Page 38 - Security Today, February 2017

help to prevent intruders from reconfigur- ing devices or gaining unauthorized access to stored data. The optimized safety and security of an AES encrypted solution can be best illustrated in municipal-wide sur- veillance and security applications.
The need to protect large venues are ar- eas where masses of individuals frequent, such as stadiums and arenas, and mass transit terminals and stations, represents a new challenge for public and private law enforcement and security management personnel. Networking surveillance and security systems, and providing access to outside authorities provides an invalu- able means of protection to help prevent incidents from occurring and to conduct immediate analysis of unfolding situations using real-time video and data. Converse- ly, such vast integrations need to be bullet- proof against cyberattacks.
Automatic updating. In addition to pro- viding strong encryption, leading VMS providers—like all software providers— continuously develop and deliver updates, upgrades and patches to ensure the ongo- ing stability, performance and security of their solutions. The main reason for this is hackers’ and cyber criminals’ tendency to focus on software vulnerabilities, which are a favorite target given the rate of suc- cess exploiting them. Once a vulnerability has been discovered, it’s only a matter of time before it is shared online, which in- creases the potential for successful attacks.
Software providers are aware of these risks, and are tireless in their efforts to close “open doors” with security patches that are delivered in regular updates. The unfortunate reality is that many organiza- tions fail to install these updates, leaving their systems—and to a larger extent, their networks—vulnerable to breaches and their potentially disastrous outcomes.
In fact, a recent study found that al- most all of the network software vulner- abilities detected in the last year could have been prevented by software fixes and patches that were readily available before a breach occurred. More alarming, par- ticularly considering the critical nature of security is that a good percentage of these fixes had been available for five years or more—but had simply not been installed.
Obviously, keeping any software up to date is critical. Given the importance of security, this is especially true for VMS. However, even the most robust update will not do any good if it’s not installed.
Fortunately, some VMS providers now in- clude the same auto-updating capability as smartphones and laptops in their solution to ensure end users are running the most current—and most secure—version.
In today’s connected world, there are many solutions that excel at taking ad- vantage of the benefits of this increased connectivity, while others deliver high lev-
els of cybersecurity. Serving both equally critical functions is difficult for most solu- tions, but this is precisely the strength of networked VMS, making these solutions the best choice for providing the best of both worlds.
Ken LaMarca is the vice president of sales and marketing at OnSSI.
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0217 | NETWORKING SECURITY
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