Interface Systems, a Missouri-based provider of security, managed network, communications and business intelligence solutions to distributed enterprises, says retailers should heighten their awareness of organizations retail crime, which the firm says has increased by more than 25% since last year.

In addition, nearly 53% of retailers reported external theft to the National Retail Federation, according to Interface Systems.

Sean Foley, senior vice president of customer success at the managed service provider, says the holiday season brings longer hours, a larger inventory and more crowds to stores, all of which increase risk.

“What should be ‘the most wonderful time of the year for both shoppers and retailers, is becoming increasingly stressful due to an increased risk of theft and violence against employees,” Foley says. “Technology solutions can offer effective deterrents for retailers who face security risks every day.”

Interface Systems recommends investing in digital surveillance technology to help augment loss prevention professionals, such as remote security services leveraging cameras, speakers and microphones. These solutions provide discreet, always-on surveillance without degrading the shopper experience and allow remote security professionals to identify suspicious individuals and alert in-store staff or law enforcement.

In addition, the managed service provider recommends retailers use motion-triggered, AI-powered cameras that can be deployed in conjunction with speakers and lighting systems that can automatically warn loiterers during non-business hours. Designed to be installed in parking lots or loading areas, these solutions can be programmed to play different audio messages based on the context and even alert remote security professionals.

To maximize return on investment, Interface Systems recommends integrating video surveillance and security systems with point-of-sale systems to allow for transactions to be mapped to video recordings to help retailers find instances of theft, including coupon fraud, refunds made without customers, sweethearting and unauthorized price overrides.

As with cybersecurity, employee training and awareness is equally important in physical security, according to Interface Systems.

The company recommends implementing a robust training and communications program to help keep employees and customers safe, including training for both seasonal and existing employees. Training should include role-playing scenarios, drills, and a synopsis of the security technologies deployed. An emergency communication plan should also be clear to all employees.

“Retailers need a comprehensive safety program to prepare and protect their associates from a variety of dangerous situations,” says Tyson John, senior vice president of security monitoring operations at the firm. “When employees know that their safety is the priority, it creates peace of mind and can boost morale and productivity.”

The post Security Technology Tips for Retailers During Holiday Shopping appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The move is said to streamline administrative and collaborative processes while also leveraging the collective ingenuity of the global developer community.

The use of GitHub, an online open source development platform, will allow for easier contribution and collaboration on ONVIF specifications by applying state-of-the-art software development tools to specification engineering, according to ONVIF.

This will enable software engineers and developers from security, IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), Cloud services and other industries to contribute new ideas and proposals, spurring greater feature interoperability and new interface specifications that will help ONVIF continue to contribute to these industries.

Other important aspects of the organization, such as the development of ONVIF profiles and test tools, the conformant product submission process, the activities of the ONVIF committees and working groups, and membership and governance structure remain unchanged.

“The data that powers our businesses and homes relies on feature-rich and standardized pathways of communications for interoperability, and ONVIF will continue to evolve to provide those pathways,” says Per Björkdahl, chairman of the ONVIF Steering Committee.

The source files of ONVIF specification-related documents, including schema files, which describe the XML framework of specific ONVIF features and functions, will be available on GitHub.

The ONVIF technical committee will continue to govern the integration of new technical proposals and, once approved according to the ONVIF Rules of Membership, these will be published on the organization’s website.

Related: 12 Advanced Commercial Surveillance Cameras for Your Business or Org

All contributors are required to sign a contributor license agreement, and any changes that are ultimately accepted by the technical committee will be licensed to ONVIF.

While profile development will not be a part of the open source strategy, ONVIF says it widely expects that specification contributions realized via open source will support the development of future profiles.

This story premiered on our sister site, Security Sales & Integration. 

The post New IP-Based Security Standard ONVIF Announces Open Sourcing appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Selected by Lifespace Communities when it wanted to makeover its Abbey Delray location in Florida, Direct Supply integrated its access control with video surveillance, intercoms and an at-risk human perimeter system. The integration provided notifications to staff on handheld wireless devices.

“The client wanted residents to be able to call for help from wherever they were, so it was important we provided a wireless nurse call system,” explains Calie Blanke, Direct Supply marketing manager.

