October/November 2015 Digital Edition

Government Security News 

October/November 2015 Digital Edition 

OnSSI and Galaxy Control deliver seamlessly integrated VMS and access control solution 

More on Page 30 

Also in this issue: 

Mutualink Awarded SAFETY Act Designation and Certification from DHS Page 6 

Ireland rolls out new, state of the art passport card Page 4 

ThreatConnect & Defense Group (DGI) uncover South Chinese espionage campaign Page 8 

United Nations Report highlights worsening crisis in Northern Triangle Americas Page 14 

Oslo Airport selects Qognify, formerly Nice Security, for major airport expansion Page 17 

New GSN Column: Campbell on Crypto, An intro into why cryptography is important Page 24

gSN October/November Digital edition 

table of contents 

GSN TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT 

Under the leadership of CEO Mark Hatten, privately held Mutualink, Inc. 

has been awarded the SAFETY Act Designation and Certification from 

DHS and is now designated as a Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology 

(QUATT). The company’s interoperable communications platform enables 

community-wide sharing of push to talk radio, voice, text, video, 

data files and telecommunications in a secure environment. Mutualink 

is the only multi-media interoperable communications product certified 

under the SAFETY Act. Its products are deployed by hundreds of public 

and private entities worldwide, including homeland security and defense 

installations. A hands-on demonstration will take place on November 3-4 

in Alexandria, VA. Read more on Page 6. 

Al Bovic, Engineering Chair at the University of Texas, has received an 

EMMY for inventing a tool that allows broadcasters and streaming video 

sites to compress and distribute video with minimum distortion. Two of 

Bovic’s former students, Zhou Wang and Hamed Sheikh and collaborator 

NYU University Professor Eero Simonelli were also honored. Their 

“SSIM Index” has become a de facto standard in television broadcasting 

and has been widely commercialized, and is part of the global ITU standard 

H.264 video coding reference software. Read more on Page 27. 

2

NEWS AND FEATURES 

Ireland rolls out new, state-of-the-art 

Passport Card Page 4 

Mutualink awarded SAFETY Act 

Designation/Certification from Department of 

Homeland Security Page 6 

ThreatConnect, Inc & Defense Group uncover 

extensive South Chinese espionage campaign 

targeting South China Sea interests Page 8 

FAA Administrator Huerta announces 

UAS Registration Task Force Members Page 10 

Cloud security trending as preferred 

approach for states and other government 

agencies Page 12 

UN Report Highlights Worsening Refugee 

Crisis in the Americas Page 14 

NICE Systems now Qognify as Battery Ventures 

completes acquisition of physical security unit 

Page 16 

Oslo Airport selects Qognify, 

formerly NICE security, for major airport expansion 

project Page 17 

Police officers receive life-saving training from 

the University of Louisville to help accident and crime 

victims Page 20 

NTSB confirms wreckage discovered to be 

El Faro Page 21 

America’s Flagship, The SS United States, 

may only have weeks left afloat Page 22 

Campbell on Crypto – What comes after perimeter 

protection? An intro to why cryptography is important 

Page 24 

Intelligent Video Surveillance 

____________________________________ 

NSF-supported engineer and vision scientist 

Al Bovic awarded Emmy for tool that predicts 

perceived video quality Page 27 

OnSSI and Galaxy Control deliver seamlessly 

integrated VMS and access control solution Provides 

Heightened Situational Awareness and Streamlined 

Investigations Page 30 

PureTech Systems supports upgrade of 

Remote Video Surveillance System for Customs and 

Border Protection Page 32 

Milestone goes wide with new device pack 

Page 34 

Using video intelligence to protect critical 

public infrastructure Page 36 

Louroe CEO discusses emerging surveillance 

technologies: Audio Analytics Page 38 

3

Ireland rolls out new, state-of-the-art 

Passport Card 

mONtreal, October 12, 2015 

– international civil aviation Organization 

(icaO) eleventh Symposium 

and exhibition – DlrS 

limited, the leading security printing 

company in ireland, today announced 

the successful roll-out of 

the irish Passport card. 

DlrS limited joined forces with 

HiD global® ireland teoranta, a 

worldwide leader in secure identity 

solutions, together with absolute 

graphics and Purple Pod, to implement 

the irish Passport card project. 

Working together, the companies 

are providing an end-to-end 

solution including enrolment via 

mobile app, highly secure icaOcompliant 

smart cards, card personalization 

and production management. 

“The introduction of the passport 

card is a significant innovation that 

will enhance the travel experience 

for irish people as they go on holidays 

or business trips to 30 countries 

throughout europe,” said minister 

for Foreign affairs and trade, 

mr. charlie Flanagan t.D, speaking 

at the card’s launch in Dublinon 

monday 5/10/15.” 

DlrS, a leader in security printing, 

is the prime 

contractor for the 

project. additionally, 

DlrS provided the 

security design, app 

development and 

security numbering 

alongside its partners 

HiD global, absolute 

graphics and 

Purple Pod. 

“We have delivered 

a state-of the-art Passport card solution, 

which leads the way in secure 

mrtD deployment and further 

demonstrates that ireland is 

at the cutting edge of innovation in 

the technological arena,” said David 

O’connor, Sales Director, DlrS. 

The Passport card enrolment process 

relies on cutting-edge technology 

that adheres to the highest levels 

of security. This process allows 

users to submit a passport-compliant 

photo taken on mobile phones 

or upload a suitable photo to the 

website, where advanced biometric 

algorithms test each one to ensure 

icaO standards are reached. Once 

all verification checks have been 

achieved, the user can pay their fees 

through the secure elavon payment 

4 

gateway (powered by realex Payments). 

The new irish Passport card is a 

highly sophisticated secure polycarbonate 

card with embedded 

hologram, crack prevention and 

Dbondtm technology, supplied by 

HiD global in galway, ireland. 

“We are proud to extend our partnership 

with DlrS to deliver this 

ground-breaking solution to the 

Department of Foreign affairs and 

the citizens of ireland.” said rob 

Haslam, vice president of government 

iD Solutions for HiD global. 

“The irish Passport card heralds a 

new standard in security and durability 

for smart cards. This bespoke 

implementation of our OSm multitech 

technology, combined with the

unique design and mobile applications, 

make this a truly exceptional 

credential program.” 

