Data Security - Round table discussions

Technologies and trends in the security marketplace come and go with some regularity. But how can you tell which trends are gaining traction and which amount to ‘the flavour of the month.’ For guidance, we asked our Expert Panel Roundtable: Which new security trend do you think is here to stay?

It’s safe to say there has been more change in the workplace in the last two years than ever before. Driven by the pandemic, technology has both allowed greater flexibility for employees and enabled continuing prosperity for many companies that otherwise would have had to cease operation. But have security protocols and practices done enough to enable companies to keep pace with the changes? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Have security protocols and practices kept up w...

The price of a security system and the value it provides are two different things. For end users, the objective is to minimise price, while maximising value. A system may both have a higher price and provide greater value, but not always. Because customers want to pay as little as they can, it is necessary to make a case that a system provides the best possible value, whatever the cost. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can customers go beyond price to maximise the ‘...

Any marketplace tends to emphasise the newest technologies and products. Confirming the trend is the perpetual rush to buy the latest iPhone. But some legacy products are so good and perform the required functions so well that users may stick with the “tried-and-true.” But does staying with yesterday’s technology suggest a missed opportunity to leverage new product features and benefits? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the security market’s app...

It’s a debate almost as old as the security industry itself: open systems versus end-to-end solutions. The argument goes that end-to-end solutions from a single manufacturer tend to “lock in” an end-user to a certain company’s technology platform. In contrast, open systems offer greater flexibility over the long haul. However, the popularity of end-to-end solutions suggests a healthy continuing market for these systems. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable:...

The advantages of security systems as forensic and investigative tools are well understood and demonstrated in the market. However, the new trend is toward systems that are useful in real-time and that even predict a security event, before it happens. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Which security systems are becoming more proactive than reactive?

Can we finally relax a little and announce that the pandemic is nearing an end? With all the false starts and stops, it’s understandable if uncertainty continues to be the dominant force. The apprehension that ruled at every stage continues even as the pandemic (hopefully) ends. But what about ‘the new normal?’ How will the industry need to reinvent itself in the post-pandemic world? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: As the industry transitions back to in-pers...

The last regularly scheduled spring ISC West trade show was held in 2019. The show returned last year with a rescheduled event in the summer, and attendees were largely pleased with the offerings. However, the ‘real’ ISC West, in the spring in Las Vegas, Nevada, will resume a decades-old tradition in 2022 that has been a major driver of industry market growth and innovation. The show is also an annual reunion of sorts for the security industry, and we are all ready for a reunion! We...

Early in the pandemic, before the mechanisms of COVID spread were clearly understood, there was talk about the disease being transmitted through contact with surfaces. Such concerns created a windfall for manufacturers of hand sanitizer, and broadly changed the perceived risks of touching surfaces, perhaps forever. Touching the same surface as hundreds of other people suddenly became less desirable, thus boosting the fortunes of “touchless” access control and security devices. But wi...

Supply chain issues have plagued the economic recovery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the problems show every indication of persisting for months or even years to come. Supply chain challenges have impacted the security marketplace in many ways, reflecting the breadth and variety of products needed to secure people, facilities, and assets. Wondering about the specifics of that impact, we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How does disruption of the global supply chain...

Environmental concerns and ‘green’ initiatives have been gaining steam recently with increasing attention to issues, such as climate change and the drive to ‘net zero’ emissions. Sustainability has not historically been a big concern in the physical security market, but the times are changing. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can the security industry be more environmentally friendly and contribute to sustainability?

The intersection of consumer electronics and the physical security marketplace is a fertile sector for growth and innovation. Consumers increasingly have the same high expectations for the operation of their workplace technologies as they are accustomed to in the digital world at large. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How do developments in personal electronics impact customer expectations in the physical security market?

Here’s a news flash: 2022 will be a pivotal year for the security industry. As we enter the new year, continuing change is a safe prediction for any fast-moving, technology-driven marketplace. Recent history confirms the ability of the security industry to shift and adapt to changing conditions and to provide an ever-expanding menu of technology solutions to make the world a safer place. Given that the new year will bring change, what will that change encompass? More to the point, what sho...

The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the task of securing hospitals and healthcare facilities by adding new concerns about disease transmission to the long list of other threats healthcare security professionals face. Hospital security must also crack the code to both allow open public access to healthcare facilities while keeping out violence and other security threats. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What are the security challenges of the healthcare industry?   

The death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, highlighted to the public, the importance of body-worn cameras. There was no bodycam footage of the Ferguson tragedy. Arguably, it would have shed additional light on the shooting. Since then, body cameras have become a tangible legacy of Ferguson, Missouri. Bodycam footage is seen as providing greater accountability and ensuring an impartial record that can support, or debunk, any claims of police miscondu...

