Physical security - Expert commentary

Sports stadiums and leagues are constantly pushing for higher security standards & best practices to strengthen venues that may be perceived as "soft targets" Terrorism threats have focused the attention of sports security professionals like Paul Turner, Director of Event Operations & Security for AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on how to more effectively screen guests and ensure that fans and athletes are kept safe. It has made the sobering reality that stad...

As the security industry continues to grow, recruiting must have more sophisticatedscreening and hiring processes, and a commitment to hiring quality personnel The physical security industry today is driving focus on finding the right talent. Deborah O’Mara, SourceSecurity.com's dealer/integrator correspondent, in an exclusive Q&A with Brent O’Bryan, Vice President of Training and Development for AlliedBarton Security Services, discuss the challenges that secur...

Strong electronic access control (EAC) investments by the healthcare and education verticals were a highlight of a very strong 2015 for Allegion. The company saw double-digit growth in multiple categories for its electronics as well as continued strong growth in commercial markets, with further expansion of software provider integration of Allegion-connected devices.   Mobile connectivity & system integration nurture positive trends Demand for mobile connectivity and inte...

Facial and body behavior analytics can identify people “without interferingwith the pace of life” Biometrics companies throughout the security marketplace are expanding the functionality of their systems for a variety of uses. This article will take a look at what several companies are up to. SRI International’s identity solutions seek to bring convenience, speed and security to existing workflows. SRI’s Iris on the Move (IOM) biometric systems ca...

Stratus Technologies is a provider of “always-on” technology, which helps to ensurethe running of mission-critical access control and video surveillance applications Building security – especially high-security installations – requires technology that is reliable and minimises downtime. In some physical security installations, access control and video surveillance solutions are required to function uninterruptedly to ensure business continuity and maint...

In today’s connected world, our customers are focused on streamlining operations and garnering actionable insights to help drive success across the business. Modern security systems enable security integrators to offer remote access capabilities which in turn helps businesses to improve their performance. For example, security integrators continue to bring new value to customers through new capabilities enabled by the Internet of Things. By utilising connected technology and sensors, secu...

SIPcurity is a new breed of security product that is a key element of anyAdvanced Threat Protection (ATP) framework As cyber threats continue, there’s no business or market immune from malicious takeover and data compromise. Now, systems integrators have a new, cloud-based weapon in their arsenal designed specifically as an affordable monthly subscription service to prevent telecommunications attacks and takeovers directed at small to medium businesses (SMBs).  Acc...

Ups and downs tested the staying power of security system providers in 2015, which was a dynamic year for the security market. A key development in the security industry has been the acquisition of VMS leader Seetec by OnSSI, which has enabled it to serve customers globally. The security market in 2015 also witnessed a growing trend towards supporting diverse security systems from different manufacturers. Falling prices and increased competition On the bright side, while the economy has not ye...

As the world faces new threats and challenges at the end of 2015, the security market looks more and more attractive for companies and employees around the world. Digital technology increasingly is replacing a traditional physical security approach, upgrading old-school analogue alarms and CCTV. Attractive security projects From AxxonSoft’s point of view, security projects seem very attractive because they normally can bring up to 30% profit for a standard security system installation....

Deadly terrorist attacks on buildings have highlighted the need of a well-designedand well implemented physical security programme What constitutes a well-designed physical security programme? Deadly terrorist attacks on buildings such as the San Bernardino Administrative Centre, Riverside Countyin California., have highlight the need of a well-designed and well implemented physical security programme. S.Steven Oplinger, Chair of the ASIS Physical Security Council, outlines 5...

As terrorism continues to rear its ugly head, we at Delta Scientific have been upgrading high-profile embassy and consulate facilities for several major counties around the world. 2015 was a strong year for us. We saw an increase in manufacturing output on our complete line of vehicle barricades and guard booths. 2016 shows no signs of slowing down.    Increased global security measures for explosive-laden vehicles  The Middle East is a particular hotbed for increas...

We in the industry have talked about IT’s growing influence in security technology decision-making for a number of years. This year, we have seen the trend accelerate rapidly. Significant changes are occurring in data centre infrastructure technology, creating major disruption to the large enterprise server and storage providers. This is fundamentally changing the way the security industry thinks about IT. 2015 trend – emergence of hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) One of the bi...

In the past year, ONVIF prepared the release of two new profiles, Profiles Q and A, which are currently in Release Candidate status, being fine-tuned by developers from member organisations. They are ONVIF’s fourth and fifth profiles, with Profile Q addressing easy set-up and advanced security features and Profile A encompassing daily tasks for access control. ONVIF also hit major milestones in 2015, reaching the 5,000-conformant product mark and maintaining a membership of more than 500 m...

Command centres allow physical and IT security to collaborate for greatersituational awareness and responsiveness Conventional command centres focus on video and access control system monitoring. When something happens at a door, the video system reports the event to one monitor in the command centre, while the access control system reports to another monitor. It is up to the operator to imagine the possibilities, draw the right conclusions, decide on a response and, if necess...

The proportion of failed ATM attacks is more than 50%, but the collateraldamage is high and growing ATM security providers and products can take various countermeasures to mitigate attacks on ATMs. The key is to detect an attack in its preparation phase. Speaking at ATM Security 2015 in London, Claudio Ferioli, head of physical security at Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, provided an overview of the current state of physical attacks on ATMs in Italy. As the largest bank in the...

