Beefing up security – Adding access control to your surveillance system

In its original iteration, an access control system was conceived as a way to help minimize the problem of lost keys. These early systems often consisted of just a numerical keypad and a mechanical locking mechanism that would be released when the correct numerical code was entered. It didn’t take long however for security management to realize the benefits of an access control system – nor did it take long for them to realize the vulnerabilities of a simple keypad and locking system solution. And from almost this point onward, the development and mass market adoption of access control systems has been driven by technology integration.

One of the first major developments in this area was the integration of identity management systems with the access control system to help solve the vulnerability issues. This new dual authentication approach required an identification card and corresponding card reader so that the individual could be identified and authorized for access to the building or restricted area. Today’s identity management/access control systems are significantly more advanced and include features such as biometric identification, multiple card and reader formats and smart card capabilities, to name a few. And when integrated with video surveillance systems, they become an even more effective tool with the benefit of visual information.

In addition to managing entry and exit activity, today’s access control solutions add value by enhancing the security of a facility. For example, some access control solutions feature options to prevent the reuse of a card to access the same area within a specified period of time, or until the card is used to exit the area. Simple guidelines like that can deter access to unqualified visitors.

The most recent industry statistics indicate that access control will further be influenced by the convergence of physical and logical access control and that credentialing employees will be of paramount importance. In fact, there has been a consistent and growing demand for more highly integrated security solutions built around the marriage of access control and video surveillance systems. The ease of use and capability to conveniently address and manage this element will surely continue to play an important role in the industry’s migration to a true enterprise level security system solution.

What to consider when shopping for an IP camera

Starts by defining the subject to be monitored

Internet Protocol (IP)-based cameras are allowing organizations across the country to significantly boost their overall security without breaking their budgets. However, not all IP-based security cameras are created equal. A camera that’s ideal for tracking vehicle license plates moving in and out of a busy port area, for instance, may not be a perfect fit for monitoring people in a bustling airport. The following are some basic tips businesses may find useful when selecting the ideal IP-based security camera.

 Define a role

 An obvious step, but one that is often overlooked, is to carefully define what objects a camera will be monitoring and what areas a camera will need to cover. Once the objectives are defined it will be simpler for a user to decide whether they require features like high image quality, zoom operation, or wide viewing fields.

Cause for alarm

Many security cameras boast “intelligent” features, such as motion detection, which allow them to trigger alarms if they detect anomalies. Cameras sense motion and trigger alarms when they detect changes in the fields they have been set to watch. Users need to be aware that some security cameras can be very sensitive and will trigger false alarms caused by environmental effects like rain, snow or leaves shaking in the wind.

A question of quality

There are three main aspects to the image quality generated by an IP-based security camera.

The first aspect is the camera’s frame rate. A frame rate of 30 frames per second will generate a high quality, full motion image. However, full motion images require considerably more storage than lower frame-rate video that displays some stutter. Security camera buyers should decide how much quality they need based on what they will be shooting, how long they need to store their footage and how much footage they need to store.

A second aspect of image quality is resolution. Resolution is measured in pixels. The higher the pixel rating, the better the image. Higher pixel images will require more storage space.

The third aspect of image quality is the compression technology used to minimize the video’s bandwidth and storage requirements. IP security cameras can support JPEG, MPEG-4, H.264 or a combination of all three. JPEG offers the best quality, but takes up the most bandwidth and storage space. MPEG-4 requires less bandwidth and storage, but offers lower quality playback. Some cameras support dual-streaming, allowing users to run JPEG encryption on their local area network where bandwidth isn’t an issue, while streaming MPEG-4 over the more bandwidth-restricted wide area network.

Other factors to consider when exploring the idea of buying IP-based cameras include low light performance and pan/tilt/zoom functionality.

If a camera will be used in a low-light area, a buyer should look for a unit that will film at a low lux rating. Lux measures sensitivity to light. The lower the lux rating, the better a camera functions in low light conditions. Pan/tilt/zoom cameras are able to shift their fields of vision and aren’t restricted to a fixed area. They are able to cover more territory than fixed cameras, but they are also more expensive.