About HID Global 

HiD global is the trusted source 

for innovative products, services, 

solutions, and know-how related to 

the creation, management, and use 

of secure identities for millions of 

customers around the world. The 

company’s served markets include 

physical and logical access control, 

including strong authentication 

and credential management; 

card printing and personalization; 

visitor management systems; highly 

secure government and citizen iD; 

and identification rFiD technologies 

used in animal iD and industry 

and logistics applications. The 

company’s primary brands include 

activiD®, easylobby®, FargO®, 

identrust®, lasercard®, lumidigm®, 

Quantum Secure, and HiD®. Headquartered 

in austin, texas, HiD 

global has over 2,200 employees 

worldwide and operates international 

offices that support more 

than 100 countries. HiD global® is 

an aSSa ablOY group brand. 

For more information, visit http:// 

www.hidglobal.com. 

About Absolute Graphics 

and Purple Pod 

absolute graphics is an internationally 

recognised design company 

specializing in the Passport and 

secure documents sector. Having 

won regional iD Document of the 

Year at the High Security Printing 

conference 2014 in milan for the 

irish Passport production, absolute 

graphics is a well-established player 

in the secure document design arena. 

Purple Pod is an irish technology 

company with considerable experience 

in the development of highly 

secure mobile applications. They 

also specialise in standards based 

and bespoke biometric facial recognition 

enrolment solutions and have 

expertise in every facet of development 

technologies from low level 

firmware coding to bespoke mobile 

app development. 

These two companies joined forces 

to provide the design and frontend 

solutions for the irish Passport 

card project. 

About DLRS Group 

5 

DLRS Group Security concepts 

is ireland’s largest security printer. 

established since 1976, the company 

has a production facility in the 

republic of ireland servicing the 

needs of major financial and government 

bodies. DLRS Group Security 

concepts is the market leader 

in security printed products, with 

over 25 years’ experience in passport 

manufacture and design. The 

company’s reputation for quality 

and service is matched only by its 

reputation for unrivalled integrity, 

developed through working closely 

with governments for over 30 years. 

DLRS Group Security concepts 

is accredited to iSO9001:2008 the 

quality standard, iSO14001:2004: 

environmental management and 

iSO27001:2013: the iS security standard 

and cWa 14641:2009 the intergraf 

Security Printing Standard. 

DLRS Group is a member of the 

Smurfit Kappa group, world-leader 

in paper based packaging. Operating 

in 22 countries in europe, 

Smurfit Kappa group is the european 

leader in containerboard, solid 

board, corrugated and solid board 

packaging and has a key position in 

several other paper packaging market 

segments. The group also operates 

in 9 countries in latin america 

where it is the only pan-european 

operator. More information can be 

found at: www.dlrsgroup.com; www. 

smurfitkappa.com. 

For more information, please contact 

salesdlrsgroup@smurfitkappa.ie

Mutualink awarded SAFETY Act 

Designation/Certification from 

Department of Homeland Security 

WalliNgFOrD, conn., November 

2, 2015 – mutualink today announced 

that the company’s secure 

communications platform for realtime 

collaboration has received 

Designation and certification from 

the U.S. Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) under the SaFetY 

act (Support anti-terrorism by 

Fostering effective technology). 

mutualink is the only multimedia 

interoperable communications 

product certified under the SaFetY 

act and included on the “approved 

Products list for Homeland 

Security.” mutualink’s DHS Designation 

and certification are effective 

through October 31, 2020. 

The SaFetY act, which was authorized 

as part of the Homeland 

Security act of 2002, provides legal 

liability protections to providers 

of anti-terrorism technologies that 

could save lives in the event of a terrorist 

attack. mutualink’s certification 

is the highest level of certification 

available under the SaFetY 

act and requires an extensive and 

rigorous product review process involving 

product quality assurance, 

operational effectiveness and product 

capability and reliability verifi- 

6 

Mark Hatten 

cation, among other criteria. Having 

achieved this, customers using 

mutualink’s certified technology 

now have protection under 

the SaFetY act from 

lawsuits or claims arising 

from acts of terrorism. 

mutualink – now designated 

as a Qualified antiterrorism 

technology 

(QUatt) – is an iP-based 

interoperable multimedia 

sharing platform that 

securely connects disparate communications 

systems for real-time 

voice collaboration and real-time 

video and information sharing. it 

provides agencies, departments 

and commercial entities with the 

ability to link incompatible land 

mobile radio systems together to 

share voice, as well as video, data 

and geolocation in emergency situations 

and daily operations. 

“We worked very hard to achieve 

SaFetY act certification from 

DHS, and we are extremely proud 

to be the only multimedia interoperable 

communications solution of 

its kind to receive this certification,” 

said mark Hatten, mutualink’s 

ceO. “This will give our customers 

continued confidence and assurance 

that our technology is not 

only effective but can be deployed 

without risks of incurring 

costly litigation or liability 

in the aftermath of a 

terror event.” 

mutualink’s DHS certification 

follows a similar 

award from the U.S. 

Department of Defense 

(DoD) last year. The 

company’s multimedia 

communications interoperability 

solution was granted Joint interoperability 

test command (Jitc) 

certification for both information 

assurance (ia) and interoperability 

(iO). mutualink’s multimedia gateway 

solution is listed in the DoD’s 

approved Products list (aPl) and 

is authorized for use by all Services 

and agencies of the DoD. mutualink 

is also the interoperability communications 

platform of choice of

NATO Special Operations Forces 

and its command, NSHQ. 

Mutualink will offer hands-on 

demonstration opportunities at the 

National Fusion Center Association 

Annual Training Event November 3 

– 5, 2015, in Alexandria, VA. 

About Mutualink 

Mutualink, Inc. has developed an 

interoperable communications platform 

that enables community-wide 

multimedia sharing of push to talk 

radio, voice, text, video, data files 

and telephone communications in 

a secure environment. Mutualink’s 

system is currently deployed by 

hundreds of public and private entities 

worldwide, including homeland 

security and defense installations, 

NATO Special Operations Forces, 

police and fire departments, transit 

authorities, hospitals, schools, universities, 

shopping malls, casinos, 

and more. Mutualink is a privately-held 

company headquartered in 

Wallingford, Conn., with R&D facilities 

in Westford, Mass. and Mayagüez, 

Puerto Rico, and Defense 

Services office near Washington, 

DC. For more information please 

visit www.mutualink.net. 

DATA CENTER 

SECURITY SOLUTIONS 

AMERISTARSECURITY.COM | 866-467-2773 

7

ThreatConnect, Inc & Defense Group (DGI) uncover 

extensive South Chinese espionage campaign targeting 

South China Sea interests 

Arlington, VA – September 

24, 2015 – ThreatConnect, Inc., 

creator of the most widely adopted 

Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP), 

and open source cyber intelligence 

company Defense Group Inc. 

