Avigilon and Video Analytics

 

Avigilon is a Vancouver based security equipment designer and manufacturer, perhaps most well known for the software they have developed to analyze raw video data, with no input other than the pixels streamed through an HD camera setup. “Open Video Management” using what they term “Self-Learning” video analytics is the cornerstone of any modern video analytics solution. The company also manufactures several lines of high quality HD cameras and access control gear, but it is not a requirement that all equipment be from Avigilon. Avigilon analytics is performed on-site with a proprietary set of hardware and software, and is effectively limited only by the quality of the video input.

What does this all mean for the consumer? For the residential market, there is not much application, and most home owners would see the cost as extraordinary, considering the increasingly cheap residential offerings from mainstream security integrators. It is also generally not necessary to run such extensive analytics in a residential setting. What Avigilon’s video analytics are particularly useful for are larger, enterprise-scale security operations, such as car lots, schools, and highly trafficked gates. This is something our company has considerable experience with, both in installing and integrating with other cameras and access control systems, as well as servicing and maintaining this type of equipment.

For example, let’s look at our most popular security solution featuring Avigilon; car dealerships. Avigilon’s analytics recognize a car versus some other object and distinguishes between a person and an animal or some other moving object which is not a security threat. The degree to which any software is actually “self-learning” is certainly up for debate, though the type of software underpinning these analytics systems is similar in structure to the kind of predictive software used by Google, Amazon, or Facebook to predict future purchases and analyze behaviors. The idea is that the software is able to self-code within the limited scope of object detection and threat discernment. This implies that each individual system that is integrated with Avigilon analytics will be slightly different over time for each installation in order to better perform in that particular setting.

Security Technology of South Texas is well versed in customizing analytics solutions to each customer based on their concerns and security needs. As we move into the future, analytics will become a de facto component of any competent access control and video surveillance installation, as it is able to reduce or eliminate false alarms, the traditional bane of functional, digital security.

Avigilon has recently announced what they call a “next generation” AI capable camera system. Called the “H5 Smart Camera”, this technology makes use of Deep Neural Networks built into the devices themselves to provide the ability to learn, detect, and notify for events requiring investigation. So called “deep learning” or “deep neural networks” are the same type of AI tech used in the AI operations of companies like Google and Amazon. Deep learning AI works by sorting through massive amounts of data, the more the better, and modifying its own code based on what the program sees. Google’s “Watson” is a famous example of this kind of software, and gained public exposure when it defeated the world’s top player of “Jeopardy”. Deep learning was also used in the software that established computer’s as the top “players” of Go, a chess-like strategy game which is well known for its highly technical play and difficulty.

Avigilon is working with Intel, a leader in the emerging AI marketplace. Intel’s “Movidius” VPUs allow for power-efficient acceleration of hardware in deep neural networks. These networks are inspired by and in some ways modeled from the way that biological systems (brains and central nervous systems) process and interpret information. Intel believes this technology will “usher in a new generation of video analytics capabilities with deep learning approaches” (avigilon.com). The H5 camera line uses these AI facilities to develop more sophisticated event detection and automatic notifications. The cameras are to be displayed at the Global Security Exchange conference of 2018 in Las Vegas, and are expected to be launched into the market in 2019.

This is the focus that Avigilon has had in the industry for a while already and they have analytics systems available now. Yet as technology marches up an accelerating curve in processing power, we can expect more and more functionality in all AI systems to come. AI itself is a fascinating technology that we have looked at in more detail in previous articles, and is expected to radically change the markets in almost every industry and the global economy as a whole.
Even though huge volumes of video data are collected every day, most statistics indicate that only 10 percent of this data is ever used. The majority of data collected loses its value very quickly after being generated. The reason for this? Our primary focus tends to be delivering the correct information in a crisis or providing it as evidence after criminal activity has taken place. This causes much data to be “wasted” in the sense that we lose our on the opportunity to perform useful analytics.