Securing an unoccupied facility

The economic downturn is forcing many companies to shut their doors. But building owners are feeling the pain, too. Once companies that lease a building shut down, many building owners are unable to fill those commercial realty spaces, and those properties can be left empty for months on end. Empty buildings can become enticing to vandals, too, so protecting the property should be considered. Securing a closed facility may require a few additional products that can help safeguard your unoccupied building or property. And often, installing or utilizing security services can actually lower property insurance rates, which saves money.

Installing a camera or series of cameras that allow for remote access can also create an awareness of your unoccupied building. Because images can be viewed via the Internet, you can check on your building anytime without actually going to the facility. 
If you plan to go the IP route, consider a weatherproof camera with an IP66-rated housing to protect from the elements such as rain, dust, and extreme heat or cold.       
Analog cameras can also be used, but many will require a weatherproof housing, which can be easily installed by Digitek Security.

Vacant doesn’t have to equal “vandalism target” anymore. With a few additions to the property, you can rest assured that your assets, though vacant for now, will not require a lot of repairs once the new business tenants move in.

Evolution Of IP-Based Surveillance Technology

 

The world of IP-based technology is constantly evolving and the video security market has leaped forward in tandem with this.

In light of both cost and ease of installation, we are seeing a huge technological shift towards video surveillance over IP. This allows a security camera to be installed anywhere an IT network is in place, without the need for another set of cabling to be put in place. In addition, a move towards ‘Power over Ethernet’ is adding to these benefits.

“Power over Ethernet basically means the network powers the security cameras, similarly to a telephone,” explains Yvonne Pritchard, of Sony Professional Solutions Europe. ” Almost all of fixed and minidome cameras have this technology embedded within it which means on an infrastructure you can easily just get the camera, plug it into the network and it’s powered and sending images.”

Benefits of IP network cameras and the advent of megapixel cameras

Traditional analogue CCTV cameras each need their own power point and when a security network with multiple cameras is being set up, installation costs can run into thousands of pounds. This money can now be saved with a simple move to Power over Ethernet making IP network cameras more cost-effective.

When it comes to true technological innovation megapixel cameras offer a much clearer pictures and can pan and tilt images without having the need of a mechanical head. “As the name suggests, the picture from a megapixel camera has got so many pixels in it that the quality is very similar to High Definition (HD),” Pritchard notes.

Use of video analytics

Also set to make a huge impact on the security industry are video analytics solutions. By employing metadata, CCTV cameras can recognise potential security breaches, such as abandoned packages or suspicious movement, and are sophisticated enough to know the difference between moving people and safe background conditions, such as moving trees or water. “Today’s sophisticated video analytics lets you determine different behaviours – loitering, object removal, speed of travel, direction of travel etc,” explains Pritchard.

“So if somebody was driving the wrong way down a one way street, it would inform the control room. If we were in an art gallery, we’d draw a square around expensive paintings and if anybody got close to them or tried to remove them the security camera would be able to make the decision that an object had disappeared etc. No wires or laser beams needed,” she states.

For operatives there are tangible benefits. Advanced video analytics software, for instance, pinpoints with coloured boxes areas of the screen that contain threats, which makes the job of the observer easier and the ultimate response quicker and more effective.

Benefits of intelligent security cameras

By using intelligent security cameras server load is less intensive which makes it possible to deploy a scalable system. This is cost-effective as there is no need to prepare dozens of servers only for processing. Video analytics software can guide security personnel to the hot spots and the relevant screens. They can be shown the detail of a threat long before it escalates.

Network video standards: Open Network Video Interface Forum

Many security network infrastructures are made up of disparate equipment that have been added to over the years. To tackle this problem, Axis Communications, Bosch Security Systems and Sony announced their cooperation in creating a global open forum for the development of a standard network interface for network video products: ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum).

By creating an independent, non-profit organisation, the three founding members have ensured the openness needed to develop an industry standard. Interested parties may register to participate via the ONVIF web site.

What about IP and other trends?