(DGI) today unveiled a report attributing 

a sophisticated cyber espionage 

campaign, 

orchestrated by an 

Advanced Persistent 

Threat (APT) 

group known as 

“Naikon,” with interests 

in the South 

China Sea to a 

Chinese People’s 

Liberation Army 

(PLA) unit. Revealing 

the scope 

of how extensive 

cyber campaigns 

are readily applied 

to ongoing regional 

disputes and conflicts, Threat- 

Connect and DGI’s joint report, 

“Project CAMERASHY: Closing the 

Aperture on China’s Unit 78020” 

documents Chinese efforts to gain 

the upper hand in a geopolitical 

stand-off by capturing information 

on regional rivals’ negotiating postures, 

economies and military capabilities. 

The security community has been 

aware of Naikon for some time, but 

ThreatConnect researchers decided 

to take a closer look at this activity 

following recent breaches in the 

Fiery Cross Reef buildup; Images by DigitalGlobe, via the New York Times, CSIS Asia 

Maritime Transparency Initiative, and CNES, via Airbus DS and IHS Jane’s. 

U.S. with key similarities. As businesses 

are being affected globally by 

this malicious activity, ThreatConnect 

and DGI felt a responsibility 

to inform their global user base and 

bring the findings to light for public 

consideration. In today’s security 

8 

landscape, and in a time where the 

adversary is often ahead of target, 

it is critical to share threat intelligence 

that organizations can use to 

defend their assets and sensitive information 

from malicious attacks. 

“At ThreatConnect we are committed 

to analyzing intelligence 

within our platform 

that is associated 

with malicious 

activity in 

order to help arm 

others with the 

critical knowledge 

they need 

to protect themselves,” 

said Adam 

Vincent, CEO of 

ThreatConnect. 

“Along with DGI, 

we followed widely 

available and 

public evidence 

for several months not knowing 

where it would lead us. This research 

is a perfect example of how true 

threat intelligence is highly informative 

and offers organizations a powerful 

glimpse into just how sophisticated 

cyber campaigns operate.”

Key takeaways from the 

research report include: 

For nearly five years PLA Unit 78020 

used an array of global midpoint infrastructure 

to proxy the command 

and control of customized malware 

variants embedded within malicious 

attachments or document exploits. 

Targets include government entities 

in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, 

Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, 

Thailand and Vietnam as 

well as international bodies such 

as United Nations Development 

Programme (UNDP) and the Association 

of Southeast Asian Nations 

(ASEAN). 

Strategic implications for the 

United States include cyber threats 

against not only military alliances 

and security partnerships in the region, 

but risks to interests in a major 

artery of international commerce 

through which trillions of dollars in 

global trade traverse annually. 

This report stands out from previous 

APT reports given the collaborative 

nature of the research, 

aggregation and analysis of multiple 

data sources, application of statisti- 

More on page 33 

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AMERISTARSECURITY.COM | 866-467-2773 

9

FAA Administrator Huerta announces 

UAS Registration Task Force Members 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator 

Michael Huerta today announced the membership 

of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 

Registration Task Force. Earl Lawrence, Director of 

the FAA’s UAS Integration Office, and Dave Vos of 

Google X will co-chair the group. 

Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary 

Anthony Foxx and Administrator Huerta announced 

the formation of the Task Force last week. The Task 

Force membership represents a range of stakeholder 

viewpoints, interests and knowledge of the objectives 

and scope. Task Force membership was by invitation 

only and participation is voluntary. 

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FAA Administrator 

Michael Huerta 

Force may submit comments to 

the public docket. The Federal 

register notice is available for 

viewing here. 

Sec. Foxx set a deadline of 

Nov. 20 for the task Force to 

complete its recommendations 

and work is already underway. 

The group will meet formally 

from Nov. 3-5 before developing 

recommendations on a 

streamlined registration process and minimum requirements 

on which unmanned aircraft should be 

registered. given the urgency of this issue, the DOt 

and Faa will move expeditiously to consider the 

task Force’s recommendations. 

TASK FORCE MEMBERS INCLUDE: 

Nancy Egan – 3D robotics 

Richard Hanson – academy of model aeronautics 

George Novak – aerospace industries association 

Chuck Hogeman and Randy Kenagy – air line Pilots 

association 

Jim Coon – aircraft Owners and Pilots association 

Sean Cassidy – amazon Prime air 

Ben Gielow – amazon retail 

Justin Towles – american association of airport 

executives 

Brian Wynne – association of Unmanned vehicle 

Systems international 

Parker Brugge – best buy 

Douglas Johnson – consumer electronics association 

Brendan Schulman – DJi 

Paul Feldman – general aviation manufacturers 

association 

Dave Vos – googleX (co-chair) 

Tony Bates – goPro 

Matt Zuccaro – Helicopter association international 

Mike Fergus – international association of 

chiefs of Police 

John Perry – management association for Private 

Photogrammetric Surveyors 

Brandon Declet – measure 

Randall Burdett – National association of State 

aviation Officials 

Sarah Wolf – National business aviation association 

Baptiste Tripard – Parrot 

Tyler Collins – PrecisionHawk 

Gregory McNeal – Small Uav coalition 

Thomas Head – Walmart 

along with the Faa and DOt, the following federal 

agencies will provide expert support to the task Force: 

Department of Commerce 

Department of Defense 

Department of Homeland Security 

Department of the Interior 

Office of Management and Budget 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Department of State 

11

Cloud security trending as preferred approach 

for states and other government agencies 

By Jayne Freidland Holland 

NIC Inc 

Cloud computing appears to 

be trending as a preferred approach 

to enterprise IT, even 

for government. State agencies 

increasingly are moving to the 

cloud – or at least considering it as a 

viable option. 

It has been reported that some 

states, including Kentucky, Ohio, 

Utah and Alabama, have embraced 

cloud computing as a way to reduce 

IT costs and deliver services and applications 

to the marketplace more 

quickly. Other states, however, remain 

skeptical about whether perceived 

security risks outweigh the 

cost and customer service advantages. 

The Cloud’s Benefits and Risks 

As cloud computing has gained 

credibility, government agencies 

have recognized benefits of moving 

to the cloud, as well as drawbacks. 

Moving data to the cloud can lower 

costs because you are paying only for 

the capacity and services used. This 

reduces the need for onsite personnel 

and support and eliminates the 

maintenance of hardware, 

software and 

IT infrastructure associated 

with relocating 

data. In addition, 

cloud resources can be 

added relatively inexpensively 

in real time, 

and data can be shared on demand 

anywhere, anytime via the Internet. 

On the other hand, the cloud may 

offer less control over infrastructure 

management and data. It also can 

increase the susceptibility to a single 

point of failure. And, it can create 

risks related to multi-tenancy. For 

example, if data is not properly segregated, 

an attack on one company’s 

data may affect others on the same 

server. 

