Category: Feature

Sonit Jain, CEO, GajShield Infotech The sight of spammy and fake comments on social media posts and other websites is not uncommon today. Any post on a public platform is likely to be flooded with repetitive, inappropriate, and generally hate-fuelled comments in today’s day and age. This problem is particularly seen on comment forums of social media websites if proper response management and censorship is not ensured by individuals, organisations, or social media companies. As we know, social media is a big tool for marketing and optics today. When your organisation posts something on Facebook or Instagram, they wish to gauge how their target audience reacts to them. For organisations, social media response from the general public represents an important channel of communication for future research and development. So, if the comment sections of such posts are riddled with vulgar messages generated by pornbots or thousands upon thousands of other junk messages, then the purpose of social media presence for organisations is entirely defeated. One of the main technologies used to generate fake comments is AI. AI-powered bots are capable of generating spam on the internet. Misinformation through these bots can spread like wildfire over the web. From a data security angle, many of these spam comments or emails received by individuals may contain malware that can damage user devices and corrupt the data stored in them. AI systems’ ability to generate fake comments AI-powered systems can be used to create comments that may seem human-generated to an uninitiated viewer. However, the thousands and thousands of fake comments serve the purpose of overshadowing the views of actual people regarding a product, an incident, or the overall performance of a ruling government. It is well-known that people in power can use social media platforms to draw out the opinions of those who do not agree with their views. As we know, two of the main principles of cybersecurity are fairness and transparency. The generation of fake likes, comments and responses on an online platform goes against those principles, and, by extension, data security in general. Cybercriminals or big, powerful organisations, public bodies, and individuals can list the services of IT and telecommunications companies to use AI and text-generating tools to create thousands of ‘public’ comments on social media posts. The comments are generated in every forum and place where online audience interaction is present. The service-providing companies not only create fake comments but also steal information related to us ernames and profile pictures of individuals before duplicating data to create fake accounts. Due to this, the concept of net neutrality is severely threatened. If one observes the fake comments closely, they are often copy-paste jobs with a few minute variations. Often, even spelling mistakes appearing on one comment will be replicated onto several identical comments. So, how are the comments generated? Misinformation spreaders use powerful tools such as the Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), the most powerful natural language generator in the world, to create fake text and replicate it. As stated earlier, fake comments are created in such a way that they seem real. Organisations must assign a team of social media moderators to deal with this issue. Moreover, there are several AI tools that can be used to counter the problem of spamming and misinformation too. In a way, AI provides both the problem and solution in such instances. AI-generated spam can disrupt the internet As we know, spam is not just restricted to comments but other things such as emails, instant messaging texts and connected mobile devices. Text-generating devices make large volumes of data in the form of bogus blogs, spam videos, and even entire websites. Such content is driven by specific keyword phrases, and as a result, usually goes undetected by search engines such as Google Search. As expected, the relentless generation of spam content causes excessive traffic online and can be debilitating for the speed and efficiency of search engines as well as your organisation’s online operations. Such platforms must employ tools that closely monitor data all kinds of data and filter it out. The internet will not function with its characteristic nimbleness if it keeps getting inundated with spam and fake AI-generated data. While this may not be a cybersecurity-related issue, it does have a detrimental impact on the digital operations of your organisation. Ways to deal with fake accounts and comments There have been several examples of big websites eliminating millions of fake accounts to reduce clutter and misinformation spread. On their end, organisations can also take certain measures to get rid of fake accounts and comments to reduce the possibilities of malware attacks and extensive spam infestation of their social media posts. The measures to be taken to deal with fake accounts and comments are: Using some of these social media management tools can be useful to increase the traffic in your online pages in the right way. This second measure involves having a rough idea of how many followers on social media pages are real and how many are fake. While this step may be challenging, it can be countered by increasing the number of ‘real’ followers. There are specific web tools that can be used to differentiate real users from fake ones. Using these tools, the number of fake accounts can be detected, reported and blocked. A periodic audit of your online pages can be useful to get rid of fake comments on your posts. Additionally, users must be made to pass through digital gateways to scan whether they are humans or AI-generated bots. Tools such as Captcha are currently being used for the purpose. As stated earlier, fake accounts and comments threaten to take away the sovereignty of the internet and place it in the hands of a few powerful entities. On top of that, the presence of malware and Trojan horse viruses bring cyber threats into the mix. Therefore, apart from using anti-spam tools, your organisation needs to deploy the best data security products and services in order…