IP cameras, IP controllers, IP this, IP that, worming its way into marketing presentations and press releases, dribbling off the lips of newly enlightened security professionals in every aisle. It was fun for me to watch an entire industry break into an awareness of the power and utility of Internet protocol.
In recent weeks, though, it seems IP has been trumped by a new alphanumeric jumble called H.264.
It’s Compression
Suddenly compression standards are all the rage, I guess.
Cisco, Axis and more than a dozen other companies made announcements or breakthroughs related to creative implementation of the H.264 compression standard. More video squeezing through the wire, more efficient storage, faster searching for video clips, easier sharing of video to your iPhone.
Faster, easier, cheaper – all the promises of IP in 2007.
I talked to two vendors who sell video compression to the movie industry in Hollywood, and they tell me the really cool technology for compression and storage is still around the corner. Sounds good to me. I love it when innovation brings more efficient and effective business solutions.
Video sure is hot these days.
There is tremendous demand, and everyone (and their brother) is coming out with a camera or service to sell in order to carve off a bit of pie – a pie that seems to double in size every couple years with no end in sight. For the security industry, video surveillance is like a mini Internet bubble, getting the investors, manufacturers, service providers and end users all frothy and wild eyed.
For me, video in security is boiling down to a few trends.
First is the notion that video can be something other than data. Today, we think of pumping video through a pipe – more video, more stuff. The IT intelligencia call that stuff data. However, when we assemble and analyze data, it becomes information. Information creates value for our organizations. In the future, video becomes something more than bits through a pipe – something more than video. It becomes “intelligence” just like any business application enriching productivity and profit.
The next trend is ubiquity.
Video will soon be everywhere – on every street corner and building lobby. Sharing (and in some cases not sharing) that video becomes an important discussion. Making video available to those who are authorized to it and who need it will bring pressure on price, interoperability, ease of deployment, ease of management, integration with analysis and response systems, compression, storage, and many other factors contributing to making video available on demand.
A Channel Thing
One other trend affecting the future of video surveillance also touches all of the physical security industry, and that is consultative selling. The so-called sales channels of this industry are more like order-taking channels. As we do with Amazon.com, we call our integrator when we already know what we want. The future will find us talking about security more as a business enabler. In fact, the best consultative sales people will be able to purge the word security from their vocabulary and as a result increase sales. New sales techniques and channels will evolve to sell the new business application of intelligent video to business unit managers, CIOs and COOs.
Let’s keep advancing the conversation.

Campus Security Magazine Survey: Cost Is The Leading Campus Mass Notification Challenge

LOS ANGELES — The top three barriers campus public safety officials face when implementing emergency alert solutions are system cost, text message system enrollment and text message throughput, according to the Second Annual Mass Notification Survey conducted by Campus Safety Magazine. Despite these obstacles, 63 percent of respondents have deployed new or upgraded mass notification solutions in the past year, and 51 percent plan on doing so next year.

Nearly a third of survey takers (31 percent) said cost was the primary challenge they experienced with their mass notification solutions. Twenty four percent of respondents whose campuses did not add solutions or upgrade them cited cost as a reason why they were prevented from doing so.

Of those respondents who said their campuses did purchase new systems or upgrades in the past year, nearly one in four (73 percent) said mass notification is now considered part of their institution’s long-term safety and security strategies.

Additionally, more than two out of five (43 percent) said they have greater awareness of the risk management implications if they don’t deploy appropriate solutions. What prompted this awareness appears to have been active-shooter incidents at Columbine High School in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University in 2008. Nearly two thirds (62 percent) of respondents said incidents such as these were one of the factors that prompted the deployment of their emergency alert systems.

Of those respondents whose institutions did not deploy new or upgraded mass notification solutions, only 42 percent said what they had in place was sufficient. Twenty eight percent indicated they were in the process of making a decision.