When weighing the benefits and 

risks of moving to the cloud, one of 

the first steps is to carefully analyze 

the proposed cloud services agreement. 

Service-level agreements vary 

widely, differ by provider and often 

are non-negotiable. A thorough review 

of the agreement will be necessary 

to make sure your agency’s 

needs and concerns are covered. 

Here are some of the key things 

to consider when reviewing a cloud 

12 

services agreement: 

• Where will the data reside and 

who can access it? It is important 

to understand where your data will 

be located and who has access to 

it. Some providers store data outside 

the United States, which, as an 

agency, you may be prohibited from 

doing by statute. In addition, cloud 

providers may allow their subcontractors 

to access a customer’s data. 

Make sure to ask the prospective 

cloud provider who is permitted 

to access your data, what kinds of 

background checks the service provider 

has completed on any personnel 

who may access data, and how 

access to the data is monitored, as 

well as what types of logs are maintained. 

• Requisite standards. It is important 

to understand whether the 

cloud service provider can meet or 

satisfy relevant data protection legislation 

or industry standards that 

may be applicable for your agency, 

such as the Payment Card Industry’s 

Data Security Standards or the 

Health Insurance Portability & Accountability 

Act criteria. An agency 

should request evidence that the

cloud provider has the appropriate 

security measures in place to satisfy 

those requirements. 

• Liability and damages. also, 

be on the lookout for broad exclusions 

of liability in cloud provider 

agreements. Understand who assumes 

liability if data loss occurs 

and whether that liability extends 

to costs the agency may incur in the 

event of an outage. 

• Indemnification. in the contract 

negotiating process, consider 

seeking indemnification for iP infringement, 

applicable law, data 

protection legislation, regulatory 

breaches and losses suffered as a result 

of data being removed. While it 

may be unlikely to secure this level 

of protection, it is recommended 

that you request it. 

• Warranties. cloud provider 

agreements should include performance 

warranties for service, reliability 

and accuracy. it’s easy to 

assume that these warranties are implied, 

but if they are not included in 

the agreement, it may mean the provider 

doesn’t intend to honor them. 

request that the contract specify the 

relevant warranties. 

• Updates and patches. typically, 

the cloud provider is contractually 

responsible for regularly updating 

More on page 26 

13

UN Report Highlights Worsening Refugee 

Crisis in the Americas 

by Walter ewing 

The Northern triangle of central 

america—comprising el Salvador, 

guatemala, and Honduras—is now 

one of the most dangerous places 

on the planet. The United Nations 

estimates that Honduras has the 

highest homicide rate in the world, 

while el Salvador comes in fifth and 

guatemala sixth. it is for this reason 

that so many central american 

families have made the very difficult 

decision to send their children 

out of their home countries, bound 

primarily to the United States, in 

the care of often violent and abusive 

smugglers. However, the refugee 

crisis currently gripping the 

Northern triangle encompasses not 

only unaccompanied children, but 

mothers with children, as well as entire 

families. and it shows no signs 

of ending anytime soon. 

Related Content: Unaccompanied 

Children: A Resource Page 

The scope of this crisis, as well as 

its level of brutality, are vividly described 

in a report from the United 

Nations High commissioner for 

refugees (UNHcr), titled Women 

on the Run. as the report explains, 

the women and children who are 

arriving at the U.S.-mexico border, 

as well as the borders of other 

countries in the region, are leaving 

places in which government institutions 

have effectively lost control 

of territory that has come under the 

control of armed gangs which kill 

with impunity, extort money from 

anyone they want, and rape women 

as they please. 

Consider the story of Norma 

in El Salvador: 

in late 2014, four gang members abducted 

her and took her to a nearby 

cemetery. Three of the four proceeded 

to rape her; she believes they targeted 

her because she was married 

14 

to a police officer. “They took their 

turns…they tied me by the hands. 

They stuffed my mouth so i would 

not scream.” When it was over, she 

said, “They threw me in the trash.” 

She contracted a sexually transmitted 

disease as a result of the rape. 

Not surprisingly, the report found 

that, among the thousands of women 

and girls from the Northern triangle 

who journeyed to the U.S. and 

“expressed a fear of being returned 

to their home country and were 

subject to the credible fear screening 

process, U.S. authorities have 

found that a large percentage have 

a significant possibility of establishing 

eligibility for asylum or protec-

tion under the convention against 

torture.” However, it is important to 

keep in mind that women and children 

are not only seeking asylum 

in the U.S.—they are also going to 

mexico, belize, costa rica, Nicaragua, 

and Panama. 

mexico’s place in the refugee crisis 

is complicated. On the one hand, 

there are central american refugees 

who are seeking asylum within 

mexico. but, on the other hand, 

mexico is witnessing its own flow of 

refugees from parts of the country 

in which conditions have deteriorated 

nearly as much as in Honduras or 

el Salvador. So, at the same time as 

mexican authorities consider offering 

safe haven to refugees from the 

Northern triangle, they must also 

regain control of those stretches of 

territory that are now being ruled 

and terrorized by gangs and thereby 

producing refugee flows. 

The report also described the results 

of interviews with 160 women 

from the Northern triangle and 

mexico. Those interviews paint a 

grim picture of life in the communities 

from which the women fled: 

• 85% described living in neighborhoods 

controlled by gangs. 

• 100% of women who reported 

attacks or threats to the police received 

no protection or ineffective 

protection. 

• 64% described direct threats and 

attacks by gangs as reasons for fleeing. 

• 10% described persecution by 

the police. 

• 58% of women from Northern 

triangle countries described sexual 

assault and abuse. 

UNHcr recommends that the governments 

of the nations to which 

these refugees are fleeing respect 

the right to asylum, abide by refugee 

law, not detain asylum seekers as a 

deterrent against the arrival of more 

asylum seekers, and seek to address 

the root economic, political, and 

social causes of the violence that is 

forcing so many people from their 

homes. and UNHcr emphasizes 

that dealing with the refugee crisis 

effectively “requires a comprehensive 

regional response.” conditions 

in the Northern triangle countries 

and parts of mexico have spun out 

of control. it will require the concerted 

effort of more than one nation 

to regain control over a very 

volatile situation. 

Photo Courtesy of UNHCR. See 

more at: http://immigrationimpact. 

com/2015/10/29/un-report-highlights-worsening-refugee-crisis-inthe-americas/#sthash.YYYfCR5M. 

