American Security Today September Digital Magazine September 2016 | Page 8

Volume 7
condition of hazardous or valuable materials being
transported, providing real-time monitoring of conditions that might indicate:
• Wrecks or derailment
• Cargo or transport moving outside authorized
geographical areas
• Improper usage of vehicles and equipment
• Theft or tampering of cargo
Conditions outside expected norms then trigger
emergency alerts to the appropriate staff. This information can also help shippers save money on
insurance charges by proving that vehicles have
been operated safely and properly, and that cargo
has been properly maintained and protected.
One major concern with IoT sensors and crisis
communication is security. While IoT sensors use
internet technology to transmit data, this information is not transferred using the same part of the
internet that supports unsecured traffic, such as
web sites and other purely consumer-based communications.
Instead, data travels over highly secured virtual private networks (VPNs) or other proven linkages that
use extremely high-grade, end-to-end encryption,
ensuring that critical information remains safe from
attack or misuse.
Redundancy is another important component when
IoT sensors are integrated with crisis communication infrastructure. If the network is not available
or the receiving station is offline, then the alerting
system cannot receive the content it relies upon to
determine if an alert should be issued.
Top-tier systems plan for these eventualities
through the ability to store data on the sensors
themselves for later batch transmission, as well as
back-office operations that can take place on hosted servers, in the Cloud, or using a hybrid of the
two. This robustness helps ensure that the solution
can continue to operate efficiently, even in the face
of extremely significant disasters and disruptions to
primary communications channels.
Crisis communication works best when emergency
managers receive fast, accurate information, either immediately before or at the onset of a serious
event.

September 2016 Edition

(AtHoc Connect: Communicate and Collaborate with Other
Organizations, courtesy of AtHocSystems and YouTube)

IoT sensors provide this type of cheap, ubiquitous
data. The ability to deliver better information sooner results in critical minutes saved in a crisis, pro-

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