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Being Mobile with your Security and Access Control

Mobile devices – we all have them! I bet most people reading this will have a smartphone that rarely leaves their side. Be it checking your social media and emails, shopping/banking online or text messaging your family and friends (and possibly even, heaven forbid, actually making a phone call!) that device is akin to your keys and wallet when it comes to essential daily items.

But what if your mobile device could become your definitive personal item? The likes of Apple Pay, Android Pay and PayPal are rapidly turning your mobile phone into a credible replacement for your wallet, but how about if it could reduce the numbers of keys you had to carry too? With access control and automated security, this is rapidly becoming a credible option!

Mobile Authentication

There is a lot of momentum in the Access Control market at the moment towards using mobiles devices for authentication, as opposed to cards or tokens. This idea started to become popular some three or four years ago and has grown with the proliferation of NFC (Near Field Communications) technology in mobile phones and smart devices.

Interestingly, the choice by Apple to restrict the use of NFC to Apple Pay on its devices has had a profound effect on the implementation of NFC in other applications too. Whilst it’s fair to say that not everyone has an iPhone, it is an important segment of the market and means that other manufacturers are wary of how customers will be able to use any new technology.

Consequently, there has been a much bigger focus on using Bluetooth Low Energy technology on mobile devices instead. Security providers such as HID Global, STid in France and Nedap in the Netherlands have concentrated on developing Bluetooth Low Energy readers and mobile credential applications.

Enabling Mobile Credentials

Not only do you need a reader that will successfully work with a mobile device, you also need to be sure you are securely delivering the credentials to that phone. This needs to be easily actioned, whilst ensuring it isn’t intercepted, stolen or appropriated fraudulently. On top of this, you need to ensure that the communications between the reader and the mobile device are encrypted too.

This has been where much of the development focus has been over the last two/three years, putting these cloud-based credential delivery vehicles together – then, marrying them with the reader technology.

Future Options

The pace of development doesn’t stop there! There are efforts underway to produce security reader technology which can read QR codes as well.

This will add another choice to NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy options – giving greater scope to pick a technology that suits the application, users and security operator best.

Empowering People and Businesses

Many organisations have been embracing the idea of individuals using their own devices for a number of years now (Bring Your Own Device – BYOD) – something which got a lot of press in recent years, but now seems commonplace to many of us.

Laptops, tablets, mobile phones – these are all devices that people will happily use in the workplace, whether they belong to the business or the individual. This expectation has shaped the way we all view technology and the way we interact with it.

Using your mobile device as a security credential is an obvious extension of these expectations. It seems that further evolution of this approach is inevitable and is likely to become even more prevalent in the future.

Convenience and Security

The crucial consideration is finding a balance between conveniences for the user and maintaining stringent levels of security. If you can ensure mobile devices have the necessary checks and balances in place, they become a very logical and highly suitable way of identifying authorised individuals.

With the rapid evolution of technology and society’s attitudes towards it, all the signs are that using your mobile device for security will seem just as natural in the future as using a card or token is today!

 

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UK to launch security standard for surveillance cameras

The UK is launching the world’s first voluntary cyber security standard and compliance certification mark for the manufacturers of surveillance cameras

Warwick Ashford   Security Editor

The UK Surveillance Camera Commissioner (SCC) is launching a voluntary set of minimum requirements to ensure that surveillance cameras and components are manufactured in a way that is secure by design and secure by default.

Secure by default and design is a key element of UK government policy on technological innovation. In January 2019, the government announced a £70m investment in making the UK a world leader in eliminating cyber threats to businesses and consumers by developing more resilient IT hardware, with security and protection designed directly into the hardware and chips.

Several of the biggest and best-known brands in the surveillance industry have collaborated with a team appointed by surveillance camera commissioner Tony Porter to draw up a baseline standard for manufacturers.

The result is a standard that has been written by manufacturers for manufacturers. It includes requirements such as ensuring that passwords have to be changed from the manufacturer default at start-up, that the chosen passwords should be of sufficient complexity to provide a degree of assurance, and placing controls around how and when remote access should be provisioned.

