Category: National

Prama Hikvision, India’s leading provider of innovative video surveillance products and solutions, organized the ‘Bravery Awards’ ceremony at the Hikvision Expo held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 11 September 2019. Commenting on the occasion, Ashish P. Dhakan, MD and CEO, Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. said, “We are happy to honour the policemen in Chennai for their exemplary services by presenting the Bravery Awards. We are committed to our vision of making citizen’s security a top priority. The awards are a step forward in inspiring the police professionals to go beyond their call of duty and enable a secure environment for the citizens across the country. The Bravery Awards truly reiterate our vision of pursuing excellence in security technology implementation in India and encourage us to further set higher standards in security and surveillance industry through breakthrough solutions.” Hikvision’s team of experts presented the best-in-class technologies and product innovations through technical sessions during the expo. They also unveiled the latest products, applications, and innovative solutions including artificial intelligence, AI cloud, big data and IoT. “We got overwhelming response to our latest range of IP cameras, PIR cameras, access control products, video door phones, Ezviz cameras, face recognition terminals and swing gates, Smart Pole, ECS (emergency call switch) etc., at the event,” added Mr. Ashish. The Bravery Awards were presented to the recipients by Shankar Narayan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Chennai. In his keynote address Mr. Narayan elaborated the usefulness of video surveillance technology in controlling the crime incidents. He recounted a recent event, where a chain snatching case was solved by the Chennai Police with the help of CCTV monitoring. He complimented Prama Hikvision India for taking initiative in recognizing police personnel and awarding them with Bravery Awards. The Bravery Awards were given to 10 police personnel of Chennai police for their exemplary services, who have shown exceptional courage beyond the call of their duty. The awards were presented to – K. Palavesam, Inspector of Police; M. Malarvannan, SI; Kanagraj, SI; M. Jothiprakash, SSI; D. Pandidurai, SI; A. Jayaram, SI; M. Ashok Kumar, HC 26233; R.R. Venkatesan, SI; G. Ponnuvelu, HC, 32305 and P. Kannan, SI. As a part of their pan-India initiative, Hikvision Expo was organized with the core objective of promoting security technology awareness among the security professionals, citizens and channel partners, and therefore all the key stakeholders of security ecosystem partners were invited at the show. The Hikvision Expo provided the latest security and surveillance technology updates by experts in special interactive sessions and live demonstrations. It got an overwhelming response from the security professional community which made the event successful.  

The position of India as Patol’s strongest export market continues as the UK-based industrial fire detection specialist supplies its Firesense Linear Heat Detection Cable (LHDC) for yet another project. The Ultra Tech Balaji Cement Plant is part of the Aditya Birla Group, a major cement producer in India. Located in Jaggayyapeta in Andhra Pradesh, the plant is one of the several producing a wide variety of cements specifically designed to cater for customer’s specific requirements in different markets. Providing effective fire detection in such hostile and dusty environments can prove difficult. Chosen for this application, partly due to its successful implementation in a variety of industrial environments throughout India, was the LHDC manufactured by Patol. LHDC is a cost-effective option for providing early detection of fire and overheating in applications that would not ordinarily be viable, either through the inability to sustain the environment requirements or through prohibitive costs. Some 15 kilometres of LHDC and associated controllers were supplied through Fireknock, an Indian company specialising in the consultation, supply, installation and maintenance of fire fighting and electronic security. The LHDC is protecting the cable trays in an unmanned area in which the plant’s high voltage cables are located, carrying electricity to the cement factory and its associated power plant. Through the system’s integration with an automatic water spray system, any fire incident is quickly and effectively addressed without the need for any manual intervention. Commenting on the project, Kelvin Miller, Sales Director, Patol said, “India has always been one of our most important export markets which is why we have a dedicated sales operation in the country. We have been working in this market now for over 25 years, during which time we have supplied around 10 million metres of our LHDC to a wide range of projects throughout India.” Cement plants are one of the many industrial environments that suited to the fire protection performance of Patol’s LHDC, with another recent project seeing the company protecting the flagship site of UK cement producer Cemex. Patol has considerable expertise in the design, manufacturing and supply of specialist fire detection products and services. The particular requirements of national standards, client specifications or project needs are a standard aspect of Patol’s design & engineering service. Patol’s expertise ranges from discrete military vehicle monitoring modules through to multi-discipline systems covering all fire protection, process control and security aspects. At Patol, application engineering and system design are conducted with rigid adherence to the client specifications. In addition, Patol’s engineers always apply their knowledge of projects of similar rigours.  

