ReconaSense’s ReconMobile command-and-control centre helps users to lock down facilities

23 Aug 2019

Download PDF version

ReconaSense, a provider of innovative physical security intelligence and next-gen access control, announced the debut of its ReconMobile command-and-control centre that lets users lock down facilities, tap into video surveillance systems, and/or report and respond to an emergency from a mobile device.

Managing a large campus or facility means being in charge of a myriad of systems, dynamic populations, and countless points of entry. Lack of reliable data about any of those can lead to expensive, time-consuming problems, if not life-threatening situations.

The ReconMobile app suite enables security teams to ‘see’ and take action across multiple facilities without having to be stationed at a security desk behind a monitor. This ensures better decision-making, shorter response times, and improved outcomes – whether in an active shooter situation, an urgent life safety matter, or another critical security condition.

Empowering security teams to respond faster

Situational awareness is a critical success factor in any large, complex security operation"ReconMobile works on iOS and Android tablets, smartphones, and smart watches, empowering teams on the ground to respond and react faster, and engage their community and the people they protect more easily. The solution also allows employees and students to notify staff and security when they need help or an emergency situation arises.

“Situational awareness is a critical success factor in any large, complex security operation,” said Clayton Brown, executive vice president, ReconaSense. “That success depends on systems that speak a common language, and people to feed those systems with data that sensors can’t capture. The ReconMobile app suite offers command-and-control capabilities and crowdsourced inputs that are the force-multiplier and glue between security operators and data.”

Features of ReconMobile

WatchCommander: Use the wearable iWatch application to initiate lockdown or respond to a threat as quickly as it is observed.
EmergenSEE: Share surveillance data with first responders to hasten and improve response times while protecting individual privacy during standard operations.
See Something, Say Something: Empower staff to centrally manage incoming reports of suspicious activities or situations as well as initiate emergency responses, so no early warnings are ignored.
MobileMuster: Send security response requests to employees, students, and staff so they can provide safe/not safe updates and GPS locations in real time during an incident.
MobileSOS: Enable employees and students to report a safety issue or emergency to security teams or 911 with the touch of a button.
Operational Response and Command Applications (ORCA): Provide teams on the ground with on-the-go situational awareness and control.

Demos of ReconMobile app suite at GSX

ReconaSense will feature demos of its ReconMobile app suite at the Global Security Exchange (GSX) conference in Chicago, Sept. 8-12, in Booth 2024.

In addition, executive vice president Clayton Brown will participate in two panel discussions at the show:

Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 12:30 pm: Is Intelligence a Human Function? Synthetic Intelligence at Scale, exploring the role of AI in security, and the challenges and opportunities created in synthesising intelligent operations into comprehensive security operations.
Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 11:30 am: Change Driver: Artificial Intelligence (AI), examining how AI has the ability to look at thousands of data points simultaneously and process data in ways humans would never be able to.

Download PDF version

People mentioned in this article

Clayton Brown ReconaSense

Related companies
ReconaSense

Related links
Area Lockout Option Access control software
Surveillance Software CCTV software