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15

NICE Systems now Qognify as Battery Ventures 

completes acquisition of physical security unit 

bOStON, ma – (marketwired - 

Sep 21, 2015) - battery ventures, a 

global technology investment firm, 

announced today that it has successfully 

completed the acquisition 

of Physical Security business Unit 

(PSbU), formerly part of the security 

division of publicly listed Nice 

Systems. Through the acquisition, 

which was originally announced in 

august, battery ventures has established 

an independently operating 

business named Qognify. 

Qognify will build on its leadership 

in the physical-security and 

mission-critical operations markets 

to further help clients capture, 

analyze and leverage big data to 

anticipate, manage and mitigate security 

and safety risks, as well as to 

maintain business continuity and 

optimize operations. The company’s 

customers include banks, utility 

companies, airports, seaports, city 

centers and transportation systems, 

as well as venues hosting 

sporting events and major 

tourist attractions. 

as previously announced, 

moti Shabtai, formerly the 

general manager of the 

PSbU at Nice Systems, has 

become president of Qognify. 

He is joined by adam 

markin, an experienced industry 

operator and former 

battery ventures executive in residence, 

who is the new chairman of 

Qognify. 

Qognify is headquartered in New 

Jersey with additional offices in 

london and Singapore, and an r&D 

center in israel. as Nice Systems, 

the company has been a frequent 

gSN awards winner in recent years, 

particularly in the airport, Seaport 

markets where its video analytics 

technologies, integrated security 

programs, Situator PSims are now 

in use at los angeles airport, Ports 

of corpus christi, miami and the 

virginia Port authority and other 

critical facilities. 

more information about Qognify 

is available at: www.qognify.com 

About Battery Ventures 

battery strives to invest in categorydefining 

businesses in markets including 

software and services, Web 

infrastructure, e-commerce, digital 

media and industrial technologies. 

Founded in 1983, the firm backs 

companies at stages ranging from 

seed to private equity and invests 

globally from offices in boston, the 

San Francisco bay area and israel. 

Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, 

visit our website at 

http://www.battery.com and find a 

full list of Battery’s portfolio companies 

here. 

16

Oslo Airport selects Qognify, 

formerly NICE security, for major 

airport expansion project 

by using Nicevision, the airport 

will be able to respond quickly and 

effectively to unfolding incidents to 

ensure passenger safety and operational 

continuity 

ParamUS, October 15 - as part 

of a major expansion project at 

Oslo airport’s terminal 2, slated 

for completion in 2017, Qognify, 

formerly Nice Security, has been 

selected to help ensure operational 

efficiency, business continuity and 

passenger safety and security, Qognify 

announced today. 

Oslo airport is already one of the 

largest airports in the Nordic region, 

and expects to grow its passenger 

volume from 24 million to 

28 million in the next few years. The 

Qognify solution will enable the airport 

to effectively manage all types 

of incidents, including operational 

bottlenecks, safety hazards, and se- 

curity threats. 

Qognify is working with system 

integrator racom to implement a 

scalable iP surveillance solution at 

the new terminal. by using Nicevision, 

the airport will be well-positioned 

to: 

• Comply with airport regulations 

• Quickly gain awareness of unfolding 

incidents and their severity, 

as well as operational issues 

• Ensure consistency of security 

and operations across the airport 

Arne Grave, CEO, Racom – “Our 

partnership with Qognify on this 

project has enabled us to design a 

solution that fully meets the needs 

and expectations of Oslo airport. 

This includes an adaptation to modern 

video formats, ample storage, 

and a robust structure that ensures 

access to video in all circumstances 

and eventualities.” 

Moti Shabtai, President of Qognify 

– “The implementation of our 

security solutions at one of europe’s 

largest airports is a testament to our 

leadership in this sector. The pillars 

of our security portfolio, Nicevision 

can help major transit operations 

like Oslo airport streamline 

all aspects of incident-handling and 

response throughout the entire incident 

lifecycle.” 

Qognify is an independent company 

set off from Nice Systems 

Physical Security business Unit 

following its acquisition by battery 

ventures, a global technology investment 

firm. 

About Qognify 

Qognify solutions help organizations 

capture, analyze, and leverage 

big data to anticipate, manage, and 

mitigate security and safety risks, 

maintain business continuity, and 

streamline operations. The Qognify 

offerings provide valuable insights 

that enable enterprises and security-conscious 

organizations to take 

the best action at the right time by 

correlating structured and unstructured 

data from multiple sensors 

and channels, detecting irregular 

patterns, and recognizing trends. 

The solutions have been deployed to 

help secure a broad range of organizations 

and events, such as banks, 

utility companies, airports, seaports, 

city centers, transportation systems, 

major tourist attractions, sporting 

events, and diplomatic meetings. 

http://www.Qognify.com. 

17

Police officers receive life-saving training 

from the University of Louisville to help 

accident and crime victims 

by Steve bittenbender 

in a first-of-its-kind event, 16 members 

of the louisville metro Police 

Department received training to 

help them become better first responders 

to victims they must tend 

to at accidents and crime scenes. 

The training on handling arterial 

bleeds came from the University of 

louisville’s Willed body Program. 

in the fresh tissue laboratory in the 

school’s Department of anatomical 

Sciences and Neurobiology, the 

lmPD officers participated in a 

day-long session earlier this month 

to learn how to properly apply a 

tourniquet and other techniques designed 

to keep people from bleeding 

to death. 

The officers worked on cadavers 

provided by the school. lmPD officer 

Joe Heitzman, who helped organize 

the class, said it was the first 

time many of his fellow officers got 

to work with a cadaver as part of 

their training. 

“The officers who were in the class 

had a great learning experience and 

a lot of them told me that the training 

was the first time they actually 

got to see how trauma affects our 

bodies and how to use a tourniquet 

correctly to save a life,” Heitzman 

said in a press release. “This was an 

opportunity that not many officers 

will ever get a chance at and they 

were excited about the lab.” 

law enforcement officers often 

arrive on the scene of an accident or 

a crime before emergency medical 

personnel. Depending on the location 

and the severity of a victim’s arterial 

bleed, the victim could die in 

just a few minutes unless the loss of 

blood is staunched. 

getting this kind of training is 

unique for law enforcement officers, 

and those who provided the training 

hope it proves its value. 

“We are teaching police officers to 

save lives. No other form of training 

allows for the realism that is provided 

by utilizing a tissue lab,” said 

brandon Heming, an emergency 

medical technician. 

in the past, the university has 

provided cadavers to military personnel 

stationed at Fort Knox 

as part of their 

20 

training, but this was the first time 

Uofl had partnered with louisville 

police, according to spokeswoman 

betty coffman. 

Providing such training fits with 

the mission of the Willed body Program, 

said Nicole Herring, Ph. D., 

the program’s director. 