Fortinet® has recently announced that IndiGo, one of India’s largest airlines, has deployed Fortinet Secure SDWAN solution across its branch offices to secure its WAN edge. IndiGo is the largest passenger airline in India with a market share of 46.9 percent as of March, 2019. The airline connects to 58 domestic and 19 international destinations and operates more than 1300 flights everyday. It is also the largest individual Asian low-cost carrier in terms of jet fleet size and passengers carried, and the seventh largest carrier in Asia. With a fleet size of 222 aircrafts, IndiGo has served over 300 million customers globally. IndiGo’s growing passenger traffic combined with poor MPLS network and Internet quality had resulted in delays for customers accessing their applications for flight booking, call centers, airport counters and flight status checking, adversely affecting their business. To avoid delays and provide the best possible user experience for business-critical applications, the airline decided to adopt a hybrid WAN model, supporting its 54 airport counters, that would be able to distribute traffic over a variety of links, including MPLS, Broadband and Internet Leased Line. IndiGo selected Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution to provide best of breed SDWAN integrated with security capabilities with one single offering. As part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution combines networking and security features such as routing, WAN optimization, application control and next-generation firewall, enabling IndiGo to manage and configure its WAN and security system from a single-pane-of-glass view. IndiGo has also deployed multiple FortiGate next-generation firewalls at 54 airport counters and in their datacenters, along with FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer for management and analytics. As a result, IndiGo can now map WAN resources directly making the network more efficient and responsive by combining scalability, flexibility, simplicity and cost savings with industry-leading security protection through Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution. Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC at Fortinet said, “Many customers are currently forced to use multiple point products and management consoles to achieve a secure SD-WAN connection. This separation of network and security operations is not only labor-intensive, but also makes performance and security a bottleneck to move towards direct internet access. Fortinet’s unique combination of next-generation firewall and SD-WAN in the same offering, managed through a single centralized controller has seen tremendous momentum in customer adoption and received two consecutive SDWAN ‘Recommended’ ratings from NSS Labs.”  

The Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital is one of the top most renowned institutions in Bhutan delivering healthcare services. The hospital caters to the population of Thimphu and neighboring districts. The hospital not only functions as the national referral hospital for the entire country but also functions as regional referral hospital for the western district, district hospital for Thimphu district, human resources pool and technical backup for district hospitals, clinical training centre for the Royal Institute of Health Sciences (RIHS), and technical support to the public health programs.   Challenges As the hospital works round the clock, one of the major concerns was to manage complex shifts of employees. Elevator control, where only users with access rights can call the elevator, was another challenge the hospital wanted to meet. Furthermore, the customer also wanted a solution, with the help of which the admin could assign entry and exit points for patients, visitors and employees. Lastly, the management wanted to restrict visitor entry to a pre-defined time and rooms of the hospital for better visitor management. Solution offered Matrix pitched its access control, time-attendance and visitor management solution along with the different variants of biometric devices, which fulfill every requirement of the hospital. Around 206 devices were installed in the hospital, which are used in controlling access at rooms and elevators. Devices were installed at the main entrance, ward rooms, server rooms, outside elevators and at ramps on every floor to restrict access. So, there is no individual in the building who is not enrolled in the system. As the hospital works 24 hours, there are multiple shifts in which the employees work. Through this, the hospital can manage multiple shifts of employees. Approximately, 700 visitor profiles were created with constrained time to visit, limited rooms to enter and a pre-defined route of access. Also, crowd at the elevator was controlled by restricting the use to only users with elevator access rights.   Results JDWNRH fulfilled its requirement with Matrix People Mobility Solution and achieved the following results: Simplified security by restricting un-authorized entry. Reduced complexity of shifts. Crowd controlling through elevator access control. Time based and zone based entry restrictions for visitors and patients.  