Video analytics is an increasingly powerful tool. It helps to improve usability of these vast amounts of video information. Analytics software acts as the “brain” of a surveillance system and is built into IP cameras themselves or processed in separate computing infrastructure. This creates a smarter system that “knows” what it sees and alerts guards to potential threats as soon as an alarm rule or condition is met. Analytics gives operators the chance to act faster and more efficiently with better intel.

Video analytics is like an ever-vigilant system operator within the security system itself. It captures data like a panopticon, seeing all in every monitored scene around the clock. Content analysis information, a form of video metadata, is stored as well. As they reduce operating costs and increase efficiency, intelligent cameras deliver a solid return on investment which can be measured in tangible results to the business or other setting in which it operates.

Let’s take a look at what exactly is possible using intelligent video. Smart IP cameras are able to classify the objects they see on their own. Objects entering or leaving the scene can be identified as a person, car, bike, truck, or other object. Because the camera can differentiate objects, it can be told to only alert in the case of a break-in, ignoring things like leaves in the wind or animals wondering through. New low-light cameras allow color-filtering even in scenes with very little ambient light. Even at night, color detection is possible in this way.

Alarm detection can be set to be even more specialized. Rules can be configured to look for specialized behavior patterns such as fighting, running, loitering, path following, abandoned luggage, entering an area, and more. The alarm engine in each camera coordinates with the others in a logical way to interpret this information and determine threat status. All this allows for a very robust alarm condition solution and prevents false and missed alarms.
What’s more, stored metadata enables forensic analysis at a later time. This means that retroactive searches for a specific car or person is possible even if it was not a determined item of interest until well after the event was recorded. Metadata is compact and only barely adds to the size of recordings. It is quick and easy to search through to find a specific event.

The logical next step is to continue to improve analytics for video metadata until we approach 100 percent practical use. Predictive analysis of human traffic patterns can predict shoplifting and identify potential events before they take place, and the more data that can be made useful the more accurate these types of predictions will be. The same technology can monitor customer dwell time at different displays in a store and determine the effectiveness of in-store advertising and product locations. Analyzing customer engagement with these displays can help increase customer engagement with products and lead to increased sales and revenue. As the IoT expands, this type of technology will be more and more critical as there will be many more points of data to analyze. There is no way to fully anticipate the eventual effects this will have on our industry or the world at large.

Sources: Avigilon.com

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Part 2: Facial Analytics

The American Civil Liberties Union recently tested Amazon’s facial recognition tech — and the results were less than favorable. To test the system’s accuracy, the faces of all 535 members of congress were scanned against 25,000 public mugshots, through Amazon’s open Rekognition API. Although none of the members of Congress were in any of these mugshot lineup, Amazon’s system nevertheless generated 28 false matches. The ACLU claims this raises some particularly serious concerns about Rekognition’s use by law enforcement and in the legal and medical world.

“An identification — whether accurate or not — could cost people their freedom or even their lives,” the group said in an accompanying statement. “Congress must take these threats seriously, hit the brakes, and enact a moratorium on law enforcement use of face recognition.” (ACLU)

According to The Verge, an “Amazon spokesperson attributed the results to poor calibration.” However this does not necessarily account for the results. Amazon’s system currently operates with the default confidence threshold of just 80 percent. Yet Amazon claims it recommends at the very least a 95 percent threshold for situations such as medicine and law enforcement where relying on a machine to ID someone could cost them their freedom, life, or worse.

“While 80% confidence is an acceptable threshold for photos of hot dogs, chairs, animals, or other social media use cases,” the representative said, “it wouldn’t be appropriate for identifying individuals with a reasonable level of certainty.” (ACLU) Even still, the Rekognition suite does nothing to affect that recommendation during the process of setting it up, and there is of course little to nothing to prevent law enforcement agencies from using the default setting of 80 percent.