The extraordinary global adoption of fingerprint based solutions, from mobile devices to credentials, will continue to expand and touch new markets in 2016. The trend to move away from passwords and PINs is really building momentum in logical and physical access. Widespread use of biometric security The security industry in 2015 continued to improve, along with the overall economy. Regulatory agencies are taking the lead as two-factor authentication is becoming a more mainstream concept. From...

The nature of risk has changed, and there is a blurring of lines between cyber, physical and online security. These changes are spurring organisational changes as well. Most recently, the unexpected attacks against Paris have escalated the importance of security worldwide – and there’s an even greater focus on leveraging even more sources of information in an effort to gain greater situational awareness to react faster, more efficiently and effectively.   Changing...

Many security solutions available today have the problem of being insufficiently open, offering very limited flexibility. Integrating third-party products is practically impossible. Customers therefore very often have to make a long-term bet on just one vendor. Upgrading or expanding security systems is often complex, expensive and time-consuming. But the industry is changing. Initiatives like open standards and cooperation between suppliers are emerging to help companies react faster to changin...

2015 has been an eventful year for the physical security industry. As 2016 looms, the pace of industry change shows no sign of decreasing.   Seeking insights into the state of the physical security market at year-end, SourceSecurity.com this month is publishing dozens of 2015 Review and 2016 Forecast articles submitted by manufacturers, integrators and other industry leaders. Taken together, the articles portray a mostly optimistic view of the industry’s present, and an...

For the second year in a row, Canon made the biggest M&A move in the security marketplace in 2015. How could Canon top the industry shockwaves it created in 2014 when the Japanese giant acquired VMS company Milestone Systems? That’s easy: They bought Axis Communications for $2.8 billion in 2015.   Although the Canon-Axis deal grabbed the most headlines and was easily the most shocking M&A announcement of 2015, it was certainly not the only big news on the mergers...

At 2015 year-end, we are continuing to see a trend toward hardening the perimeter for buildings and property. I believe we are approaching a tipping point with respect to C-suite awareness of the perils of unauthorised entry, often called “piggybacking” or “tailgating” in security vocabulary. Top executives are becoming more aware of the threat and the potential cost of such threats, and they’re motivating their organisations to take action. Role of trusted consult...

The global economy presented some challenges to Tyco Security Products in several ways throughout 2015. Anyone in oil and gas or mining experienced an impact resulting from the market dynamics within those verticals. Also, the significant strength of the US dollar versus other currencies is impacting order value for companies with a global footprint. All in all, though, business remains strong and growing.   Measures to strengthen cybersecurity Looking ahead to 2016, cybersec...

For many years, the physical security industry seemed at a standstill, maintaining the status quo. In recent years, it’s become clear that change is a constant, effectively altering the landscape of the systems integration industry and all it encompasses.   In 2015, we continued to see the proliferation of news about the Internet of Things (loT) and the ways in which connected systems and technologies will affect both the manufacturing and installation communities. As mo...

Overall 2015 has been a year of increased public sector spending (as the UK economy continues to emerge from the recession), which has been highly beneficial to the security industry. This trend has been particularly evident in the healthcare and education sectors, which are key markets for TDSi. Nobody could have predicted the significant number of international security and terrorism threats this year. Undoubtedly this will result in even closer ties among the security industry, police and se...

Physical and cyber security convergence, perimeter intrusion detection systems and fibre optic-based sensors were some of the security trends that picked up pace in 2015 and will continue to grow in the coming year as well. The beginning of 2015 started out slowly as the implementation of security projects by a number of organisations was postponed for various reasons. Mid-year picked up momentum, and the year is ending on a strong note. A significant trend was the gradual progression of conve...

Automated procedures reduce manual errors & help meet regulatory requirements End user demands are growing exponentially every day. Whether it is managing who has access to buildings or areas and when, recording events on video, managing incidents, meeting compliance requirements or demonstrating proof of compliance, the list goes on and on as to what end users must manage to keep their buildings, assets and people safe. Physical security equipment and an effective securi...

Prevention makes tailgating impossible or extremely difficult due to the full height of an entrance Findings from the 2014 Tailgating Survey by Boon Edam Inc., Lillington, North Carolina, found that more than 85 percent of the 250 integrator and end-user respondents were not tracking the number of tailgating incidents. In the access control industry, tailgating is when an unauthorised person follows an authorised personnel through a controlled entrance. More than 50 percent...

Speaking at ATM Security 2015 in London, Pat Telford, principal consultant at Microsoft Canada, summarised the software threats to ATMs and the features to combat them when migrating to Windows 10. ATM security is compromised by physical attacks on the cash, physical attacks on the card, replacement of the ATM computer (black box), and malware attack (where normally a person visits the ATM and adds malware). According to Telford, there are certain immutable laws of ATM Sec...

Risk, in a security context, is the product of threat, vulnerability, and consequence Security as a discipline has been an important feature of society since cavemen started using the environment around them to protect themselves and their families.  As a discipline, security has developed exponentially and that trend is continuing; however, somewhere along the way key elements of physical security design have been forgotten. All too often solutions are deployed in a pre...

The Eiffel tower illuminated with colours of the French national flag on November 16 Let’s say it up front: The physical security sector has limited solutions to address events like those in Paris on the 13th November. The series of coordinated terrorist attacks consisted of mass shootings, suicide bombings, and hostage-taking in which 129 people died. Among the dead were 89 people at the Bataclan theatre where American band Eagles of Death Metal was playing at the t...