Matrix COSEC ARC 200 DC is a standalone access control IP panel based on ‘IP to Door’ concept eliminating the need of age-old individual cable laying requirements between access panel to a reader or lock for access control applications. It supports two Matrix RFID or fingerprint readers on RS-485 or third party readers on Wiegand interface for entry or exit. SSL based secure communication between controller and server makes it ideal for critical or simple access control applications for any organisation. Key features 2-door controller. Mobile based access. Wi-Fi or PoE+ IT infrastructures. New age bluetooth based credentials. Compact and easy to install. Multiple mounting options. Auto push event data. 50,000 users and 5,00,000 event storage capacity. Access control and auxiliary devices interfaces. Innovative design. Power to lock. 3rd party readers support  

  Fire safety assumes huge significance equally for a corporate and/ or a small enterprise. It begets proportionate impact on the businesses, and any lapse therein brings overwhelming bearing on the safety of personnel (loss of life), property, and data etc., and ultimately on the business of both entities. Majority of researches hitherto on the fire incidents that occurred across all business domains affirm that the ‘first responder’ plays the key role in diverting and mitigating the impact of a fire incident – whether the person is a security guard or an employee, or anyone else for that matter. His/ her prompt and correct reaction to the detection of fire may save many precious lives, and assets worth billions, while an erratic and/ or panic ridden reaction may cause loss of similar metrics. The compliance of building parameters as defined in the NBC 2005 in terms of the installation of fire detection and suppression systems within the building and in a premise also plays an equal role. There is a large number of fire incidents where the AP Securitas security guards have taken prompt and courageous actions to save lives and properties. They brought us laurels and appreciations from across the clients. We discuss one of the cases here: Profile of premise The branch office of one of our corporate clients is housed on the 4th and 5th floor of a five story building, called Bhanot House in Yusuf Sarai, New Delhi. While the branch manager and his staff operate from 4th floor, the advisors and others function from 5th. The aforesaid corporate client got the fire panel installed on both floors for fire detection and subsequent alarm. Their office working hours are from 09.30AM to 06.30PM, and the employees strength is approximately 150 including advisors/ agents. They observe every Wednesday as the ‘lights out day.’ Two security guards are on duty at a time in the day – one at each floor. There is no security guard at night after office closes in the evening. The building security at night is assigned to another security provider. Incident profile At about 06.30pm on the fateful day of 17 July 2019, when most of the employees had left and it was time to close the office, the branch manager instructed Uday Singh, who was the security guard deployed at 4th floor, to take a round of 5th floor and switch off all lights, and ensure that all employees had left. Mr. Angad who had left earlier that day due to some urgency at his home was the usual security guard at the 5th floor. While Uday Singh was climbing the staircase, he heard a hooter alarm. He rushed upstairs to the fifth floor where he found the training room was full of smoke up to the ceiling. There was a short circuit in the LED light mounted on the ceiling. The smoke had already spread through ceiling to the adjacent Server Room. He took prompt response, switched off the mains immediately and shouted loudly – FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! – to inform the branch manager. He dialed 101 to inform Delhi Fire Services of the fire in the premise, picked up the fire extinguisher installed on the 5th floor and entered the training room where the fire was in full blaze by then. Notwithstanding the risk to his own life, he used the fire extinguisher and doused the fire. Further, he proceeded to the Server Room which was locked by a glass door, broke the glass door and extinguished the fire using a second fire extinguisher. This is how he was able to save vital data stored in the server, and loss of other assets of not only premises of our client but of the entire building. The branch manager and the admin are the eye witness of this act of our brave security guard. This is just one incident which has been illustrated here but there are several others. For instance, two similar incidents took place in a premise of Sujan Vihar, Sector 43, Gurugram where the AP Securitas security guards saved the flat from fire in 2017. The fire broke out there when the owners of the flats had gone to their offices. Later, the concerned security guard was awarded cash prize by the RWA. In another similar incident in 2018, our security guard Buddha Prakash showed his dutifulness and saved the head office of another client from devastation due to fire located at Rattan Square building near Burlington Chowk, Lucknow. Lessons learnt Following vital lessons can be drawn out of these incidents: Adequate focus and weightage to fire safety in all types of training. Need to check premises on a daily basis just before the offices are closed. The importance of fire detection and suppression system in giving the early warning of the incident. Significance of multiple tasks needed to be done in a short span of time on detection of fire by the first responder. Selection of the right fire extinguishers for the type of fire identified. The training and confidence level of the first responder i.e., the security guard hold key to the success of the operation at the grass root level. The degree of ownership displayed and risk appetite demonstrated to depend upon the motivation and inspiration drawn from his trainer. The established system of reward and recognition in the company to enhance the level of motivation to security guards. Conclusion The score of high profile fire accidents during this year in Delhi-NCR and elsewhere in India has drawn the attention of the concerned authorities that resulted in the tightening of rules and regulations. However, the continuous pressure needs to be kept to ensure compliance. We in the APS Group take pride to state that our clientele has benefitted at large and ensured their premises are safe and secure through the dedicated team efforts of APS training team by ensuring regular fire safety inspections, fire safety audits, conceptualizing of building evacuation plans, ERT training, and…