In May of this year, this tech came into the limelight when the ACLU report was able to show the system being in use by a number of LEO agencies including the police of Orlando, Florida. It is sold as a part of Amazon’s Web Services cloud, and is quite inexpensive with a costs as low as less than just 12 dollars a month for the entire department.

Furthermore, this test demonstrated a continuing problem of many facial recognition systems, which have  historically had considerably difficulty    in accurately identifying both women and non-white minorities. Of the 28 false matches, 11 involved black members of congress, although they make up just around 20  percent of the whole of congress itself. Some other systems fair even worse. With the system used by the London Metro Police force producing as many as 49 false matches for every legitimate hit, which then necessitates a manual and time and resource consuming search though these false-positives.

Ostensibly, facial recognition IDs would be confirmed through multiple human sources before an arrest would be made, though many say that even checking faces violates privacy rights. Worse still, it is not hard to imagine a situation where an officer sees a false match that leads him to believe the potential arrestee could be armed and dangerous, and also plant ideas about the person before even really investigating, changing the outcome of a routine stop from routine, to possibly violent, even deadly.

Security Technology of South Texas works with analytics and facial recognition video surveillance in its projects, and are experts in integrating, understanding, and sourcing only the best tech to get your job done, at a price you can feel good about. Let us show you the difference between a local, responsive, company that strives for only excellence and client satisfaction versus the kind of experience we have all come to expect from the detached, hard to reach, and inferior service and installations inherent to the juggernauts of the security industry.

Security Technology of South Texas is an authorized integrator for Avigilon systems and has designed systems with this kind of functionality. Avigilon analytics is particularly useful in enterprise scale operations, school and college campuses, as well as car dealerships or any other large property where tight security is necessary.

Please contact us at  admin@gostst.com on our website

or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7.

Sources: ACLcomU, Verge.com,  Amazon.

Fully Integrated Security and Access  Control with Alarm.com


Alarm.com is an all-inclusive business security and access control service that we offer our clients for easy access and constant updates from their work sites and businesses. The technology is specifically engineered for small and medium size business owners, and combines intelligent intrusion detection, video surveillance, access control and energy management into one cost-effective solution which is accessible from any computer, phone or other smart device.

———————————————————————————————————————————–

Their all-encompassing “Smarter Business Security” solution allows the site manager to know if someone accessed a room after hours, determine false from real alarms, and provides real-time notifications. It also features remote control and auto arming, allowing you to know what is happening at your business or work site and that it is secure regardless of your location. The integrated smart thermostat eliminates waste from heating and cooling when nobody is present and helps save automatically if management forgets to turn off the AC or heating during closing hours.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
Not only will Alarm.com integrate with your on-site cameras, it is also a fully fledged access management solution as well. From a small team of just 5 to up to hundreds of employees, this technology allows management of multiple access plans centrally, with the ability to remotely lock or unlock doors and monitor activity at multiple sites if necessary. This solution integrates with industry leading hardware manufacturers, making it easy to step up access control measures without the need to replace locks and card readers already installed. This helps keep costs down as much of the price of new access control solutions is driven by the installation of new on-site hardware, costing many thousands.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
The Alarm.com solution for businesses is fully supported from their professional local Service Providers to ensure dependable and up-to-date service. This seamlessly integrated suite of business solutions will include intrusion, video, and energy management all through a single app, consolidating power into your hands and eliminating the need for a monitoring service.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
Furthermore, using data generated from the app, business owners can garner valuable insights into activity trends, allowing them to make smarter decision with respect to staffing, promotions, and energy use. The app generates simple and easy to understand reports which show activity patterns across entire work sites and business operations, helping to point out any unexpected changes.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
For example, visualized trends include open/close trends for each location and allow you to identify peak periods of activity and customer traffic. Previously unknown activity can be uncovered such as unexpected after hours entry by employees or intruders. Any doors left propped open can also be detected, eliminating energy waste and helping to mitigate security concerns. An historic timestamp of which users armed and disarmed the system is also kept for later review if necessary. Both single-site and multi-site reports can be generated on either a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
Security Technology of South Texas is happy to offer custom access control and surveillance solutions to the business security market, designed either turn-key and from the ground up, or integrated into an already existing series of cameras and access control structures.

Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com

or by phone at 210-446-4863 24/7 to schedule a consultation.

Protection and Integration of Legacy Access Control Systems

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

When you install the infrastructure to support an enterprise grade access control system, the expectation is that it will last and be operable for a long time. Over time, physical access control has merged increasingly with networking services, which leads these systems to be vulnerable to threats associated with always-on network connections that they did not have to contend with in the past. This leaves us entering the 2020’s with many legacy systems having multiple exposed attack surfaces and new potential risks as IoT integration moves forwards and clients expect full availability and connectivity on their smart devices.
—————————————————————————————————————————————-
One method which we have placed great emphasis on is Avigilon’s “Blue” Platform, a nearly “Plug-and-Play” device that allows takeover and integration of IP devices into older systems while still maintaining the integrity and operation of the existing infrastructure. The specifics of “Blue” have been discussed in depth in previous articles.
It is critical that integrators installing upgrades to existing access control systems ensure that all software and drivers are up to date so that exploits are covered. The more IP devices, the more potential points of attack exist to disable physical infrastructure for access control systems, and this is why it is so important that the client make sure to keep up with manufacturer patches and updates as soon as they are released, as attackers will be aware of exploits, in many cases, before patches come out as a solution.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–
Another solution STST offers is Frontsteps access control technology. A key aspect of Frontsteps solution is “Mobile Patrol”. The fully mobile application allows security admins instant access “to patrol status updates and critical information, like incident reports and messaging.” (Frontsteps.com) Guards can give live updates in just seconds and share information for different checkpoints along a given patrol route. GPS GeoTagging assists in this process. This vastly improves the productivity and accountability of security staff as they must check in to their patrol checkpoints.
Security Technology of South Texas is happy to offer custom access control and surveillance solutions to the business security market, designed either turn-key and from the ground up, or integrated into an already existing series of cameras and access control structures.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–
Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com
or by phone at 210-446-4863 24/7 to schedule a consultation.

Security Moves Further into the Cloud

It is certainly no secret that cybersecurity is ever increasingly a focal point for security professionals. It is now no longer on the periphery and is of serious concern in the video surveillance market. Because of this blurring of the lines between hardware and the digital realm (cloud), a competent security integrator needs to have a team that understands the interplay between the two and can make the best design decisions possible.

Hackers have known for quite some time that video surveillance cameras are some of the easiest to breach pieces of internet connected tech out there. Indeed, there are entire websites devoted to indexing the IPs of unsecured cameras and access control systems around the world. People are going online, without any technical skill, and doing things like turning the lights on and off in stadiums and spying on people though the camera they have placed in their living room.

But many security integrators and dealers lag behind in this area. Although manufactures can be relied on to a point, having at least one member of the team with the know-how to encrypt drives and understand authentication applications is a must. For example, two-factor authentication, now coming standard on some servers, uses “two PIN codes added to [a] Windows Server login — one as a primary password, the other a randomized PIN generated by [a] paired smartphone app, giving integrators an added layer of security”. ( www.sdmmag.com )

Being able to link a system to a two-step authentication through a specific cell number is a pretty strong defense against hackers, who traditionally access these systems through manufacturer back doors, “zero-day” exploits, or simply by using “packet sniffing” programs to watch your traffic and pull the IP and MAC address on your devices.

Over the last decade, cloud computing and storage has rapidly changed the way businesses of all kinds operate. Modern enterprises that wish to stay competitive turn increasingly to a hybrid IT environment which allows them to leverage advantages of cloud based solutions alongside having whatever physical hardware that they maintain on-site. Cloud infrastructure is highly scalable, but on-site systems may be more directly controllable or may feature proprietary/in-house software. The promise of reducing operating costs and gaining a competitive advantage is attractive to any company, but in order to pull it off, specific security challenges must be overcome or accounted for.