Every sector of industry and society has certifications and standards. Covering every area – from the origin of ingredients in our favourite foods to the robustness of industrial machinery – certification plays an important role in trust between organizations and their stakeholders. The surveillance and security sector is no different, with local, regional and international certifications and standards applying to hardware, software and the way that businesses operate. A common misperception is that two products with the same certification are of equal quality, however, this is often not the case. Axis has a philosophy of looking ‘beyond the standard;’ seeing certifications as a baseline not a target, and often bringing new products to market that far exceed the require ments of any existing or future certifications and standards. There is no doubt that certifications and standards are important. This is reflected by the need for products, services and technologies to be certified being something increasingly mandated by organizations searching for new solutions. Governments, too, in an effort to meet national objectives and goals in areas from sustainability to security, are creating new standards that they demand any businesses operating within their borders adhere to. Every business in any sector will quickly find its ability to operate and attract customers severely impeded if it can’t show that its products have achieved the required certifications. What may have once been ‘nice to haves’ are today ‘must haves.’ However, there’s also a risk associated with adherence to certifications and standards becoming too much of a ‘box-ticking’ exercise; that once this is achieved, subsequent measures of quality are less rigorously examined. Becoming too reliant on certifications and standards as the de facto measure of product quality – in all factors – can be dangerous, particularly in innovative sectors. The natural ‘lag’ in certifications While meeting certifications brings a certain peace of mind to customers and governments, they also come with challenges. In highly-innovative areas – the security and surveillance sector is certainly an example – where new technologies and capabilities are constantly being developed and brought to market, certification inevitably lags behind. Put simply, it’s impossible to define certifications and standards for something which is yet to be created. Axis and certification The fact that certification and standards lag behind innovation means that it is essential that organizations operating in such sectors set their own standards in key areas of product quality, security and ethical practices. This is certainly the case at Axis, where quality in everything the company does has been in the company’s DNA since it was founded, as it created products such as the world’s first network video surveillance camera and in each innovation since. While quality as a core value is central to what Axis develops and produces, there are three broad areas of focus for the business: Hardware: Functionality, robustness, safety, sustainability. Software: Reliability, availability, cybersecurity. People and partners: Codes of conduct, ethical behaviour, anti-corruption. In all of these areas there are established international, regional and local certifications, and Axis obtains the relevant certifications and demonstrably meets the standards required in any market in which it operates. In the vast majority of cases, the process of Axis obtaining certification is one of ‘proving’ that the company’s technologies, products and solutions meet the requirements of the certification – whether existing or new – rather than needing to ‘improve’ them to reach the standard required. The company’s internal systems, processes and frameworks mean that its products usually go far beyond subsequent certifications. Staying across certifications and standards As mentioned, it’s vital that companies like Axis are aware of the ever-changing certification and standards that are relevant to the different aspects of the business; in different sectors and industries; in every country around the world where Axis operates. It’s no small task, and one which takes the combined efforts of teams across the organization. From the perspective of hardware and software, specific Axis teams developing new strategic technologies and products will ensure that they go well beyond the industry standards. In just one recent example, Axis has taken the decision to create a new subsidiary to design and manufacture explosion-protected cameras and which has had its quality management system audited and found to be in compliance with the appropriate international standards. In doing so – and in controlling the production of the explosion-protected cameras from chip to casing – Axis can take full responsibility for product quality. Many industry segments also have specific certifications and standards, and the segment teams at Axis – from retail to transport – ensure that relevant certifications are obtained (and which can vary significantly from country to country). For instance, in the UK, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) will approve technologies that it regards as being of the standard required to help secure the nation’s most important facilities. Similar bodies exist in every industry around the world. Membership of international standards organizations is also an important way to stay informed and achieve relevant certifications. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is one such body, and has established more than 7,000 standards for electrical devices and systems. With more than 500 new standards being published by the IEC in 2020 alone – and this being just one of many international standards organizations – the challenge of staying current is obvious. Other industry organizations, associations and forums – such as ONVIF, of which Axis was one of the founders, and the Security Industry Association in the USA – can be valuable places for discovery and discussion around relevant new standards. Compliance can’t mean complacency As highlighted in the headline of this article, Axis regards certification as a ‘baseline’ – a minimum requirement rather than a target. It’s a common misperception that two products which have the same certification or meet the same standard are of the same quality. This is rarely the case. Unfortunately, certifications can become a ‘box-ticking’ exercise which takes place during the early stages of a purchasing process and which is then…