Other highlights of the study include:

• Loudspeakers (38 percent), text messaging (35 percent), E-mails (35 percent) and digital displays (31 percent) were the emergency alert systems that respondents most likely are going to deploy next year
• Overall, Web site announcements are the most popular types of mass notification used by campuses (60 percent), although 86 percent of college respondents said their campuses send emergency alerts via text messages to cell phones, PDAs, BlackBerries or other mobile devices.
• An average of 49 percent of college students have signed up for their campuses’ emergency text messaging program. For staff members or faculty, an average of 51 percentage enrolled.
• New student orientation (72 percent), E-mail announcements (71 percent), Web site announcements (70 percent) and new hire orientation (67 percent) are the most popular ways hospitals, schools and universities entice their campus constituents to enroll in their emergency text messaging systems. These methods were also considered the most effective at attracting users to sign up.

The survey also covered opt-in and opt-out text message system enrollment methods, system funding sources and who has the authority to issue emergency notices.

To view the complete survey results, go to http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/files/resources/Mass_Notification_Survey.pdf. Additional analysis of these results, as well as other mass notification topics can be found at www.CampusSafetyMagazine.com/MassNotification.

Think storage

The growth of megapixel cameras emphasizes the need for higher quality images but it can overwhelm typical storage designs.
A Chicago transportation and storage company uses megapixel cameras and the latest NVR technology to catch and prevent thousands of dollars in theft while achieving total system payback in less than 180 days.

Peoples Auto Park has successfully implemented a high resolution surveillance system using Geovision Security with the latest megapixel cameras from Digitek to protect millions of dollars in vehicle storage value. The solution enabled the deployment of high-resolution video surveillance at a fraction of the storage costs of traditional DVR systems. With a single appliance, Peoples Auto Park protects a large amount of cars with a small amount of storage.
SOLVING CRIMES
Megapixel cameras are trained on the company’s various lots in which vehicles may sit for several days or more.
Over the course of the past year, Peoples Auto Park had two security incidents that required review of the video captured by the solution. In both incidents, the Geovision system played a significant role in helping solve the crime.
By using an intelligent video solution with quality megapixel images, it was easy to research specific times and camera angles. In one instance, we had to review three months of stored video. We were able to retain a large quantity of 3 megapixel digital video files. The video evidence ultimately led to confessions and the police, who were impressed with the ease of operation and usability of the images, arrested the perpetrators of the crimes. The amount of property recovered along with future deterrence has enabled the system to pay for itself in less than six months.
A BUSINESS SOLUTION

Peoples Auto Park is in the business of storing vehicles. The cars and trucks can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in value. The company makes money by safely storing lots of automobiles, not lots of video security data.