“The client requested an emergency alert system to provide responses to emergency alerts on mobile devices, tablets, desktops and laptops. When residents use an emergency alert for a nonemergency issue, caregivers must be able to reroute calls to the appropriate staff or resolve the emergency without having to enter the room.”

Because video surveillance and access control security systems can be ineffective when it comes to residents experiencing memory loss, a “wander system” was necessary.

“An electronic personal safety alarm annunciation system was designed and installed for elopement prevention with alarms upon resident approach of the at-risk human perimeter,” says Blanke.

“This wander control system consists of passage-mounted wander equipment, exciters, keypads, wiring, connectors, hardware, supports, accessories, software, system programming and other appurtenances necessary for a complete operating system that provides the functional intent desired including integration with other systems.”

Read Next: Surveillance, Location Technology Can Help Campuses Track COVID-19

The video surveillance system installed features cameras at all exits to assist in locating wandering residents. The wander system and intercom were then integrated with the e-call system to provide alarm notifications with caregivers.

Direct Supply also installed Cat-6 cable for data drops, wireless access points, RG6 coax cable for television, 485 communication cable for wander management, and 12-strand OM3 armored multimode fiber-optic cable, RG11 coax cable, and 50- and 100-pair Cat-3 voice cable for backbone

This article premiered on our sister site, Security Sales & Integration.

The post Direct Supply’s At-Risk Human Perimeter System Makes Facility ‘Wander-Proof’ appeared first on My TechDecisions.

This collection of CCTV monitoring and security camera monitor apps features some that interface with different manufacturers cameras and those that are specific to a brand. Most of the options these days are brand-specific.

Both are included to help end users who are shopping for a new system; it might be helpful to see some that have a mobile interface.

The feature sets on these apps range greatly.

Some allow the user to control the pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) through “pinch to zoom,” take snapshots and send via MMS and email, play back video recordings, two-way audio, view live video from multiple cameras, store multiple DVR connections in an address book, instant notification of alarm events, and HTTPS support for secure connectivity are among just a few.

Additional resources for commercial CCTV & Security Camera purchasers:

• 5 Tips for Choosing Campus Security Cameras
• Tips for Buying Campus Safety Technology
• RFP Template for Video Surveillance

The post Highly Rated CCTV & IP Security Camera Monitoring Apps appeared first on My TechDecisions.

To find a solution, campus security officials enlisted the help of Unison Integrated Technology, a CCTV installation and maintenance company. Since the school works with contract security, they were searching for an easy-to-use solution.

“We contract out our security services, so it’s important for newly arrived officers to be able to use all of the system’s key features with minimal training,” said facilities manager Lewis Palin.

Total cost of ownership was also an important consideration since the school would need 150 new internal and external cameras that could integrate with existing cameras and infrastructure. Palin was also looking for minimal maintenance charges, no license fees and the ability to scale the system as the campus grows or requirements change.

Ultimately, Unison recommended IDIS’ DirectIP, a solution used by several nearby colleges, says the press release. The solution provides more than 160 cameras, including five 2MP Lightmaster IR PTZ models that deliver 36x zoom and sharp images in all lighting due to its 350 meter IR, wide dynamic range and digital image stabilization.

Related: Surveillance, Location Technology Can Help Campuses Track COVID-19

Unison also helped to install 55 full-HD IR vandal-resistant dome cameras to secure entrances and internal areas and 40 IR bullet cameras to give HD coverage of external areas.

All cameras use IDIS Smart Failover technology to ensure automatic protection against video data loss. The storage capability is assured by four 64-channel network video recorders with built-in failover and RAID 1, 5 and 10 support, plus three 32-channel recorders with IDIS Intelligent Codec.

“Unison got the entire job done in three weeks – with swift stock delivery from IDIS – working around us to deliver our new system exactly as promised,” said Palin. “We will definitely stick with IDIS technology as we expand our estate.”

For more information on the solution, visit www.idisglobal.com.

This post premiered on our sister site, Campus Safety.