Sergey Ozhegov, CEO of SearchInform During these two years of the lockdown being on and off, business processes moved outside the offices and back inside, some security weak spots were disregarded, some of them emerged, some time was spent not working, some – wasted on financial recovery from inevitable slowing down. These factors might play a role in several biggest data breaches and security incidents India has recently faced. Air India had gone through a cyberattack on its servers which was announced in February 2021, Domino’s India’s data breach compromised the details of about 180 million orders exposing a million credit cards and other data in May – the information has recently become available outside the dark net and could be simply Googled by anyone curious. MobiKwik app’s user data was allegedly put up for sale violating the privacy of 110 million people, Facebook put at risk the contacts of 6 million Indians, 2.5 million Upstox clients got their data misused due to a third party failure to secure a data-warehouse. Juspay, payment processor, endangered the processing of records belonging to 100 million of users due to a leaked database in 2020. If last year we talked about going remote, today we see that most organisations leave employees the opportunity to work from home permanently or several days a week. We can see this tendency happens to our clients – if in 2019 the companies had slightly more than 10% of remote employees, and in 2020 they relocated most of the staffers to work remotely, then in 2021 the percentage of remote workers decreased, but not significantly. Therefore, now the information security solutions need to be developed with this factor in developers’ minds. It is well known that the transition to remote work has exacerbated information security problems. After all, it is much more difficult to control employee activity in a hybrid office (a significant part of employees has the opportunity to work at home for a certain amount of time) than in an enterprise in which information circulates exclusively within the corporate network. At the same time, under the influence of the pandemic, the number of hybrid enterprises has increased markedly. For example, according to the IDC survey, if before the pandemic in 38% of the enterprises which took part in the survey no one was allowed to work at home, then after the first wave of the coronavirus the share of such enterprises decreased to 8%. At the same time, under the influence of the pandemic, the share of companies in which over 50% of employees had the right to spend more than half of their working hours at home increased from 15% to 35%. The mindset of information security experts has changed. In the context of remote work, blocking of document transfer (financial documents, information to which the access is limited, personal data, etc.) has become critical. Therefore, the developers have strengthened and expanded the types of blocking in DLP systems. Previously, blocking features were implemented only for specific communication channels and specific applications. However, now insiders have access to hundreds of data transfer and communication channels – zoom, skype, instant messengers, video conferencing systems, etc. Therefore, there is a need for technologies that are not tied to a specific application. We are seeing an increased demand for open-source APIs. Customers want to be able to modify products for their own unique business processes, for rare or self-written software. Companies need seamless interoperability of all IT infrastructure components. We also noted that if previously the topic of moving to the cloud was practically a ‘taboo’ for information security specialists, now the use of cloud technologies for many companies started to be the new normal. The Internet is becoming more reliable and end users have less and less questions about protecting cloud storage. What do insiders leak, where to and in which ways? 80% of companies believe that internal information security incidents are more dangerous than external ones, according to SearchInform analysts based on the company’s research. The cause of these incidents can be both deliberate actions and disregard for the elementary rules of ‘cybersecurity hygiene.’ Moreover, unintentional actions of employees are the causes of information security incidents more often than deliberate and malicious ones. Alexey Drozd, head of the SearchInform information security department, believes that SMB is most exposed to information security risks. The reason is that, as a rule, they do not use specialised software that allows automated control of employee actions and information movement. Therefore, managers can’t assess the likelihood of risks and the effectiveness of possible data protection measures. To dig deeper, SearchInform analysts summarised information received about incidents in 50 SMB companies in six industries (wholesale and retail, manufacturing, services, IT, construction, thermal power), which was collected while outsourcing information security and data protection to professional services. The data collected using DLP systems showed that during the study (it lasted several months), attempts to leak data were recorded in each of 50 enterprises. It also turned out that during the attempts to leak corporate data, employees most often (in 56% of cases) used external media – flash drives, hard drives, mobile phones and other equipment. Also, email (21% of cases) and cloud (19%) follow by a wide margin. “To prevent employees from leaking data while uploading it to external media, the employer may prohibit copying data of a certain format. Or any documents on particular PCs. However, at the same time, there is a risk of slowing down some business processes, because then employees will not be able to perform part of their job duties. Therefore, such a measure must be applied pointwise. It is more efficient to use a data encryption tool – the document will be copied to an external storage, but the user will be able to open it only on authorised PCs, or if there are specific permissions (a password, for example). This will allow employees to share data, but will prevent data transfer outside the company,” as…

“Digital technologies are creating new opportunities for cities to reduce congestion and accelerate incident responses, from smart algorithms that detect and report violations; to all-in-one violation detection devices and cameras that capture high-resolution, fullcolor video – even in the lowest-light conditions” Jayden Xu, Senior ITS Solution Manager, Hikvision The 4 key trends that are shaping the future of the industry and helping agencies and authorities to manage traffic flows, detect violations, and respond to incidents more effectively. These are: Digitized ITS infrastructure delivers improved traffic outcomes Digital technology solutions are creating a range of new opportunities to reduce traffic congestion and emissions, and to improve road safety. This is achieved by sourcing and analyzing data from a range of sources, including roadside cameras and sensors, to enable a 360º view of traffic conditions, including accidents and violations. The resulting insights can be used by traffic authorities and city planners to optimize the design of road networks, and to prioritize investments in road infrastructure. Additionally, traffic police can use real-time traffic and incident data to enhance dispatch of emergency teams, or to guide traffic at key intersections to optimize traffic