The three S’s: Surveillance, Security and Schools

Surveillance 101
Leveraging Network Video to Enhance School Security, Student Learning and Teacher Standards
Despite lessons learned from the Columbine High School tragedy, we continue to see incidents of school violence escalate. According to the National School Safety and Security Services, the 2003-04 school year saw 44 school-related violent deaths, plus an additional 64 school-related shootings that did not end in death — making last school year the most violent since the 1998-99 school year.
In response to this growing trend, an increasing number of schools nationwide are implementing video surveillance systems in an effort to improve student and faculty safety. The United States currently has about 100,000 schools, and only 16% of these facilities have some form of video surveillance system in place. While this figure demonstrates that schools are making progress toward the goal of improving their safety measures, more than 90% of these schools use analog, or closed-circuit television (CCTV), surveillance systems. Although useful for basic surveillance applications, CCTV systems fall short of offering the benefits of the more modern surveillance systems available today, which deliver enhancements such as remote access and video management.
Internet protocol (IP)-based systems are quickly emerging as a surveillance option that offers marked benefits over CCTV systems, as well as can contribute to increased security and safety across campuses. Today, only 5% to 10% of schools with a surveillance system use IP-based systems. However, as the cost of the technology decreases, and the functionality and ease of installation increases, schools are rapidly migrating to IP-based systems.
This article will present an overview of IP-based surveillance, giving schools a basic lesson in the way that the systems work with existing infrastructure investments and showing the overall benefits received from these systems. I will also highlight a case study of how a high school in is using video surveillance technology to improve teaching standards, student learning and security.
Building Blocks of Security
The foundation of an IP-based surveillance system is the camera. In the IP realm, surveillance cameras are known as network cameras because they connect directly to a computer network. Network cameras operate independently of PCs because they contain built-in image digitalization and compression, an operating system, and Web servers. This allows images to be sent over a school’s local area network (LAN) or via the Web, enabling images to be viewed from any PC connected to the Internet.
Since network cameras plug directly into the existing data network via an Ethernet port, schools can save thousands of dollars by not having to wire their buildings with coaxial cabling as required with an analog camera installation. Instead, schools can leverage the existing network infrastructure that most of them currently have in place. IP-based systems also are highly scalable, allowing schools to easily add more cameras to upgrade the system’s scope and breadth of coverage.
Many schools already have a network of CCTV cameras in place. Therefore, network video servers offer schools a low-cost, uncomplicated solution for converting to IP-based surveillance systems from analog. Video servers connect directly to a school’s network and digitize images from analog cameras for transmission via the intranet or Internet. This enables schools to receive all the benefits of an IP-based system without investing in new network cameras.
Creating a Safer Environment
IP-based systems provide functionalities and benefits not possible with CCTV-based systems, such as remote monitoring capabilities. Schools typically place their network cameras in public areas where violence is more likely to occur such as hallways, cafeterias and school grounds. Because authorized users can view images from any Internet browser, school officials, IT staff, security guards and even police officers can log on and view video as needed. Images can be viewed and managed from one centralized location or several disparate locations, depending on the needs of the school. This capability can be extremely valuable when an incident occurs, because school officials can immediately pull up the video on their computer and watch the incident as it takes place.
Many districts also have installations in multiple schools. To maximize control over their installations, districts may set up a monitoring center in one centralized location — either on school grounds or in a remote location such as a district administration building. This option is cost-effective and creates efficiency by enabling all authorized users to view video from every camera simultaneously. It also makes it possible to quickly identify and respond to issues as they arise.
Schools also benefit from motion-detection applications available with IP-based systems. Most network cameras contain built-in motion-detection capabilities that will trigger video recording if movement or an “event” occurs. A school’s system can be set to notify someone if an event occurs by sending messages to a wireless device. For example, if a trophy closet is broken into after hours, alerts can be sent instantly to a designated principal’s or superintendent’s cell phone.
Parents and teachers alike agree that creating a safe environment where students can focus on learning is the ultimate goal of any technology system a school installs. According to one Canton High School senior, IP-based surveillance helped achieve this goal: “Now you can’t get into a fight and say that you weren’t in it because the cameras saw you there. It’s better that they have the cameras — I personally feel safer [at school].”
Canton High School Looks Beyond Security
While IP-based surveillance is primarily being used to assist with security measures in facilities, some schools are finding new and broader ways to leverage their technology investments with creative applications. One school that is maximizing its surveillance investment is Canton High School in Canton, Miss. Canton High School uses network video servers to convert its 60 analog cameras into network cameras. The high school originally installed its system to create a safer, more productive environment for students and teachers by deterring theft, fights, bullying and vandalism.
After an initial installation around school grounds, Canton High School experienced such a drastic improvement in security that the school district decided to expand the system into each classroom. Today, Canton High School’s IP-based system enables it to record video and audio from every classroom to a hard drive. After class, students can access and review recorded classes via the school’s network. In addition, the system records the teaching techniques of the school’s best-performing teachers, and the video is later used in teacher training sessions.