View all news from
ReconaSense

In case you missed it

Managing security during unprecedented times of home working

Companies are following government guidance and getting as many people as possible working from home. Some companies will have resisted home working in the past, but I’m certain that the sceptics will find that people can be productive with the right tools no matter where they are. A temporary solution will become permanent. But getting it right means managing risk. Access is king In a typical office with an on-premise data centre, the IT department has complete control over network access, internal networks, data, and applications. The remote worker, on the other hand, is mobile. He or she can work from anywhere using a VPN. Until just recently this will have been from somewhere like a local coffee shop, possibly using a wireless network to access the company network and essential applications. CV-19 means that huge numbers of people are getting access to the same desktop and files, and collaborative communication toolsBut as we know, CV-19 means that huge numbers of people are getting access to the same desktop and files, applications and collaborative communication tools that they do on a regular basis from the office or on the train. Indeed, the new generation of video conferencing technologies come very close to providing an “almost there” feeling. Hackers lie in wait Hackers are waiting for a wrong move amongst the panic, and they will look for ways to compromise critical servers. Less than a month ago, we emerged from a period of chaos. For months hackers had been exploiting a vulnerability in VPN products from Pulse Secure, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Citrix. Patches were provided by vendors, and either companies applied the patch or withdrew remote access. As a result, the problem of attacks died back. But as companies race to get people working from home, they must ensure special care is taken to ensure the patches are done before switching VPNs on. That’s because remote desktop protocol (RDP) has been for the most part of 2019, and continues to be, the most important attack vector for ransomware. Managing a ransomware attack on top of everything else would certainly give you sleepless nights. As companies race to get people working from home, they must ensure special care is taken to ensure the patches are done before switching VPNs on Hackers are waiting for a wrong move amongst the panic, and they will look for ways to compromise critical serversExposing new services makes them also susceptible to denial of service attacks. Such attacks create large volumes of fake traffic to saturate the available capacity of the internet connection. They can also be used to attack the intricacies of the VPN protocol. A flow as little as 1Mbps can perturbate the VPN service and knock it offline. CIOs, therefore, need to acknowledge that introducing or extending home working broadens the attack surface. So now more than ever it’s vital to adapt risk models. You can’t roll out new services with an emphasis on access and usability and not consider security. You simply won’t survive otherwise. Social engineering Aside from securing VPNs, what else should CIO and CTOs be doing to ensure security? The first thing to do is to look at employee behaviour, starting with passwords. It’s highly recommended that strong password hygiene or some form of multi-factor authentication (MFA) is imposed. Best practice would be to get all employees to reset their passwords as they connect remotely and force them to choose a new password that complies with strong password complexity guidelines. As we know, people have a habit of reusing their passwords for one or more online services – services that might have fallen victim to a breach. Hackers will happily It’s highly recommended that strong password hygiene or some form of multi-factor authentication (MFA) is imposedleverage these breaches because it is such easy and rich pickings. Secondly, the inherent fear of the virus makes for perfect conditions for hackers. Sadly, a lot of phishing campaigns are already luring people in with the promise of important or breaking information on COVID-19. In the UK alone, coronavirus scams cost victims over £800,000 in February 2020. A staggering number that can only go up. That’s why CIOs need to remind everyone in the company of the risks of clickbait and comment spamming - the most popular and obvious bot techniques for infiltrating a network. Notorious hacking attempts And as any security specialist will tell you, some people have no ethics and will exploit the horrendous repercussions of CV-19. In January we saw just how unscrupulous hackers are when they started leveraging public fear of the virus to spread the notorious Emotet malware. Emotet, first detected in 2014, is a banking trojan that primarily spreads through ‘malspam’ and attempts to sneak into computers to steal sensitive and private information. In addition, in early February the Maze ransomware crippled more than 230 workstations of the New Jersey Medical Diagnostics Lab and when they refused to pay, the vicious attackers leaked 9.5GB or research data in an attempt to force negotiations. And in March, an elite hacking group tried to breach the World Health Organization (WHO). It was just one of the many attempts on WHO and healthcare organisations in general since the pandemic broke. We’ll see lots more opportunist attacks like this in the coming months. More speed less haste In March, an elite hacking group tried to breach the World Health Organization (WHO). It was just one of the many attempts on WHOFinally, we also have bots to contend with. We’ve yet to see reports of fake news content generated by machines, but we know there’s a high probability it will happen. Spambots are already creating pharmaceutical spam campaigns thriving on the buying behaviour of people in times of fear from infection. Using comment spamming – where comments are tactically placed in the comments following an update or news story - the bots take advantage of the popularity of the Google search term ‘Coronavirus’ to increase the visibility and ranking of sites and products in search results. There is clearly much for CIOs to think about, but it is possible to secure a network by applying some well thought through tactics. I believe it comes down to having a ‘more speed, less haste’ approach to rolling out, scaling up and integrating technologies for home working, but above all, it should be mixed with an employee education programme. As in reality, great technology and a coherent security strategy will never work if it is undermined by the poor practices of employees.

How does audio enhance security system performance?

Video is widely embraced as an essential element of physical security systems. However, surveillance footage is often recorded without sound, even though many cameras are capable of capturing audio as well as video. Beyond the capabilities of cameras, there is a range of other audio products on the market that can improve system performance and/or expand capabilities (e.g., gunshot detection.) We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How does audio enhance the performance of security and/or video systems?

How have standards changed the security market?

A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical criteria, methods, processes, and/or practices. Standards surround every aspect of our business. For example, the physical security marketplace is impacted by industry standards, national and international standards, quality standards, building codes and even environmental standards, to name just a few. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How have standards changed the security market as we know it?