flow. High-quality color imaging for traffic management and violations, 24 hours a day Improving traffic conditions and road safety requires effective monitoring around the clock, with the ability to identify and react to traffic violations reliably. To achieve this, agencies need reliable video solutions, such as Hikvision traffic cameras with its top-notch imaging technology, which can capture crystal clear, colored video images, even in extremely low-light conditions, or at night. Importantly, agencies’ chosen enforcement cameras must be able capture high-quality images without emitting white light, which creates environmental issues and distracts drivers. Smart algorithms enable ‘pole mounted’ ITS devices – without compromising accuracy I n an ideal world, agencies and authorities would be able to mount roadside ITS equipment on gantries, but these are a rare sight in cities. This means it’s often more practical to take advantage of street light poles or the other available poles beside urban roadways to install ITS devices. Obviously, this places higher demand for devices with onboard algorithms that can recognize vehicle types and read number places (where necessary) with less strict device installation requirements than gantry mounted devices. ‘All in one’ devices combat speeding more efficiently Speeding is a major traffic issue in cities worldwide. But detecting vehicles breaking the speed limit usually require a coordinated effort between different devices – typically, a traffic camera, a radar, and a supplemental light. The latest trend is to increase simplicity, reduce costs, and reduce pressure on roadside mount locations, by integrating these three capabilities into a single device. Hikvision has been exploring this area for years, and we have developed all-in-one equipment for traffic violation detection use that maximizes efficiency – both in terms of space, cost, and support.  

Though analytics in video surveillance isn’t a new subject – the first analytics application appeared for Axis cameras more than 20 years ago – advances in technology have seen analytics take a step forward in recent years. And with future hardware, software and platform innovations, the ability to employ advanced edge analytics in video surveillance across every industry will accelerate further. While a key focus for Axis is developing the best quality surveillance cameras, alongside its partners it is also creating a suite of analytics that will allow customers to make optimal use of their investment in hardware. We met with Petra Bennermark, manager of analytics solutions at Axis, to both look back at the history of analytics in Axis solutions, and forward at its potential Analytics’ seems to be a word on everybody’s lips in the security and surveillance sector at the moment, Petra. But before we get into why that is, could you give us a brief history of Axis and analytics? Of course. Everybody knows Axis as a company which designs and manufactures the highest quality surveillance cameras, as we have done since we created the first network surveillance camera in 1996. With our focus on addressing our customers’ needs and use cases for surveillance, it wasn’t long after we created that first network camera that we saw the opportunity to add analytics to the camera. It was clear that an ability to analyze video information from the camera and create some sort of action or alert based on the result would immediately make our customers’ security and surveillance operations more efficient. In 2000 we added video motion detection to our cameras, alerting operators and triggering video recording when movement was detected in an otherwise static scene. A few years later, the introduction of the AXIS 242S video encoder was revolutionary in allowing analytics to be applied directly to the camera’s video feed and creating the opportunity for partner application development. In 2009 we established AXIS Camera Application Platform (ACAP), which provided more structure and the chance for a broader set of partners to develop analytics applications for our cameras. Today, the processing power of cameras, which now increasingly enables machine and deep learning, has transformed analytics capabilities. The foundation for effective video analytics is high-quality cameras with high-performance processing capabilities. And for us that starts with the advantages of designing our own chip, ARTPEC. Why is designing your own chip so important for analytics? Put simply, we can design a chip that’s 100% optimized for network video, and along with a number of other benefits, that means a hardware platform that is ideally suited for video analytics. Since the first ARTPEC chip was released in 1999, it has formed the basis for many innovations and enhancements Axis has delivered to the industry, such as Axis Lightfinder, Axis Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), Axis Zipstream. Essentially, ARTPEC provides the platform for delivering the highest-quality video, which is crucial for high-quality analytics. Through designing our own chip, we have created surveillance cameras which are incredibly powerful processing devices, and which allow us to take full advantage of having increasingly intelligent analytics placed on the ‘edge’ of the network, within the cameras. Analytics within the camera itself, close to the capture of the video, brings several benefits. It allows for faster alerts, decisions, and response without delays. Less bandwidth, storage and server infrastructure is consumed; thus, it scales better. Since the transmitted data can be limited, it also enables keeping sensitive data safe. And running analytics on the uncompressed video at the edge means that no information is lost in compression. Analytics at the edge means greater efficiency and effectiveness in the system. Alongside this, modern development tools are enabling hybrid architectures, making the best use of edge, cloudand on-premise-based server environments. This means that edge devices can do the lion’s share of the analytics, and the results can be combined with data from other sources and analyzed further on servers in the cloud or on-premise. Distributing processing throughout the system lowers costs and enables a better user experience with greater customer value. While Axis has provided analytics for many years, is the growth in the area changing the nature of Axis as an organization? I don’t think it’s changing our nature, and it certainly doesn’t change our vision of innovating for a smarter, safer world. The constant enhancements in our camera platform – with the ARTPEC chip at the foundation – enables us to develop more and improved embedded native analytics, as well as allowing our partners to create more