Network Communications News (NCN) June 2017 | Page 18

HOT TOPIC
Seeing off the cyber threat
Our grandparents’ generation will tell us they lived in areas where they could leave their front
doors unlocked when they went to work or at night, says Paul McCann, regional sales manager,
UK & Ireland at Tyco Security Products.
S
adly, those days
have gone and every
home nowadays will
be securely locked,
with many equipped
with intruder alarms or even
video surveillance. Security in
the business world has also had
to reflect changes in society with
investment needed in the latest
electronic security technologies in
order to protect property, people,
data and assets.
With increased migration
from legacy analogue systems
to IP network based solutions,
there is the added threat to the
integrity of the actual systems
that are supposed to be offering
protection. This threat can come
via the security systems’ ‘back
door’. More about this later, but
the responsibility for this lies
squarely with manufacturers,
rather than end users.
The introduction of IP network
security solutions has delivered
significant benefits, not the least
of which has been the ability to
integrate a wide range of security,
building management and
business intelligence systems.
The result had been to deliver a
far more powerful, effective,
and easy to use solution
that enables businesses
to identify opportunities to
be more productive, ensure
compliance with health &
safety policies and help
security personnel keep
one step ahead of thieves,
vandals and saboteurs.
The potential downside
to IP based systems is
that they are open to
cyber attack and there
18 | June 2017
have been many incidents over
recent years of security systems
being compromised by the
determined efforts of individual
opportunistic hackers, as well as
organised criminal gangs, who have
succeeded in obtaining access to
confidential data or video. If you
are a small business owner
with perhaps one or two
fashion stores, having your
security system hacked into
may not seem a major issue,
even though you have an
obligation to respect your
customers’ privacy and
data. However, if you are
involved in mission critical
activities which demand
a high level of security,
malicious cyber attacks can
have dire consequences.
The Threat
N ew s p a p e r a r t i c l e s ove r re c e nt
m o nt h s h ave h i g h l i g hte d t h e
p ote nt i a l r i s k of I P n et wo r k
b a s e d s e c u r i t y s y s te m s b e i n g
ta rgete d b y h a c ke r s , w h i l s t
i n a Vo i c e of A m e r i c a a r t i c l e ,
a m a n u fa ct u re r of v i d e o
s u r ve i l l a n c e c a m e ra s ra i s e d
a p a r t i c u l a r co n c e r n a b o u t
s e c u r i t y d ev i c e s ‘ e n g i n e e re d
fo r ef fo r t l e s s h a c k i n g ’ b e i n g
p ro d u c e d b y a m a n u fa ct u re r
p a r t l y ow n e d b y t h e C h i n e s e
gove r n m e nt . At a W h i te H o u s e
Summit on Cybersecurity and
C o n s u m e r P rote ct i o n , P re s i d e nt
B a ra c k O b a m a ra i s e d a n
i m p o r ta nt p a ra d ox : ‘ t h e ve r y
te c h n o l o g y t h at c a n b e u s e d to
d o g re at go o d c a n a l s o b e u s e d
to i m p e r i l u s a n d d o g re at h a r m . ’