Battery back-up is essential for virtually every video surveillance, access and security system, as power interuptions can occur at any time with little to no warning. Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries have been the mainstay back-up solution for security professionals for nearly four decades, but now there’s a new and extremely efficient option available ¬that changes everything. Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, also known as LiFePO4 batteries, provide significant performance and long-term, cost-saving advantages that will eventually render SLA batteries obsolete.
According to data from the US Naval Postgraduate School, there were 94 school gun violence incidents in 2018 — a record high since 1970, which is as far back as the data goes, and 59 percent higher than the previous record of 59 in 2006. Facing this reality, what can we do to minimize the risk and damage associated with an active shooter?
When is the last time your facility was subjected to an electrical power surge? Chances are, you have no idea – for two very good reasons. First, power surges are typically very brief – lasting only a few milliseconds. Secondly, most power surges are relatively small and go unnoticed, unless they are significant enough to make the lights flicker. Even so, they remain dangerous to your systems and should not be ignored – they are a silent killer of your critical electronic equipment.
Think back to 2009 and the phone you owned. While the phone you carry today might not look that different, a smartphone or its equivalent is far more powerful than it was just 10 years ago. While it is relatively easy for businesses to track the evolution of phone technology, have they similarly considered how their own corporate security departments have changed during the same period?
Imagine losing your car keys. It would be inconvenient, as you could be stranded for a while and you would need to find and obtain a replacement key. Now imagine losing a set of work keys. How much disruption could this cause your company? Remember the 2014 Sony breach? It was perpetrated by a group who claimed that they were able to access the movie studio's computer systems because Sony failed to lock their physical doors.
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) reintroduced the Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act to hold large credit reporting agencies (CRAs)-including Equifax-accountable for data breaches involving consumer data.
We have been hearing about the “convergence” of physical and cyber security for years, but even today there are still debates about whether it has happened yet (spoiler alert: it hasn’t). Part of the challenge might be that the word convergence itself can apply to more than one kind of activity – for example, some believe it applies to the linkages or integration of IT and security systems, while others believe it applies to IT and security organizational structures and teams.
Do you know who is calling you? In many cases, employees rely on caller ID or a familiar name to allow callers to build trust and potentially exploit them. Vishing (or social engineering) is a practice where verbal communication is used to deceive a potential victim.