The post Aging University Surveillance System Aided by IDIS appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The app works based off of scraping photos of people’s faces – without their knowledge or consent – from the internet, including from popular social media sites, like Facebook. From there, app users can search the app’s database for a photo of someone they’re looking for.

In the suit, Donovan claims that Clearview AI’s app “violates the Vermont Consumer Protection Act as well as the Data Broker Law,” The Verge says. Donovan also said he is disturbed by Clearview AI’s business practices, which “he said includes collecting and selling children’s facial recognition data.”

Other states have taken similar issue with the tech company and its app. For example, New Jersey’s attorney general banned state police from utilizing the app altogether, and Sen. Markey of Massachusetts has written to Clearview AI’s CEO “to express concerns.” Similarly, people from Illinois and New York took the company to court earlier this year.

Tech companies seem to be unified with users on this front, too. The Verge says that YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have all asked Clearview AI to stop scraping users’ images from their sites. Many of these companies also enforce terms that “explicitly forbid” scraping information.

Sticking to Their Guns

Regardless of how many times it is brought to court, Clearview AI isn’t budging, or admitting to anything. In fact, it keeps claiming that it functions similar to a traditional search engine. “Clearview AI operates in a manner similar to search engines like Google and Bing. Clearview AI, however, collects far less data than Google and Bing, because Clearview AI only collects public images and their web address. That’s all,” the company said in a statement to CNET.

Clearview also claims that popular search engines “collect far more data, including names, addresses, financial and health information and shopping habits.” That might be true, but stating this makes the old adage even truer: “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Finger pointing at the wrong other companies are doing won’t soften a penalty, either, especially when users’ consent comes into play. Regardless what platform is used for personal needs, users should be aware of what personal information those platforms are collecting, and how it could be used. Maybe it’s not worth using that particular platform after all, even if it may seem like a harmless app.

The post Clearview AI is In Trouble Again – This Time with Vermont appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Over the past few years, Google has been able to “infiltrate more than half of the nation’s primary and secondary schools by offering a ‘free’ web-based service.” Kids are able to access applications, such as email, through that service, which allegedly enables the tech giant to monitor them. For example, Google Education is used by more than 80 million educators and students; more than 25 million teachers and student use Chromebooks, too.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Google “misled” schools and parents that there were no issues around privacy with its educational solutions, and alleges that parental consent was not gained to data-mine their children. “The company’s data-mining of kids violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires companies to get a parent’s consent before collecting the name, contact information and other personal details from a child under 13, according to the suit.”

But Google is saying that New Mexico’s attorney general has it all wrong – Google Suite for Education gives schools the power to control kids’ account access, and requires schools to gain parental consent when necessary, a spokesperson for the company said. It’s all up to the schools how to properly use this tool. “We do not use personal information from users in primary and secondary schools to target ads.”

Even though Google claims this, it’s difficult to fully believe. CBS News points to a settlement Google was involved with in the fall of 2019, when it agreed to pay $170 million to settle federal and state allegations that “it had violated children’s privacy on YouTube by collecting personal information on kids without their parents’ consent.” This complaint, which was filed by the FTC and New York attorney general, claimed that the tech giant was using trackers to monitor kids, and use the collected data to advertise accordingly to kids.

The post What Decision Makers Need to Know About the Latest Lawsuit Against Google appeared first on My TechDecisions.

An audit completed earlier this month discovered that over 200 police and sheriff’s departments in California utilize automated license plate readers (ALPRs), a camera or similar technology that scans license plates. The technology is used for other purposes, too, including enforcing parking laws and helping police work through a child abduction case.

But while police have touted the use of ALPRs as beneficial to their job, the audit found that they might eventually do more harm than good: “the California State Auditor’s office found that most of the data collected is on innocent people and their car movements,” Motherboard says. For example, the Los Angeles Police Department has collected over 320 million images over the last several years, and only 400,000 of those were matches “to cars of interest.” The “remaining 99.9 percent” were stored in a database for more than five years. The LAPD was also able to add other personal information to those photos in the database, such as people’s criminal records and birthdays. The audit showed that the LAPD had shared information with 58 other departments in California.

