This year at ISC, I was determined to find the technologies hiding in the nooks and crannies – the booths in the back, the booths in the basement (the Emerging Technology Zone on the first level of the convention center), small kiosks in large vendor booths and SIA New Product Showcase entries.
Clearly, cyber, AI, analytics, network and cloud services were to be found throughout, with lots of other cool stuff to boot. With so much to see in Las Vegas, you might have missed some of these technologies even if you were at the show. Certainly, I saw quite a bit of new and interesting things…here’s what caught my eye:
Artificial Intelligence
Two companies I visited specialize in video content search using AI. Vintra’s (http://vintra.io) FulcrumAI cuts search times drastically by using AI-based algorithms. Nearly any video can be dropped into the system and searched for faces (e.g., comparing with a photo), gender, clothing, and vehicles. Viisights (www.viisights.com) works with live video, providing non-traditional analytics, including behavior.
ReconaSense is an Artificial Intelligence-based security management platform that treats everything – humans, devices, events – as a data point. It evaluates data based on risk level to prompt an appropriate response in real-time when required. Think of it as high-tech sensor fusion feeding a really smart brain for making timely intelligent decisions. www.reconasense.com
Cybersecurity
Razberi CameraDefense is an automated camera hardening system that includes white-listing, weak or default password identification, and integrated virus/malware protection. www.razberi.net
Veracity’s Jack Meltzer demonstrated for me a couple of useful little boxes – LinkLock disconnects power and signal from cameras powered via coax in the event of tampering; and TimeNet, a low-cost device that receives its time base via GPS to provide a common NTP time base across the network. www.veracityglobal.com
Video Surveillance
For cloud-based VMS, my old colleagues Mark Lewis and Dan Hearn from SyPixx Networks have teamed up at Surveillus Networks to develop an array of security solutions, including recording and storage for the gaming industry (www.surveillus.com). While not directly exhibiting at ISC West, Surveillus’ partner, FireKing (www.fireking.com), demonstrated this VMS with tight integration to point-of-sale systems, smart safes and IoT devices – providing business intelligence and virtual store management to retail establishments.
Umbo Computer Vision displayed a sophisticated cloud-based VMS with AI-based analytics that was quite interesting. http://umbocv.ai
IPConfigure took top honors in the SIA New Product Showcase, with its Orchid VMS application, which can provision a VMS on an Axis camera via the AXIS Camera Application Platform (ACAP). Multiple VMS instances can be federated and centrally managed at an enterprise level. www.ipconfigure.com
Eizo exhibited network-connected monitors with built-in decoding – with features normally seen in cameras such as defogging and low-light correction adjustable at the decode end of the video stream. www.eizo.com
The VideoTec WASEX system is a stainless-steel explosion-proof washing system for camera housings/lenses in severe environments. This product looks like it could survive anywhere. www.videotec.com
Access Control
I finally had the chance to spend some time with Princeton Identity, a spinoff of SRI International, as I have known of them as a player in the biometric and identity space. What I didn’t know was the company had been selected by Samsung last year to license its iris recognition technology for use in the Galaxy S8 smartphone. Beyond iris, the product supports multi-factor authentication, including PIN, QR, and facial, with optional fingerprint via external interface. www.princetonidentity.com
Both Farpointe Data’s Conekt and Nedap’s MACE platforms are mobile access credential systems. The Conekt Wallet App enables credentials to be stored on a smartphone and to communicate with compatible readers via 2.4 GHz BLE with strong encryption. MACE communicates with its readers via NFC, Bluetooth or provisioned QR codes. www.farpointedata.com and www.nedapidentification.com
Device Monitoring & Maintenance
CommTunnel provides an appliance for remote secure VPN access. With a box at each end of a VPN tunnel, the system secures an entire inside environment including older legacy devices, such as SCADA systems – creating a “virtual enclave.” Devices at the terminus points use USB keys, such that the withdrawal of the key can instantly kill the tunnel and isolate the enclave. While not discussing their encryption in detail, it was said to employ layer 2 over layer 3 encrypted tunneling technology. www.commtunnel.com
Exero’s John Palumbo and David Fernandez have put together an exciting product, purpose-built specifically for security network device monitoring. Utilizing various discovery and other protocols, as well as leveraging information available in devices, Exero can identify device issues and causes, in some cases predicting failures before they happen. They have proven and field-tested compatibility with a number of security manufacturers and have successfully integrated with the SecuriKeep asset management system. www.psbexero.com
Viakoo’s Camera Firmware Update Manager, which allows automated trusted firmware updates across multiple camera and VMS vendors caught my eye, as well as Viakoo Predictive, a performance monitoring system that identifies device issues, prompts resolution, enforces cyber hygiene, and issues compliance and audit reports. www.viakoo.com
Home Automation
LEEDARSON (www.leedarson.com) is a Chinese company whose 100-page catalog made me realize just how far connected devices for the home have come, particularly when you realize that the Zigbee Alliance embraces hundreds of more suppliers with devices that reach even beyond the home. In addition to the LEEDARSON multi-protocol gateway, which bridges WiFi, Zigbee, and Z-wave, devices included a rich array of lighting and lighting control, environmental sensors and security devices.
Super Cool
Two products I might consider buying for personal use are Tapplock (www.tapplock.com), a padlock which uses fingerprints instead of keys or combinations and has an available app, and the Comtrend (www.comtrend.com) G.hn series of Ethernet powerline adapters, with stated speeds up to 1.8 Gbps, allowing AC wiring to be used in network communications.
Ray Coulombe is Founder and Managing Director of SecuritySpecifiers and the CONSULT Technical Security Symposium. Email him at [email protected], or contact him through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/raycoulombe or follow him on Twitter: @RayCoulombe.
