermal camera. From this information, geospatial analytic rules can be used to eliminate movement based on size while still detecting human-sized intruders under all conditions. Geo-registered analytics in action: From-to Zones Motion zones are often used by video analytic systems to detect the movement of objects and to send an alert to notify security that an intruder has been detected. By default, any object moving within a motion zone triggers an alarm. However, when used for outdoor applications, motion zones can lead to an abundance of nuisance alerts because they lack the discriminating intelligence to recognize the difference between ‘unimportant’ movement caused by the natural environment and ‘relevant’ movement that represents a security threat. Cameras that are geo-registered can create more intelligent rules called From-To Zones, an important tool for reducing nuisance alerts while maintaining a high probability of detection. Targets detected in a From-To Zone will only trigger an alarm when a specifically sized object – such as a person – moves from one zone into another defined area of the camera’s field of view. Correspondingly, objects that are not detected coming from one zone into the other are ignored. From-To Zones are a very powerful method for reducing unwarranted alarms. Importantly, they can be configured to detect zones that are geo-registered to the ground. This means From-To Zones will only alarm when a person’s feet have been in the ‘From’ and then enter the ‘To’ area, while ignoring detections that only show a part of a person such as their head. This is particularly useful when the security area includes a fence, and you only want to detect pedestrians who have crossed over the perimeter into the security zone. To see how From-To Zones work in the real world, consider an application where you need to detect pedestrians approaching the perimeter, but are not concerned about people leaving the building. With From-To Zones, the camera will only trigger an alert when intruders move towards the facility – ignoring everyone else, and greatly reducing unnecessary alarms. For another example, consider a windy perimeter around an active construction site where trash blows around the scene. Inevitably, the trash will collect along the fence and grow in size…

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