“One of our primary goals for the 

Willed body Program is not only 

to provide a resource for education 

for our medical and dental students, 

but for health-care professionals in 

our community as well,” Herring 

said. 

With 1,211 officers, the louisville 

metro Police Department is the nation’s 

34th largest force, according to 

information provided by governing 

magazine. The department, which 

formed in 2003 after the merger 

of louisville and Jefferson county 

governments is responsible for patrolling 

nearly 400 square miles of 

the Kentucky’s largest city. 

While this was the first time Uofl 

has provided training to lmPD officers, 

coffman said the school hopes 

it can continue to do so. 

However, there 

has not been a date 

set up for a second session.

NTSB confirms wreckage discovered 

to be El Faro 

by Steve bittenbender 

The National transportation Safety 

board on monday confirmed that 

wreckage uncovered over the weekend 

was that of a vessel lost last 

month during Hurricane Joaquin. 

On Saturday afternoon, searchers 

on board a U.S. Navy vessel used 

sonar equipment to detect a vessel 

roughly at 15,000 feet below in the 

waters near the bahamas, where the 

american cargo ship el Faro was 

last spotted. Sonar images showed 

a nearly 800-foot long ship that appeared 

to be intact. 

Searchers then used an unmanned 

submarine to identify the vessel and 

survey for its condition. 

eric Weiss, a spokesman for the 

NtSb, confirmed the identity of the 

ship and said in a one-line statement 

that a survey of the ship is continuing. 

Now work will begin to find the 

voyage data recorder and find out 

more information about the final 

moments aboard the ship, which 

was manned by a crew of 33 americans 

and Poles. rescue efforts to 

find crew members were suspended 

a week after the ship was last seen 

afloat, on Oct. 1. 

as part of the recovery operation, 

which started after rescue mission 

ended, the NtSb worked with 

the Navy to secure the use of the 

U.S.N.S. apache. The tugboat has 

been used to assist in the recover 

other downed ships and airplanes. 

after leaving port in virginia, the 

ship arrived at the el Faro’s last location 

on Oct. 23. 

Searchers aboard the apache 

first tried using detection equipment 

in an attempt to pick up the 

pinger from the el Faro’s recorder. 

However, officials stopped that after 

three days of unsuccessful attempts 

and began using sonar. The wreckage 

was discovered during the fifth 

round of 13 planned searches. 

The wreckage was found using the 

Navy’s Orion sonar system, which 

can detect vessel in depths of up to 

20,000 feet. Naval officials say the 

sonar system has a maximum swath 

of 3,000 meters to detect for ships 

21 

and other large objects. 

NtSb officials expect the survey 

to take about two weeks, but they 

warned it could take longer if ideal 

conditions are not present. 

Owned and operated by tOte 

maritime, the 790-foot long el Faro, 

built in 1974, received its last coast 

guard inspection in march. The 

company also conducted an internal 

safety audit just prior to that 

inspection. The ship departed from 

Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 29 with 

San Juan, P.r., as its scheduled destination. 

according to the NtSb, the el 

Faro left about three hours after a 

hurricane warning has been issued 

by the National Hurricane center. 

On the day before it sank, the el Faro’s 

captain e-mailed a tOte safety 

officer to confirm he planned to 

take a route to the south of Joaquin’s 

predicted path. 

The el Faro was last heard from 

on the morning of Oct. 1 as it had 

taken on water due to the rough 

seas created by Hurricane Joaquin. 

at that time, Joaquin pounded the 

caribbean nation with winds of up 

to 130 miles an hour, making it a 

powerful category 4 hurricane.

America’s Flagship, The SS United States, may 

only have weeks left afloat 

NeW YOrK, NY…October 07, 

2015— The board of Directors of 

the SS United States conservancy 

released the following statement 

today announcing that despite 

considerable progress toward finding 

a permanent home and viable 

redevelopment plan for america’s 

Flagship, the organization will be 

forced to sell the historic vessel to 

a responsible metals recycler by the 

end of October unless new donors 

or investors come forward. 

Th e SS United States is the largest 

and most advanced ocean liner 

ever built in her namesake nation. 

launched in 1952, the United States 

was developed as part of a top Secret 

cold War project to build the 

fastest ship in the world. She still 

holds the transatlantic speed record. 

The ship is an iconic symbol 

of america’s post-war power, pride 

and innovation. The statement appears 

below: 

“after much deliberation and 

consultation, the SS United States 

conservancy’s board of Directors 

has decided to retain a broker to explore 

the potential sale of america’s 

Flagship, the SS United States to a 

responsible, U.S.-based metals recycler. 

“We have achieved an extraordinary 

amount of progress in support 

of the SS United States’ potential 

redevelopment in recent months, 

including detailed plans, financial 

models, renderings, and engineering 

approaches with support from a 

number of major firms. in so many 

ways, we’ve never been closer to saving 

america’s Flagship, but we have 

Photo: Courtesy of Nick Landiak 

also never been closer to losing this 

irreplaceable piece of our history. 

“The conservancy has been very 

clear in its communications to its 

supporters and the media that the 

carrying costs for the vessel total 

more than $60,000 per month. 

While our fundraising efforts have 

enabled us to meet those continuing 

obligations to date, thanks to 

the steadfast support of donors 

from across the nation and around 

22 

the world, the financial burdens imposed 

by the ship’s ongoing expenses 

have become unsustainable. 

“The conservancy continues to 

do everything within its power to 

advance an outcome that protects 

the vessel, preserves her historical 

legacy, and secures a viable redevelopment 

program. as we have announced 

previously, redevelopment 

negotiations are ongoing. We have 

identified two potential locations 

that can accommodate the ship, and 

we are continuing complex talks 

with various entities regarding these 

sites. These ongoing discussions 

remain subject to confidentiality 

agreements signed by both parties. 

“Despite this progress in our redevelopment 

negotiations, the tim-

ing of additional financial support 

from our partners may come too 

late, in the absence of another party 

willing to support the conservancy 

or assume responsibility for the vessel 

at this time. 

“if donors or investors step forward 

by the end of the month who 

are ready, willing, and able to help 

the conservancy, america’s Flagship 

could still be saved. However, 

if progress toward a new sales option 

or an infusion of funds does 

not occur by October 

31, 2015, we will 

have no choice but 

to negotiate the sale 

of the ship to a responsible 

U.S.-based 

recycler. 

“given the lead 

time required to 

broker the vessel’s 

potential sale, we believe 

it would be irresponsible 

to delay 

the start of this contingency 

planning. 

“choosing to explore these options 

was a gut-wrenching decision 

for the board, but the conservancy 

simply cannot exhaust all of its 

funds, leaving the organization in 

debt or with no resources to support 

its curatorial and education 

mission. 