The official launch of the standard at the IFSEC International Conference in London on 20 June coincides with the world’s first Surveillance Camera Day, which aims to raise awareness about surveillance cameras and generate a debate about how they are used.

Surveillance Camera Day is an initiative by the SCC and the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (Crisp), and forms part of the UK’s National Surveillance Camera Strategy.

The surveillance camera commissioner said in a statement: “It has been an enlightening and positive experience working with manufacturers toward a common goal. It’s a genuine first and further standards will follow over the next couple of years.”

Cyber attack resilience built-in

The voluntary standard comes in the wake of several high-profile compromises of systems showed that CCTV systems were being left live and internet-facing due to poor security configurations.

Some of these incidents, like the distributed denial of service attacks enabled by the Mirai botnet that brought down social media and financial websites around the world in October 2016, also showed that the root cause was poor design and manufacturing standards. “Encouraging manufacturers to ensure they ship their devices in a secure state is the key objective of these minimum requirements for manufacturers” Mike Gillespie, Advent IM

In an effort to ensure the UK’s resilience to attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in network-connected cameras, the SCC said the minimum requirements were an important step forward for manufacturers, installers and users alike. 

The work has been led by Mike Gillespie, cyber security advisor to the SCC and managing director of information security and physical security consultancy Advent IM, along with Buzz Coates, business development manager at CCTV distributor Norbain.

The standard was developed in consultation with surveillance camera manufacturers Axis, Bosch, Hanwah, Hikvision and Milestone Systems.

Speaking ahead of the official launch, Gillespie said that if a device came out of the box in a secure configuration, there was a good chance it would be installed in a secure configuration.

“Encouraging manufacturers to ensure they ship their devices in this secure state is the key objective of these minimum requirements for manufacturers,” he said.

Manufacturers benefit, said Gillespie, by being able to demonstrate that they take cyber seriously and that their equipment is designed and built to be resilient.

“Installers and integrators benefit from the introduction of the requirements by not having to know how to turn dangerous ports or protocols off during the installation, and users benefit because they know they are buying equipment that has been designed to be resilient to cyber attack and data theft,” he said.

Manufacturers can demonstrate that they meet the minimum requirements by completing a self-certification form and submitting it to the SCC for validation. If successful, they will be able to list the component or system as certified by the SCC and will be able to display the SCC’s certification mark.  

 

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Data Centre CCTV Installers in Berkshire

Do you have a data centre in your commercial premises? If so, then you will need to ensure that it is safe and secure to protect the sensitive information that housed on the systems. We are here to help at FTL Secure with the security solutions we have available. We can install CCTV systems along with access controls to make sure that the data centres are protected against intrusion.

Our Approach

Once you have gotten in touch with us, we will take the time to find out what type of CCTV system you require for your data centre. We offer fully bespoke solutions to suit your business and budget and all of our systems are state-of-the-art. Once we have designed your security system, our team will be able to come onsite and install it for you. You won’t have to worry about a thing! Once installed, full demonstrations will be provided to make sure you are able to get the most out of your system and you know how to properly use it to keep your data centre secure.

If you have any questions about our data centre CCTV systems, please contact our team on 01344 752 222. We are here to help and we look forward to hearing from you.

Look no further for your data centre CCTV installers in Berkshire!

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Access Control Entry Readers Company

If you are looking into ways to better secure your commercial premises and track who is entering your property and at what times, then FTL Secure Solutions can help. We offer a vast array of experience in access control entry readers and access control systems. We have enabled our clients, across a variety of industry sectors, to get the security measures they want in their properties and we would love to help you as well.

The access control systems we supply and install come with state-of-the-art technology which provides the best in security and personnel management. They also work alongside automated processes such as HR systems to monitor attendance and payroll and they can be easily integrated with other pre-existing security systems. Our team can take care of everything for you, from design through to installation, training and maintenance of your new access control system. Our aim is to make the process of installing the security measures you need within your business hassle-free for you.

If you have any questions about the access control entry readers we have available, please contact our team on 01344 752 222. We are here to help and we look forward to hearing from you.