The Delhi chapter of the Enterprise IT World and Infosec Foundation’s Security Symposium and Awards 2019 has been successfully concluded. The event is a series of 4 city CISO events aimed at initiating discussions on the security questions among the security leaders in the metro cities – Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, and Mumbai. The theme for this year’s Security Symposium is ‘Zero Trust Security: Capitalizing on the Adoption Wave.’ At a time when cybersecurity breaches have become a contributor to the economic crisis in India, a platform like this allows the stakeholders to come together and discuss ways to control and mitigate the economic impact of cybercrime. The series of events saw a huge turnout wherein the security leaders came in and participated in panel discussions on topics like ‘Protecting Your Company and Your Customers from Cyber Attacks,’ and ‘Why a Zero-Trust Approach Can Make the Cloud More Secure.’ The Delhi chapter, Security Symposium, held at Hotel Le-Meridian on 9th August, was inaugurated by Lt. Gen Rajesh Pant (Retd.), Chief of National Cyber Coordination Centre; Dr. Pawan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court; Ms Orly Naomi Goldschmidt Gartner, First Secretary (Public Diplomacy), Israel Embassy; Sanjay Mohapatra, Group Editor, Enterprise IT World; and Sushobhan Mukherjee, Chairman, InfoSec Foundation and CEO – Prime Infoserv. In his inaugural address, Lt Gen Rajesh Pant (Retd.) said, “Cybercrime is taking away 2.5 percent of the GDP. In a tight microeconomic situation, the impact of cybercrime on the nation is very serious, this makes cybersecurity so crucial.” Emphasising the government’s stake on the issue, Pant said that the centre is working on a new strategy for cybersecurity that will be released early next year and will take into account the newly emerging technological threats with regards to 5G, IoT, and the likes. This new cyber security strategy is expected to set norms and standards that would help the enterprises to navigate towards a secure digital transformation. Dr. Pawan Duggal elaborated on the legal aspects of cybersecurity as prevalent in countries across the world and highlighted the areas where India’s own legal framework is lacking with respect to a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. In addition to the keynote sessions and discussions, the leading CIOs and CISOs in the enterprise market were recognized with the Cyber Sentinel Awards 2019.  

Abdullah A. M. Al-Khodari Sons Company is a multifaceted contracting company in Saudi Arabia. This company conducts business in diverse sectors such as civil engineering, roads and bridges, railways, buildings and infrastructure, water and waste-water treatment, oil-gas and pipelines. It has 25 construction sites across the Middle East. Managing time-attendance, shifts, overtime and leave of 20,000 employees at different locations was a challenging process for them, and they wanted a centralized time-attendance solution that would enable them to manage attendance data from a central location and speed up the payroll process. Challenges Al-Khodari is engaged in widespread construction activities with 60 construction sites in the Middle East. Managing time-attendance, shifts, leave and overtime of 20,000 employees at different locations is a very time consuming and tedious task. Previously, the customer was using hand geometry solution, which was very time-consuming. Workers also found it difficult to place their palms in the proper position. Managing time-attendance data of all employees on a central level was also becoming difficult for the company. Furthermore, the head office was using a different time-attendance solution in comparison to other sites. The head office processed the salary of employees after receiving an attendance summary from each of their branches. The process of salary calculation with respect to working hours and overtime of each employee took around 10 days. Moreover, there were chances that the attendance data was inaccurate, leading to loss of efficiency and employee dissatisfaction. To overcome such challenges, the company required a centralized time-attendance and access control solution which could be managed and controlled from the head office. Solution After discussing all of their problems and requirements Matrix offered web based COSEC CENTRA time-attendance and access control solution for their multi located branches across the Middle East. It automated all time-attendance processes right from recording entries to processing salaries. COSEC CENTRA access control solution allows controlling access on three simultaneous dimensions – user, zone and time. Optical fingerprint-based time-attendance and access control terminal COSEC DOOR FOP was installed to mark the attendance and get access using fingerprint credentials. As per assigned access rules and time-attendance policies, access is allowed or denied, and event data would be pushed from all devices to the COSEC CENTRA server in real-time. COSEC CENTRA server is installed at the head office where attendance data of all locations is collected centrally. Various types of time-attendance reports and charts can be generated for faster and accurate salary calculation. Results The time required for salary calculation reduced by 30%. Productivity increased by 20%. Control of all sites through a live monitoring window. Error-free time-attendance and overtime data. Database management of all employees. Centralized report generation.  