“We remain deeply committed to 

honoring the legacy of the SS United 

States through our curatorial and 

educational programs, and we will 

continue to prioritize this important 

work. 

“We take our responsibility to our 

supporters and to the conservancy’s 

mission very seriously, which is 

why we believe that despite recent 

progress and potentially positive 

scenarios, this course of action is 

necessary. 

“The sale of the vessel to a recycler 

is by no means inevitable. We 

remain hopeful that our developers 

can continue to advance their efforts 

or that additional financial support 

will be found in time. 

“ Th eSS United States is a unique 

and endangered historic landmark 

that has captivated the imagination 

of millions. We are determined to 

do everything possible during these 

final weeks to try to save her. 

“ Th eSS United States’ supporters 

from across the country and around 

the world have become like family. 

We have worked together against 

the odds to keep the nation’s last 

remaining and greatest ocean liner 

safely afloat. The ship has faced previous 

dangers and has withstood 

them, and we hope she can beat the 

23 

Photo: Courtesy of Charles Anderson 

odds again. anything less would 

be, as Walter cronkite once said, “a 

crime against history.” 

Those interested in making a taxdeductible 

contribution to the SS 

United States conservancy can do 

so at www.SSUSc.org. 

About the SS United States 

Conservancy 

a national nonprofit organization, 

the SS United States conservancy 

leads the global effort to save and 

repurpose america’s Flagship, the 

SS United States. The conservancy 

raises public awareness and financial 

resources for the maintenance, 

restoration and ultimate reuse of 

this iconic vessel and works to ensure 

that the fastest ocean liner ever 

to cross the atlantic remains an inspiration 

for generations to come. 

For more information about the SS 

United States visit www.ssusc.org. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Basile – 

Tbasile@EmpireStrategy.com 

917-579-2216

Campbell on Crypto 

What comes after perimeter protection? 

An intro to why cryptography is important 

By Shaun Campbell 

According to the 2015 1H Breach 

Level Index Report from Gemalto, 

888 security breaches were reported 

in the first half of 2015. Those 

breaches resulted in the unauthorized 

access of 245,191,393 records. 

Advances in technology used by 

hackers means that protecting the 

perimeter is not enough to ensure 

that your sensitive data is not compromised. 

Identity theft was the leading 

type of breach, the report indicates. 

There was also a shift 

in attack targets, with 

a dramatic rise in data 

records stolen from 

state-sponsored attacks. 

Healthcare and 

government overtook 

retail as the major affected 

sectors, and 

outside attacks have begun to overtake 

those from within. 

All this means that perimeter security 

isn’t effective for protecting 

your organization from breaches. 

For real protection of sensitve data, 

you have to focus on protecting 

your data, not your network. That’s 

why cryptography (or “crypto”) is 

becoming increasingly important. 

Securing the network 

is yesterday’s news 

Today’s enterprises (commercial 

and public sector) are not making 

appropriate investments in security. 

Most are using an outdated view of 

the realities of security breaches. 

Because data breaches have continually 

increased in frequency and 

size, breach prevention is becoming 

irrelevant as protection from cyber 

Simple breach prevention just doesn’t cut it 

any more. Hackers can be criminals, rogue 

nations, or disgruntled insiders, and they 

all pose a real threat to data. 

attacks. 

That kind of strategy is yesterday’s 

news. Gone are the days when 

hackers were more interested in 

just proving they could break in. In 

those days, sensitive data was centralized, 

and a desktop PC was the 

edge of the enterprise network. 

It was enough at the time to con- 

24 

sider network 

perimeter 

“breach-prevention” 

technology, 

such 

as firewalls, as 

the go-to security 

method. These days, however, 

data is distributed, not centralized, 

so simple breach prevention just 

doesn’t cut it any more. Hackers can 

be criminals, rogue nations, or disgruntled 

insiders, and they all pose 

a real threat to data. 

The insider threat 

can’t be discounted. 

Every organization, 

including government 

agencies, can 

fall victim to someone 

already inside 

the protected perimeter. 

Focusing on perimeter protection 

does nothing to protect against 

misuse or just plain carelessness. 

Let’s not overlook carelessness. 

Using personal email accounts to 

bring work home, losing devices, 

storing important information on 

thumb drives, or sharing network 

credentials and passwords can lead

to the accidental leaking of sensitive 

data. 

In fact, it’s best these days to just 

accept the fact that you can’t fully 

prevent breaches of network security. 

Instead of securing the network, 

you need to focus on securing the 

data. 

How to protect your data – 

a quick overview 

The world of cyber security becomes 

a simpler place when you accept 

that breaches will happen. Extending 

your focus from just securing 

the perimeter to also securing the 

data should be Job One. 

Most of the threat today is what’s 

in the information, not how you access 

an entity. It has become very 

easy for hackers to insert attacks 

into content that allow them to 

open channels through the boundary 

that no one knows about. As we 

mentioned earlier about carelessness, 

people already use open channels 

in firewalls to send content via 

email. Information is not blocked at 

the firewall. Malware or other malicious 

content may have already 

compromised the network. Once 

the affected content has gotten in 

past the boundary, that’s when the 

real problems begin. 

It can be a challenge to secure 

data. These days, the cloud, virtualization, 

and an increasingly mobile 

workforce have made the potential 

inroads to attack much broader. It’s 

understandable that some agencies 

might choose to use “containment” 

strategy to control where data can 

go, and to limit access to a small 

group of authorized users. 

The problem with basing your 

security plans on restricting data 

access is that it flies in the face of 

what most agencies are trying to 

do – namely, to using big data and 

analysis to improve efficiency and 

productivity, and to help fulfill mission 

objectives. 

Rather than saying “no,” agencies 

should be looking for more ways to 

say “yes” – to build security plans 

based on the mandate to move and 

share data. Here are three quick 

things to keep in mind: 

• Know your data: You need to 

know what you need to protect. 

Then you have to control access and 

authentication of users. 

• Protect your data: The best way 

to protect your data is to lock it. Encrypt 

all sensitive data at rest and 

in motion. Make sure that if data is 

taken out of your network it can’t 

be used for malicious purposes because 

of the strength of the encryption. 

• Manage your protection: Encryption 

seals your data so it can’t be 

used by anyone but you. Then you 

have to manage it, because if you 

lose your encryption key, you can’t 

use the data, either. Securely store 

25 

and manage all of your encryption 

keys. 

There is no “one size fits all” approach 

for securing data in case 

your network security is breached, 

and of course you still have to reprotect 

your network if the perimeter 

is violated. These three steps 

are just a skeleton to make sure you 

don’t suffer the expense and other 

consequences that come in the aftermath 

of a security incident. 