Air travel is returning to pre-pandemic levels. COVID and its aftermath have added new compliance and operational concerns for airport security, and social and political volatility around the world emphasises the need for constant vigilance. A range of new technologies are enhancing airport security, not to mention providing new tools to simplify processes throughout the airport. We asked our Expert Panel Roundtable: Which technologies are transforming airport security? 

A new generation of security professional is waiting in the wings. They will be faced with unprecedented challenges, as they seek to transform the security marketplace to the ‘next level’. Technology changes ensure the market will be very different 10 years from now and the fresh labour pool will need to be able to meet the host of new challenges. We asked our Expert Panel Roundtable: What exciting career opportunities in the security industry await the next generation?

Facial recognition is a mature technology that continues to change and evolve. New innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) are expanding facial recognition capabilities, even as privacy concerns, though often misguided, undermine wider acceptance in the market. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What are the new developments in facial recognition?

Since the advent of the physical security industry, access control has been synonymous with physical cards, whether 125 kHz ‘prox’ cards or the newer smart card alternatives. However, other credentials have also come on the scene, including biometrics and even smart phones. Some of these choices have distinct cost and security advantages over physical cards. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How soon will the access control card become extinct and why? 

Cost is a reality to be managed. No matter how powerful or desirable a technology may be to a customer, the sale often comes down to the basic question: Can I afford it? And affordability extends not just to the purchase price, but to the cost of technology over its lifespan. In addition to advances in technology capabilities, the security industry has also achieved inroads to make its offerings more worth the cost. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the physical securi...

“Deep learning” is recently among the more prevalent jargon in the physical security industry, and for good reason. The potential benefits of this subset of artificial intelligence (AI) are vast, and those benefits are only now beginning to be understood and realised. But how can we separate the marketing hype from reality? How can we differentiate between future potential and the current state of the art? To clarify the latest on this new technology, we asked this week’s Exper...

Crime prevention is a basic goal of security, even if a security system merely convinces a criminal to seek out a different target. However, many of today’s security technologies are most useful after the fact, to provide forensic information about a crime that has already taken place. Solving a crime presents a whole new level of challenge. Surely, prevention is the best approach. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How successful is the security industry in crime preventi...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is simultaneously an emerging technology, a common term in popular culture, and a buzzword in the security industry. But these aspects of the term can lead to misunderstanding in the marketplace. AI technology is continuing to emerge, but what is the reality today? How do depictions of AI in popular culture impact how it is understood in the real world of security? As a buzzword, at what point does marketing hype garble our understanding of reality? We asked this wee...

The idea of touchless systems has gained new levels of prominence during the last year, driven by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Contactless systems have been part of the industry’s toolbox for decades, while technologies like facial and iris recognition are finding new uses every day. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Which security markets are embracing touchless, contactless systems and why? 

Adoption of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the European Union in 2016 set a new standard for data privacy. But adherence to GDPR is only one element, among many privacy concerns sweeping the global security community and leaving almost no product category untouched, from access control to video to biometrics. Because privacy concerns are more prevalent than ever, we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the impact on the physical security market?

Many of us take critical infrastructure for granted in our everyday lives. We turn on a tap, flip a switch, push a button, and water, light, and heat are all readily available. But it is important to remember that computerised systems manage critical infrastructure facilities, making them vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The recent ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline is an example of the new types of threats. In addition, any number of physical attacks is also possibilities. We asked this we...

There is a broad appeal to the idea of using a smartphone or wearable device as a credential for physical access control systems. Smartphones already perform a range of tasks that extend beyond making a phone call. Shouldn’t opening the door at a workplace be among them? It’s a simple idea, but there are obstacles for the industry to get there from here. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What are the challenges and benefits of mobile access control solutions? 

In the past few weeks, the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel has brightened, providing new levels of hope that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. Dare we now consider what life will be like after the pandemic is over? Considering the possible impact on our industry, we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Which security technologies will be most useful in a post-pandemic world?

Security systems are vital to any company. Nowadays, however, they can also provide additional benefits to any enterprise beyond protecting people, assets and facilities. Specifically, systems that were previously focused on security can now be leveraged in new ways to benefit the broader enterprise. When this happens, the security department transitions from a ‘cost centre’ to a repository of data that can benefit the whole company, and even contribute to the bottom line. We asked t...

The topic of video analytics has been talked and written about for decades, and yet is still one of the cutting-edge themes in the physical security industry. Some say yesterday’s analytics systems tended to overpromise and underdeliver, and there are still some skeptics. However, newer technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are reinvigorating the sector and enabling it to finally live up to its promise. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What new technologies a...