Secureye, one of the leading security and surveillance solutions providers in both commercial and residential space, has recently launched 4G Wi-Fi outdoor camera with advanced tech integrations for the common users. The model SIP-2HDG-W40 is equipped with the latest path breaking technologies to keep the homes safe and secure. It is equipped with motion detection alarm, APP remote monitoring, intelligent Wi-Fi configurations, 24/7 monitoring capabilities and huge storage space; thus, making it the go to product for any consumer looking to ensure their safety. The home security space has evolved so much over the years that every bit of tech integration upgrades the whole ecosystem by many notches. Manish Agarwal, Director, Secureye said, “Home security is a prime concern for everyone. The product offerings from Secureye are built keeping in mind the tech innovations in the industry so that we can outdo the products available in the market. Our offerings are not just good but are always ahead of its peers. We hope that the cost-effective home solutions will keep everyone smiling without the threat of an untoward incident.” The video surveillance market which is growing at 10.5% CAGR is already over Rs.5000 crore in India. Fueled by the infra growth in both commercial and residential space the market is going to see lots of tractions in the demand for surveillance equipment.  

Videonetics, the world leading visual computing platform development company, has launched one of the world’s first safety and security solutions for safer workforce, safer workplace and industrial township monitoring, powered by its patented DeeperLook™ – artificial intelligence and deep learning platform for critical infrastructure, heavy industries, manufacturing plants, factories, construction sites, and warehouses etc. Indigenously developed on AI & DL DeeperLook™ platform, Videonetics industrial solution is designed with emphasis on preventive security, centralized visibility, along with efficiently complying to occupational safety and health (OSH) and safety, health and environment (SHE) standard. The industrial security and safety solution ensures safer workforce and workplace, and helps optimize business operations. As per the International Labour Organization (ILO), nearly 2.8 million workers die each year from occupational hazards and work-related diseases. An additional 374 million workers suffer from non-fatal occupational accidents. The workdays lost because of accidents cost as much as 4% of the world’s GDP. Apart from the OSH related concerns, organizations are facing other challenges such as violence, terrorism, worker agitations, disgruntled employees, theft and pilferage. It is the moral and legal responsibility of businesses to provide safe and secure workplaces. The solution suite includes personal protection equipment (PPE) detection such as safety helmets, safety jackets/ aprons, safety glasses, safety boots etc. It has manifold applications such as production/ manufacturing floor area monitoring, worker behavior monitoring, person slip & fall detection, oil/ water spillage detection, worker head count and zone monitoring, person occupancy and heat-map, fire & smoke detection, graffiti and vandalism detection, property cleanliness detection and garbage management, crowd formation detection, perimeter protection, object classification, theft & pilferage detection, movement of fork lifts or other machinery inside shop floors, vehicle entry-exit monitoring using ANPR for effective gate management, vehicle movement inside plant area monitoring using ANPR, parking zone monitoring, and speed detection, facial recognition, employee management etc., to name a few. There are many other use cases which can be developed to meet specific needs of an industry vertical. The solution also supports open framework for integration with 3rd party systems such as SCADA, IBMS, HRMS, ERP, emergency evacuation systems, fire alarm and access control systems etc. The platform can also integrate and communicate with external law enforcement and emergency service management systems like Dial 100, 102, medical services etc. Expressing on the launch, Dr. Tinku Acharya, Fellow IEEE, Founder & MD stated, “I am proud to announce that Videonetics is the first company to introduce end-to-end AI & DL powered safety & security solution for industries. Field-proven and tested with real-time video data of varied environments, our solutions are well competent to solve industry’s day-to-day challenges as well as address critical needs such as mitigating safety and security risks, improving work environment, reducing production loss and improving profitability, improving workers/ employees occupational safety, creating situational awareness, maintaining business continuity, and optimizing operations for organizations, assets and infrastructure.