applications. Again, this supports our goal of addressing customer needs and use cases, in security, safety and operational efficiency. Our development engineers are constantly looking to expand the analytics capabilities of our platform. This relates to both enhancing and expanding our analytics at the edge, and to the greatly improved ability to search and analyze video after it has been captured. Both areas will see big steps forward in the near future. Much of this comes from the generation of more metadata at the edge alongside the video itself. Ah, yes, ‘metadata’ – another term we’ve also been hearing a lot recently. Can you tell us what it is and why it is so useful? I n simple terms, metadata is data about other data. In video surveillance, metadata describes information about what is being viewed in the video. For instance, the classification of objects in the scene – including vehicles and people – and the attributes associated with those objects such as colors of vehicles and clothing or the direction of travel. This can be incredibly valuable in searching through vast amounts of video, potentially allowing operators to search using questions such as “find me all video in the business district containing a red car between 18.00 and 22.00 on Wednesday 25th March.” Looking forward, it will also be central to spotting patterns and trends which will be valuable in organizational planning. The potential for business intelligence…

Nikhil Kothary, Founder & CEO of VAMS Global The last 18 months of transition has freed the security industry. The majority is now wise to the fact that processes of visitor management and access control are of paramount importance. Building committees and business organizations are exploring how they best can create a rounded on-site strategy to manage all manner of human encounters to minimize risk. There are several software and hardware solutions that make these strategies easier for building managers and business owners – most notably visitor management systems. These solutions allow customization of the visiting experience with the added advantage of data to inform real-time decisions. Without further ado, we explain the 4 different strategies of using these solutions to ensure safer workplaces, residences, and public buildings for the future. 1. Brisk, touchless check-ins COVID transmission has risen to the top of every mind when discussing the dangers of social mingling and movement through building bottlenecks; and time wasted in reception areas is a long-standing annoyance. Ideally, there is a simple solution to this – there should be no (or minimal) contact between receptionists, security guards, and visitors, and certainly no paper logbook that demands time-wasting scribbles. A visitor management system acts as the perfect medium between parties, offering your visitors a quick, seamless sign-in experience that utilizes touchless kiosks and smartphone QR access codes, eliminating queues and crowds. It won’t take a minute – it will take seconds! And how is all the visitor data managed? From a convenient central dashboard and double-check applications that ensure data security. You can manage multiple locations from one central dashboard and analyze how visitors are populating your premises. It’s a wonderful set of tools! 2. Identification entails more known variables At any given time, you might know the exact identity of only a fraction of the total number of people walking through your doors. You may not even know why they are coming nor when and if they are leaving. These are unknown variables that need to be made known. How do you solve this? Establish a strong checkin progression: Incorporate the requirement for photos and other unique visitor identity details into your visitor authentication and management system (VAMS) for first-time visitors. You can also have a provision to print visitor badges/ passes at check-in for their use while on the premises. To keep it paperless, a ‘soft pass’ with QR code verification also works. To go a step further, fingerprint, body temperature, and other biometric systems can also be integrated into a VAMS. If someone has a feverish temperature, you will know. Categorize passes, badges, or labels based on the groups of people coming in – interviewees and job applicants, contract laborers, cleaning and maintenance staff, food/ package delivery people, and employees can be easily made distinguishable based on their passes. 3.Utilize watchlists to screen visitors How do you disallow access to recurring salesmen, disgruntled ex-employees, and other troublemakers? A watchlist. A data-rich VAMS allows you to create a list of undesirable visitors which you can later refer to. Later, when the same visitors return, receptionists can run background checks on the internal database (or third-party databases) to swiftly notify security guards of these known variables. As we mentioned earlier, a VAMS can have one central dashboard for information, and that can be referred to by any number of branches an organization may have. That means any troublemaker put on your watchlist in one location is put on them all! This boosts security across your entire enterprise. Can you customize the watchlist for other functions? You bet. Watchlists can also be calibrated based on health questionnaire responses in the check-in process on smartphones and PCs. If a visitor’s answers indicate symptoms, they will be placed on a watchlist and denied entry. Your company will also have the log of their filled-in questionnaire for legal purposes, should they arise. 4.Real-time alerts for emergencies What do you do when an emergency emerges out of the blue? Unpredictable situations are the only predictable forecast in any dynamic, human populated system like an office or public building. A well-calibrated VAMS can have automatic notifications sent to hosts when a visitor fails the health questionnaire and pre-screening protocol. Then, there are large critical events, when sending an emergency alert to your entire office could be necessary for their wellbeing. Any unanticipated environmental, political, or health crisis could require action from your security team to ensure the safety of everyone possibly involved. Response times always matter in times of emergency. A VAMS can send instant alerts, instructions, and health information to those in danger. With these 4 socially responsible strategies, a business organization or public building can pacify their returning employees, enabling them to gain trust in the process. As time goes by, the protocols put in place will ensure a safer environment that will endure. VAMS Global is one such visitor management system supplier that can aid in your strategies to win back trust in the workplace.  

