Gautam D Goradia, Founder & CEO, Com-sur
Winter is coming: Are you ready?
Ask your CCTV infra provider/ system integrator – “Where is the auditing tool that allows me to audit/ review 24 hours of footage from multiple cameras in minutes, reduce data size, support disaster recovery, and generate intelligent reports? That is what we need, not just cameras, storage, VMS, and AI.”
In Game of Thrones, House Stark warned – “Winter is coming.” Most ignored them – until the White Walkers arrived.
Ghaziabad just happened – Pakistan-linked operatives installed solar-powered CCTV cameras at Delhi Cantonment and Sonipat railway stations. Live feeds streamed to ISI handlers for months. Government has ordered pan-India camera audits.
This time, we caught them. What about the next time? Because that is where the real gap lies.
A one-time audit of who installed the cameras is necessary. But it is not enough. The larger question is whether the critical location itself is routinely auditing its own footage.
Here is the uncomfortable truth – Existing cameras around a sensitive site may well capture the warning signs before an incident – installation activity, repeated visits, unusual loitering, equipment handling, pattern study, environmental change, new vantage points, unfamiliar observers and so on. Cameras may see all of this, but unless someone reviews the footage in a structured and disciplined manner, the signal remains buried.
Today we got lucky. Tomorrow?
Government audits will identify unauthorized cameras today. Tomorrow, the threat may return in another form. A new camera across the street. A temporary setup on a rooftop. Repeated surveillance with binoculars. Drone-based observation. Slow mapping of movement patterns. Cameras will capture it all. But seeing what the cameras saw is key.
Auditing mandates will come. In Raipur, 2,000+ schools are already mandated to audit footage daily. In Maharashtra, all schools are required to ‘check’ (audit/ review/ inspect) CCTV footage at least three times a week. The pattern is clear. Installation alone is not enough. Review discipline will become part of governance.
MHA’s PRAHAAR policy demands ‘intelligence-led prevention.’ Critical infrastructure may be required to prove footage review discipline. And remember – critical infrastructure isn’t just nuclear plants, defence, power, telecom. Everything is critical – from airports to zoos.
So, once again, ask your CCTV Infra Provider/System Integrator the above question. Because when the mandate arrives, ‘we have cameras’ won’t be enough. You’ll need to prove you reviewed systematically, all of it.
Winter is coming. Are you ready – or will you wait until you freeze?