The Five Realities of Retail Video Surveraillance

Retail continues to be the largest vertical market for video surveillance. When looking at the size of sales from retailers, the numbers are staggering – a pharmacy chain’s initial order for 80 locations was 1,300 cameras, over 16 cameras per location…a two year, $15 million contract extension to provide video surveillance equipment to a major international retailer for its asset protection and safety program…a video security solution for 29 retail locations and corporate offices of a leading skateboard, snowboard and apparel retailer…complete video solutions for a national furniture chain, national grocery chain and a nationwide book retailer. Here are the five similarities that tie them together, according to Mike Capulli of Samsung | GVI Security, Carrolton, Texas.
Retail is an analog application because analog costs less. It provides the images retail/loss prevention managers need at a much lower budget than IP. Since most dealer/integrators/end-users are already comfortable selling analog, this market eliminates the frustration some have with IP video.
Although an important reason to have a video system, theft is typically not the top issue. Video eliminates the payouts of fraudulent slips-and-falls, a major liability concern of retail outlets.
Highlight the parking lot. Retailers want their shoppers to know the lots are supervised. They also use the cameras to spot if there are traffic tie-ups or other problems.
The cost of all the needed video equipment can often be beyond the security department’s budget. That’s why security departments are working with counterparts in operations and marketing to amortize the cost of their digital investment.
Loss prevention departments are focused on the future of video analytics which will remove them from being cost centers to revenue generators. For instance, marketing can show its vendors video of product appeal testing via shelf location and determine which end caps and displays attract the most number of people. The vendors can then make changes that yield more sales.

How our technology helps Retail

It’s all about sales for retail operations.

And when it comes to the use of business intelligence as part of security systems, the winners use and the underperforming don’t.

A study “Loss Prevention and Beyond: Survival of the Fittest,” sponsored by ADT’s Sensormatic Retail Solutions, has uncovered some big differences between top retail performers – those whose sales growth outpace the three percent industry average – and retailers below that average. One is that top performers use business intelligence tools like returns and void management technologies 46 percent more than underperformers. Another is that nearly three times the number of top performing retailers use electronic article surveillance (EAS) technology as compared to underperformers.

Better Return on Investment

“Greater use of business intelligence tools has improved the efficiency of our other loss prevention technologies and delivered a strong return on investment,” said David George, vice president of asset protection for Harris Teeter. “Business intelligence solutions tied to our security video systems have enabled our operators and loss prevention teams to quickly identify and address both operational and loss prevention issues in each of our stores and across the entire chain. The end result is two-fold: improved shrink reduction and better performing store operations.”

The online survey was conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR) during September and October 2008, including respondents from retailers with stores around the world. Among its findings:
Employee theft of goods and cash are top retailer concerns, with respondents ranking internal theft as their number one source of shrinkage, shoplifting as second, and internal theft of cash as third.
While almost half of the top performers use EAS to control shrink, only 17 percent of underperformers use EAS – despite all respondents ranking shoplifting as their second largest source of shrink.
Seventy-one percent of all respondents said they frequently use exception analysis reporting, a key business intelligence tool, as a critical technology in their loss prevention arsenal.
Fifty-three percent of all respondents cite better business intelligence as needed to make effective use of the vast amounts of loss prevention data that exists, especially from video surveillance systems.
According to the report, this discovery was consistent with many other findings that top performers don’t merely do the same things better compared to underperformers, but they also tend to do different things: “(They) think differently, plan differently and respond differently.”

Follow Through

In another example, the study found that while 39 percent of top performers audit employees’ adjustments to the quantity of goods on hand, only nine percent of underperformers do the same. The report concluded: “Even as these retailers are convinced their employees are stealing from them, they allow those employees to make adjustments to quantities on hand without even verifying what happened to the merchandise.”

“In tough economic times, shrink continues to rise,” said Paula Rosenblum, RSR’s managing director and widely recognized as one of the top analysts in the retail industry. “With the slowing economy many retailers have cut back on staff and now will be relying on technology to help control theft. Smart, winning retailers know the best way to maximize profitability and improve shrink is to leverage existing assets and improve store intelligence.”

A number of different studies have identified four ways that retail operations lose money. There is lost from sales associates and other employees. There is loss from shoplifting. And there are losses from vendors and just from bad bookkeeping.

Loss prevention executives and experts both agree that the recent economy may spur more losses from employees and shoplifters, While retail security has depended on a combination of technology and security officers, there is a shift to more intelligent security video systems and their integration with point-of-sales and other business systems.

One of the outcomes is the ability of loss prevention to partner with the business to provide the operation with people counting and traffic analysis within the store.