Image quality is vital when you strive to deliver industry-leading video systems that harness the power to predict. When combined with built-in AI, enhanced imaging quality enables more relevant data to support predictive solutions in security and beyond. Cameras are often challenged to capture images and fast-moving objects in changing lighting conditions ranging from bright sunlight to dimly lit or low-light conditions. At the same time, an increasing percentage of noise may occur, leading to grainy images and a loss of detail that may obscure the desired information. With next-level starlight X and HDR X technologies from Bosch, light sensitivity is vastly improved and motion blur eliminated, enabling X series cameras from Bosch to overcome these typical challenges day and night. Excellent imaging with starlight X Starlight technology from Bosch has long been the gold standard in low-light video performance, enabling Bosch cameras to capture color detail even when light levels drop to near zero. Now, Bosch brings starlight X technology with next-level light sensitivity technology to provide clear and relevant images regardless of lighting conditions, time of day, or object movement. Starlight X combines large pixel sensors, advanced image processing, and noise suppression algorithms to significantly improve sensitivity over regular starlight cameras. It provides more detail due to lower noise and ensures color images down to 0.0061 lux due to its new custom optics. This new technology also boosts monochrome sensitivity to the next level to offer improved performance in extreme lowlight scenes. By capturing maximum detail in challenging scenes, starlight X enables Intelligent Video Analytics to provide even more relevant data that supports informed decisions. Low light comparison of starlight to starlight X in 1080p resolution Low light comparison of anoth Motion-optimized HDR X Standard HDR technology combines multiple images with different exposure times to increase the overall dynamic range ensuring the capture of detailed images in scenes that have both light and dark areas. HDR X, a combination of large pixel sensors, custom-optics, and Bosch imaging algorithms, generates two readouts from one short exposure with different gain levels. This lens-sensor combination generates a High Dynamic Range frame without any HDR blur and artefacts. The result is an enhanced dynamic range (up to 144dB) that is motion-optimized to capture the highest level of detail in challenging scenes with both dark and bright areas, while eliminating blur and artefacts caused by the movement of objects.  

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may not be as large as companies in the enterprise market, but they are equally important in contributing revenue to the economy. According to World Bank, formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies. They represent about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. SMEs grapple with tight budgets, fewer administrative resources, and lack of in-house IT talent, particularly in the face of the unique challenges brought on by the pandemic. However, in truth, with the technology being matured and more products available in the marketplace resulting in cost reductions, the security goals of SMEs are evolving and getting more advanced. Gaining a proactive approach with AI Security installers around the world have been asked for optimal solutions that can help SMEs balance budget and security needs. With a lack of administrative resources, it is less likely for SME customers to have dedicated security personnel to look after daily security operation and management. Sometimes when a security breach occurs and loss suffered, there could be a gap in security for a considerable amount of time until they have noticed it. Today, technology has taken video intelligence to the next level with increased accuracy and performance, thanks to AI development and deep learning algorithms. There are many industries and markets where AI already is making an impact in significant ways, including SMEs who used to be faced with thousands of recorded videos finding evidence of an event. Now, they can enjoy real-time and accurate alerts with fewer distractions. They also gain a proactive approach by identifying potential hazards before they happen – and all this at only a small incremental cost to their business. One example is the use of Hikvision’s security devices with AcuSense technology powered by AI. AcuSense works to distinguish between human, vehicle and other objects using its smart algorithms. This means it can filter out security alerts associated with human (and/ or vehicle) only triggered those for further attention and action. This greatly helps SME customers save on the overall labor cost that could otherwise be used for business improvement. Seeing with clarity and color Video systems have embraced the evolution of resolution for some time – from 480 to 720 pixels to 1080 pixels, and now 4K. People want to see more and see more detail when they are needed. For SME customers, this is not an area they would risk compromising in a security system. Why? Imagine if they find a video clip containing key evidence of an event, but the video images are grainy and unclear. This would make it difficult to see a face, or to distinguish the color of clothing or of an automobile. All efforts would be in vain. Research shows that color is important to aid clarity, improving object recognition.2 It also shows us that in the CCTV world, there is a ‘strong correlation’ between camera performance and color fidelity.3 The ability to see detail and color in the dark is one of the most important aspects of a security camera and there are many technical factors that influence this ability. For example, the sensitivity of the image sensor, the lens aperture, and applied image processing. Today’s new technologies have empowered modern video cameras to see better in any light and in high resolution. Hikvision’s security cameras with its signature ColorVu technology are a great example of this. They guarantee video with colorful details even in extremely dark scenarios. A next-generation series of the cameras goes even further, using 4K Ultra high definition (UHD) to deliver crisp images that provide richer detail. Checking in remotely and respond promptly The enhanced ease of connectivity and scalable bandwidth made possible by cloud technology is stimulating more companies, including SMEs, to connect a lot more video security cameras to their networks. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300805341_The_Contribution_of_Color_to_Object_Recognition https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228540075_Colour_analysis_and_verification_of_CCTV_images_under_different_lighting_conditions Having all the security systems and data tucked in an IT closet is no longer in the best interests of many SMEs. Push notifications, remote viewing of video, and cloud services are now mainstream for SME customers and their security solutions must support these capabilities. Among others, Hikvision’s Hik-Connect app offers seamless connection with all its security devices, allowing SME customers to view real-time videos, playback, and receive event notifications remotely wherever they are. This means they can monitor remotely, or even open a door with audio communication for example. This really saves SME customers some time as they go about their busy day. Looking to the future Beyond security and monitoring use cases, SME companies are taking advantage of a raft of new technologies like AI, cloud service, technological convergence to undertake a range of tasks. Whether it is by utilizing a proactive security approach to look after their people and assets, or by upgrading their standard security system to high definition to look clearer and act precisely. Or expanding the system with audio, intercom and access control to automate processes. Or keeping a watchful eye on their day-to-day business operations remotely. All in all, they are quick to seize on the possibilities offered by today’s next-generation video systems to maximize return on investment (RoI) with the lowest cost of ownership. With international organizations such as the World Bank lending more services and improving their access to finance, SMEs will continue to grow and embrace more possibilities. Discover more: https://www.hikvision.com/en/core-technologies/deep-learning/ acusense/ https://www.hikvision.com/en/core-technologies/low-light-imaging/ colorvu/ https://www.hikvision.com/en/products/software/hik-connect/  

It’s often been said that the way of working will change even after COVID restrictions are behind us. More people are remote working, and that’s set to continue. But these changes have been happening in the background for a while – with new attitudes changing the environment we work in. Consider that regular work activity – the meeting. These are changing from longer ‘presentation-led’ meetings to more versatile collaboration-style ones using digital presentation; and those require a different kind of space and technology support. New workforce = new work environment According to Futuresource, 75% of the workforce will consist of digital natives by 2030. This makes them key factors in how the workplace will change1 . This group thrives on digital ways of working, since they are the first group to have grown up entirely surrounded with digital technology. So a millennial is less likely to respond to a long meeting around a conference table with a turgid presentation. The new attitude towards meetings is that they should be dynamic, with clear actions and results. These are more collaborative brainstorms, where a smaller group of people can really discuss and co-present. Many employees are much more likely to engage and be productive in this kind of environment. There is one trend that has been directly affected by the pandemic – the flexibility of access to meetings. With more people remote working, the ability to connect together into a meeting space has become crucial. That can be done using an online platform, or as a hybrid, also including a smaller meeting room. In this way, more people can be included, maximizing effective outputs from the meeting. According to Reuters, in December 2019, Zoom reported 10 million daily users. Three months later, the number of Zoom’s daily participants jumped to more than 200 million2 . This was driven by the impact of the pandemic, but predictions are that significant growth is set to continue. Enter digital presentation This dynamic shift in the way meetings are held has a direct impact on the facilities and AV/ IT managers of the world. These are the people tasked to make it work. In some organizations it’s even led to office redesigns, with more small spaces replacing the larger, more traditional conference rooms. This is a trend that’s also set to continue – according to Futuresource, 66% of companies say dedicated technology for informal meeting spaces is a medium/ high priority. But what about presenting tools? Although the majority of presentations are still done using Powerpoint, higher levels of collaboration need a different kind of screen, for example. It’s important for more than one person to be able to annotate the screen directly, for example. People need to be able to connect wirelessly from their own devices (also known as BYOD, or bring your own device) to provide input. Remote team members need to have a way to ‘dial in’ and be involved in the meeting. This is perhaps why 2021 global sales are expected to grow to 2.5 million Interactive Displays, representing a 12% increase. Making a screen interactive All these functions are part of the design of Hikvision’s Interactive Displays. The embedded software turns the screen into a fully-functional white board. This means more than one person can annotate on it at any one time. They are able to write more ‘naturally’ on the sensitive multi-touch point surface. It also allows zooming in and out to focus on details as they work. In the new digital workplace, meeting contributors want to be able to concentrate on the discussion. This can mean they aren’t