Industry Focus
Walking the Walk
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- May 01, 2017
If you attended ISC West last month,
you already know the tradeshow was a
smashing success. I suppose there are
a few that weren’t completely satisfied,
but I think overall, this year’s Las Vegas
event experienced a well-received outcome.
I loaded my schedule as full as possible and
still didn’t have enough time to take it all in.
There were several takeaways from the
show floor that we’re going to see a lot more
of in 2017, and beyond. For starters, cybersecurity
is now more than an up and coming
concern. Everyone has this as a top of
mind concern because once the network is
safe, the security equipment will work at its
optimum ability. I think we’re going to see
camera manufacturers taking another hard
look at how to secure the network. They’ve
been talking about it, but now it’s time to
walk the walk.
Physical and logical security depend on
each other, so it is surprising to find that a
number of companies still treat them separately,
from both a device management and
government agencies perspective. Until recently,
this was justified because the technology
to integrate physical and logical security
was not available. Regarding security, most
organizations have at least three buying and
control centers. The first two are primarily
concerned with IP theft, malware and
viruses. NetOps handles network security,
while InfoSec manages data at rest and data
in transit security. The third is physical security,
which includes surveillance and access
control. In most organizations, the guard at
the gates is a separate operations center.
Cybersecurity, meanwhile, depends
greatly on physical security. Attackers who
can gain physical access to a computer can
almost always take advantage of that access
to further their efforts. Merely getting access
to a physical terminal where a memory device
can be plugged in is usually sufficient.
Any device present that is connected to the
network must be protected to ensure that it
cannot be turned into a tool to be used in
an attack.
The lack of integration between physical
and cybersecurity creates some following
challenges.
- No single system to identify a person’s
identity because each functional security
department controls its own identity
database.
- Increased potential for theft.
- Lack of IT management and application
of best practices applied to physical
security devices, or a lack of best
practices applied consistently across
departments or organizations.
- Lack of physical monitoring of logical
security devices that can detect tampering;
that is, unauthorized access to
a logical security device console.
Like all effective security, cyber security
is about the depth of your defense. It’s about
appropriately protecting your IP camera network
at every level—from the products you
choose and the partners you work with to the
requirements they, and you, set.
Your first layer of defense is choosing
network video products with built-in protection:
We make sure you can apply the security
controls you need to mitigate the threats
you face. Because there’s no one-size-fits-all
solution to cyber crime, your second layer
of defense is a good understanding of the
threats you face, their potential costs and
how to protect yourself.
Begin with best practices, timely response
and transparency. Any end user should apply
cybersecurity best practices in the design,
development and testing of our products
to minimize the risk of flaws that could be
exploited in an attack. When critical vulnerabilities
are discovered they should be fixed
promptly and issue security advisories.
Your best cyber offense is a great cyber
defense.
This article originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of Security Today.
About the Author
Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.