Hybridizing an already complicated IT environment can have the effect of rapidly increasingly the complexity of systems. Depending upon which services are owned and managed by that business and which are provided via “Cloud Service Providers” or CSP, the enterprise must regulate and integrate multiple applications and systems, a process which may require multiple different skill sets. This all creates a lot of moving pieces which can make it difficult to maintain visibility for all the existing data.

Data breaches at the highest levels make headlines on the daily and have done so for the last several years. Major compromises include Sony with a possible hack coming from North Korea, Verizon, where as many as 14 million customers records were exposed due to server mismanagement, as well as Equifax and many others losing critical information such as customer’s bank information and social security numbers.

Securing all this data is a complicated task, but probably the most common mistake requires no special skills to address. Overlooking the basic integrated security controls is surprisingly common and a simple misconfiguration at this level can compromise an entire operation and leave its data completely exposed and liable to experience theft and/or unwanted modification or hacking. As we all know, something as small as this can expose customers, employees, and the critically important private data of companies to calamitous outcomes. Following are some key considerations in avoiding cloud misconfigurations and steps to keep safe a typical hybridized IT environment.

Studies (Redlock) have shown over half, in this case 53% of companies using cloud storage will admit to accidentally exposing customer data due to mismanagement or deliberately circumventing certain built in security features. Hackers know this, and as more and more organizations make the move to the cloud, attackers will increasingly pursue this “low hanging fruit” of security risks. Security misconfigurations are among the most common ways attackers gain control and leverage withing a network. Because those creating services such as Amazon S3 cloud storage seek to make their interfaces as flexible as possible, this sometimes has the inadvertent effect of exposing cloud environments and contained data (aka “buckets”). These buckets can be accessed simply through a URL so long as the user has the appropriate permissions.

Misconfigurations can occur at any level of your applications stack- “the platform, web server, database, framework” (Security Today Magazine) or in the custom code itself. Also common is for attackers to target and take advantage of any poorly configured devices that may be connected to the network. Use of default passwords and/or otherwise not configuring devices accessing the Wi-Fi can lead to an attacker exploiting a system which will allow them to immediately begin making changes and exfiltrating data.

The reality is that most of these problems come down to human error and ignorance. A common misconception is that the providers of these cloud solutions provide security themselves. This is simply not true. It is always up to you to check what security they do provide and to account for that when you implement your own security. Very rarely or never will the defaults of the cloud service be sufficient. And so regardless of however network environments evolve, the “foundational tenets” will remain. “Maintain visibility of your attack surface and continue to monitor it” at all levels. (Security Today Magazine) Apply security protocols to the cloud environment in the same manner you would do for your traditional environment. And of course, make sure to secure all the loose ends and back-doors, ensuring proper configuration throughout your network.

The prevailing opinion online seems to be that those dealers/integrators who do not keep up with this virtual counterpart to the physical systems they install will risk putting in systems that could be compromised and even lost to hackers. As the IoT expands and proliferates there will be many more individual possible weak points to conduct a security breach against in a network. STST makes use of a wide array of IoT-like devices already, as do many other companies and industries. Mobile connections can be used as backups for hard-wired connections in security solutions but are more critical when a system needs to include 24/7 personal video and control access to a user or users wherever they are. The security industry in general is likely to become increasingly centered around the usefulness and convenience of mobile communication tech, as many of us certainly seem to be already with our personal and social lives.

Security Technology of South Texas is happy to offer custom access control and surveillance solutions with video analytics to the greater South Texas area, designed either turn-key and from the ground up, or integrated into an already existing series of cameras.

Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com on our website or via phone at

210-446-4863 24/7 to schedule a consultation.