distracted by taking notes at the same time. So they don’t miss anything, the screens save the input being created as the meeting progresses. There’s almost no limitation to the amount of pages stored, so even if participants are seized with inspiration lengthening the meeting, the work is saved. The content can then be shared by email for further reference or action. The screen design includes technologies to make them as clear as possible. They have 4K ultra-HD resolution, a crystal screen to resist scratches and anti-glare technology, so bright lights does not affect clarity. Making digital presentation accessible Usability is a central part of the Interactive Display design. They have simple icon commands, which react to use. For example, the whiteboard/ annotation function icon pops up when the pen is picked up, ready for immediate use. They look good too, stylishly finished to make and meeting space look elegant and efficient. Content can be sent to the screen directly, using it as an AP hotspot. This allows users to control their content presentation, even when it’s on their laptop or mobile device. The screens support wireless projections of up to 4 devices simultaneously, so multiple users can ‘present,’ facilitating collaboration and brainstorming. The screens can be used for fluid and seamless video conferencing, using Zoom, Teams, and Webex platforms. They are equipped with an integrated 8MP camera, incorporating the expertise of Hikvision as a leading camera manufacturer, making interactivity easier. They also come with an omnidirectional microphone, integrated speakers, and OPS box (to support Windows), making a complete video conferencing solution. There is even the option to mount the interactive display on a trolley to move around and use in different rooms. All of this provides a flexible platform to host an effective, energizing meeting for the 21st century workplace. The world of work has been changing for a while, and the recent global health phenomenon has fueled this transformation. By harnessing interactive screen technology, facility managers can meet employee needs by providing truly flexible and collaborative meeting resources. Digital presentations can be interactive and productive, leaving the traditional dry ‘death-by-Powerpoint’ experience firmly in the past. Futuresource Changing Workforce Technology Trends 2020 https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/02/zooms-daily-activeusers-jumped-from-10-million-to-over-200-million-in3-months/  

Private clouds are most often used by government municipals, military bases, and financial institutions. Essentially, places with critical operations need greater control over their security. In fact, multiple organizations such as banks, schools, and hospitals use private cloud networks either by law or due to the security it enables them to offer their customers’ sensitive data. The private cloud model is referred to as ‘PaaS’ or Platform-as-a-Service. The client can store data, run programs, and back up information in a virtual environment provided by servers in a different physical location on their own. While the option is available for organizations to forge their own private cloud networks, most opt to use a secure network provided by a third party. It removes the added hurdle of management and maintenance from their busy schedules. Multi-fold benefits The benefits of the private cloud are multi-fold. The private cloud provides organizations with cloud resources dedicated to their sole use and is not shared with other customers. This means increased security of an isolated network while also adding increased performance due to the fact that resources are dedicated to one organization. A critical factor that leans numerous organizations toward the private cloud is its similarities with Local Area Networks (LANs). Here, it is not a substantial logistical leap for a business using LAN to relocate a section of their data to the cloud. Firewalls When it comes to highly sensitive employee or customer data such as medical records or banking statements, private cloud networks can help ensure that this information stays secure and protected. In a private cloud network, resources are only accessible from behind a distinct firewall. ewall. Yet, regardless of how secure a network is, they can still crash. Naturally, this can be a troubling development for companies that depend on networks to secure sensitive information. In comparison, private cloud networks offer a virtual environment that is far more resilient to failures. Because private cloud networks can operate throughout multiple servers, this creates partitions between each that allow them to pull resources from different areas. For companies that depend on the constant availability of their cloud-based network, this is a vital benefit of private cloud. It dramatically reduces the likelihood of downtime. Customization While the public cloud offering may be cheaper, it can also lack flexibility and customization. Clients can also feel the impact of other client loads, traffic, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and physical maintenance, like when changes or upgrades are required to the system’s architecture. Another main benefit of the private cloud is that users can mine their data inhouse. They can run reports to discover how many panels are running, what kind of panels they are, specific areas these panels are placed etc. This data will enhance their servers and determine what is in the field and what can be improved. On top of that, they can have their own branding for their Software-as-a-Service offering. The private cloud also offers users the opportunity to react very quickly to specific issues that may arise such as firmware upgrades. You can do all this without having to go onsite, thus saving time and money. A private cloud also allows you to predict maintenance, again proving to be a cost-effective option. Simply put, you have ultimate control. The benefits of private cloud networks are clear: enhanced security, increased control, improved reliability, and greater efficiency.