The Lesson to Learn:

One of the major risks of the LAPD’s access to this information is its lack of policies around how to properly use these photos and data, which violates a California state law, Motherboard says. Without a robust policy, officers may be more likely to intentionally misuse the data, including distributing it to people outside of the police force, or to another force outside of their state. “They’re sharing this data indiscriminately…without even thinking or doing the justification of why they’re sharing with these agencies,” Dave Maass, a senior investigative researcher for the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has been tracking police use of ALPR technology, told Motherboard.

As a result, decision makers involved in the ALPR audit said they hope the audit itself will serve as a warning of the dangers unregulated technology can cause. They recommend other states take similar action with ALPRs to keep data safe, and to help police do their jobs fairly. “Every other state should take a look at this audit and consider whether they should do an audit,” Maass told Motherboard.

The post If Your License Plate is Scanned by an Automated License Plate Reader, Your Data Might be at Risk appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Specifically, the FBI is piloting Amazon recognition surveillance solution, gathering data about people’s faces, irises, walking patterns and voices, and using that information to identify, track and monitor us, the ACLU reports. “The agency can match or request a match of our faces against at least 640 million images of adults living in the U.S.”

Because the FBI is denying the ACLU’s requests for information on how its agents are tracking and monitoring faces, the organization filed a complaint, and is taking the government branch to court. The ACLU hopes that the court will order the FBI to “turn over all records concerning their use of face recognition technology.”

The ACLU says that the FBI’s secrecy surrounding how it uses these data is suspicious and concerning. The organization says this is especially problematic due to the FBI’s history of “troubling political policing practices,” including allegedly black mailing Martin Luther King Jr., and its involvement with the death of Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton. More recently, the ACLU says that the FBI has wasted the opportunities provided by this technology to “spy on Black activists.”

Another red flag the organization points to is the shaky accuracy of surveillance technology, including studies showing that this tech “is prone to significant racial and gender bias.” One study found that “face recognition technology can misclassify the faces of dark skinned women up to 35 percent of the time;” another found that “emotion recognition” software identified Black men as “more angry” than white men; another found that face surveillance algorithms discriminate against transgender people.

As a result, states, like California, are joining the ACLU’s side and taking action to protect civilian’s privacy. They are also requesting that law enforcement agencies increase transparency about how, when, and why they are using facial recognition tech, and what it will be used for. In doing so, privacy advocates hope to create a more symbiotic relationship between people and technology.

The post Is Facial Recognition Technology Being Used for Good or Evil? appeared first on My TechDecisions.

But surely there’s great value in choosing the right commercial surveillance camera for your org. More than ever, surveillance manufacturers are putting an emphasis on ROI, analytics, artificial intelligence, and other factors which used to be considered high-end add-ons but are now must-haves.

End users like you have demanded better options, and manufacturers have listened. But how to choose?

We asked our friends at Security Sales & Integration, the website for security industry professionals, for some guidance on choosing some of the best commercial surveillance cameras for business on the market today.

And while the list is obviously never going to be long enough to fully encapsulate this technological space, we feel it is a good introductory point for IT managers and CIOs to use if they’re considering a purchase in the not-too-distant future.

“Security has evolved rapidly over the past few years. Innovations in camera technology have created solutions that can be specifically tailored to the needs of a customer — whether that be video analytics, mobile notifications or something that can withstand extreme weather conditions,” says Steve Karantzoulidis, the Web/Senior Editor at SSI.

“Whatever you need, odds are an integrator will be able to find it for you.”

We hope this list is helpful in your purchasing decisions!

Click here to see our list of commercial surveillance cameras for your business or org

Also relevant! If you’re not as far along in your purchasing journey and are still in the process of proving your ideas are worthy of the expenditure, we have an RFP template for video surveillance here.

Also of use: our guide to learn how to choose surveillance technology partners and implement it at your specific org. “Tips for Buying Video Surveillance Technology” describes the five general uses for video surveillance and which type of camera is best suited for each function.

Oh, and if you work on a campus, check out our RFP template for campus security solutions.

The post 12 Advanced Commercial Surveillance Cameras for Your Business or Org appeared first on My TechDecisions.