A True Calling
Finding a full purpose in remote video surveillance workflows
- By Aaron Saks
- Feb 01, 2021
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that secure remote
access to systems is no longer a “nice to have” feature. With
limited staff and some areas of buildings closed completely,
most organizations don’t have the same eyes on their business.
The security workstation or guard station may be unmanned,
so the need to monitor remotely has never been greater.
Work environments are different at home, since not everyone has
the same set up that they have at work. With all these changes, a
mobile app that allows quick and easy access to your video security
system can serve as a second screen to easily keep your eyes
on things that matter most.
Even before the pandemic, there was a growing trend to deploy
lightweight VMS software running on small PCs at remote,
sometimes unmanned sites.
The oil and gas market is a perfect example where many unattended
sites can be vulnerable, so organizations require real-time
alerts when a vehicle shows up at a site when it shouldn’t. Likewise,
for retailers, restaurants and other businesses that have almost
shut down or are running with a skeleton crew, being able to
instantly tap into the security system with a smart phone and see
who is at the back door can be the difference between leaving a
critical position unattended or not. If you can go a step further and
“buzz people in” after they’ve been recognized, even better. Having
someone watching the security system full time is a luxury few
businesses can afford right now, when keeping the business alive is
priority one. Mobile apps can bridge the gap, by enabling security
staff to remotely access the video security system simply and safely.
WHAT ABOUT CYBERSECURITY?
The cyber secure part of remote access is critical. In their rush
to provide access to employees, many IT departments may have
taken shortcuts by forwarding router ports, and relaxing firewalls
in places they shouldn’t have. For security professionals working
remotely or just wanting to work smarter, being able to remotely
access and administer cameras through a VMS is a requirement.
For those not glued to a laptop or workstation, the ability to
receive real-time notifications and view and search through video
on a mobile device ensures that they don’t sacrifice control and response time when important events take place. Many IT departments
have sought to isolate IP-based security systems behind a
firewall to wall them off from intruders. While this is a very secure
approach, it can be highly inflexible for any type of remote access.
Done correctly, you can maintain a high degree of cybersecurity
by utilizing encryption and limiting outside connections to
your VMS to a secure cloud provider such as AWS. The goal is to
maintain control and monitoring flexibility while not weakening
cybersecurity.
USING THE CLOUD
TO PROVIDE SECURE REMOTE ACCESS
This article originally appeared in the January / February 2021 issue of Security Today.