In future installments of this column, 

we will take a closer look at 

different aspects of cryptography 

and discuss how it can be utilized as 

the most effective form of data protection. 

GSN is pleased to add “Campbell on 

Crypto” as an ongoing new column. 

Shaun Campbell, a nationally-recognized 

cryptography expert, is VP of 

Product Management For SafeNet 

Asssured Technologies. Prior to his 

12-year service at SafeNet, he held 

high-level security positions at The 

Windermere Group, A.T. Kearney, 

Booze Allen Hamilton and CSC. He 

spent eight years in the U.S. Air Force 

developing his expertise in cryptography 

and cyber security.

Cloud security trending as for 

government agencies 

Continued from page 13 

its system and completing necessary 

patches. This may depend upon the 

specific service level selected, so it 

is important to understand who has 

responsibility for this. If the provider 

is responsible, the agreement 

should confirm that updates and 

patches will be implemented in a 

timely fashion. 

• Breach notification procedures. 

The agreement also should 

detail notification procedures, as 

well as how and when data can be 

accessed in the event of a security 

breach, in addition to any log file 

access that would be necessary to 

help determine what happened. The 

agreement also should be specific 

about whether or not your agency 

can bring in an independent forensic 

team to review how the attack 

occurred and what remediation 

steps must be taken. 

• Disaster recovery. The cloud 

provider should offer, at a minimum, 

disaster recovery policies that 

meet industry standards. Review 

the provider’s general protections, 

type of backup services provided 

and business continuity practices. 

• The long-term outlook. Once 

you have made the move to the 

cloud, it can be hard to transition 

back out. Accordingly, the agreement 

should delineate very clearly 

how long it will take and what steps 

will be required to retrieve your 

data if you decide at some point to 

move out of the cloud. 

In addition to the points noted 

above, having a cloud strategy and 

performing due diligence is essential 

for an agency considering a 

move to the cloud. Such due diligence 

should include a thorough 

evaluation of the provider’s years of 

experience, how much content the 

provider has under contract and the 

company’s track record protecting 

data. 

The cloud can present several benefits, 

as well as a number of risks. 

Determining what is best for any 

government agency involves a careful 

review of the terms and conditions 

contained the agreement, plus 

a calculated, upfront risk/benefit examination, 

free of any assumptions, 

to reveal whether the time is right to 

make a move to the cloud. 

About the author: Jayne Friedland 

Holland is Chief Security Officer at 

NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV), the 

country’s dominant provider of egovernment 

services and secure payment 

processing. Contact her at jayne@ 

egov.com. 

Post Your Video on 

the Busiest Website 

in Homeland Security! 

To Place Your Order or Get Further Information, Contact: 

Mike Madsen, Publisher, at 732-233-8119, or mmadsen@gsnmagazine.com 

26


NSF-supported engineer and vision scientist Al Bovic 

awarded Emmy for tool that predicts perceived video quality 

27 

September 30, 2015 – Sometimes it’s 

not so much what you see as what 

you don’t see that matters. 

alan bovik led a team of researchers 

that, in the early 2000s, invented 

a tool to predict how the average 

person will perceive the quality of 

an image or a video. The tool allows 

broadcasters and streaming video 

sites to compress and distribute video 

with minimal distortion. 

So, every time you don’t see jagged 

images, blurring, glitches or the 

dreaded spinning wheel of death 

on tv or the internet, that’s likely 

thanks in part to the Structural 

Similarity index that bovik and his 

research team created. 

For his efforts, bovik and three 

of his colleagues will each receive 

television’s highest honor, an individual 

Primetime emmy award for 

Outstanding achievement in engineering 

Development from the 

television academy (formerly the 

academy of television arts and Sciences). 

bovik--the ernest J. cockrell 

endowed chair in engineering at 

The University of texas at austin- 

-will receive his emmy statuette at 

the Primetime emmy engineering 

awards ceremony at loew’s Hollywood 

Hotel on Oct. 28, 

2015. two of bovik’s former 

PhD students, Zhou 

Wang (now at the University 

of Waterloo, canada) 

and Hamid Sheikh (now at 

Samsung, Dallas) will also 

receive individual emmy 

statuettes for this work, 

along with eero Simoncelli, 

their collaborator at NYU. 

“an engineering emmy award is 

bestowed upon an individual, company 

or organization for developments 

in engineering that are either 

so extensive an improvement on 

existing methods, or so innovative 

in nature, that they materially affect 

the transmission, recording or reception 

of television,” the television 

academy wrote. 

bovik was initially surprised 

about the emmy--in fact, he found 

out about the award while reading 

his email in the morning, on his way 

to brush his teeth. eventually, his 

surprise gave way to appreciation. 

“i’m very happy and grateful that 

people are recognizing our work,” 

bovik said. “i so appreciate NSF 

support of our research and our students, 

who are so much of the inspiration 

and perspiration behind research 

success. if you have 

good ideas, this kind of 

support can change your 

life.” 

Compression issues 

Due to limits in bandwidth 

and the ever-expanding 

Al Bovic number of streaming videos, 

broadcasters need to 

compress their video before sending 

it over the airwaves or the internet. 

This compression can cause a range 

of problems, from blurring to blackouts, 

which make watching a broadcast 

unpleasant or distracting. 

“What you would like to be able 

to do is have a reliable way of determine 

acceptable levels of perceived 

quality--as a human viewer would 

report it,” bovik said. “This is particularly 

important to cable and 

satellite video content carriers in 

regards to how much they compress 

the television signal.” 

“it’s not like a certain compression 

level will give the same quality for 

every video. You actually have to do 

something content dependent, and 

being able to predict the perceived 

quality of a compressed video while 

accounting for content makes a big 

More on page 28


NSF support: tool that predicts 

perceived video quality 


difference.” 

The Structural SIMilarity (SSIM) 

index is a method for measuring the 

similarity between a compressed image 

or video and the uncompressed 

original, in terms of human 

perception. Today, 

SSIM is part of the technological 

toolkit used by 

most major broadcasters 

and cable and satellite 

companies around the 

world, including AT&T, 

Comcast, NBC, FOX and 

PBS. 

Technology manufacturers 

such as Cisco, Motorola 

(Arris), Intel and 

Texas Instruments rely 

on SSIM to ensure the 

broadcast, networking 

and TV equipment they produce 

maintains the best possible video 

quality. 

When Bovik and his team started 

working on the issue of predicting 

how people would perceive video 

quality, they faced some difficult 

challenges. At the time, state-ofthe-art 

prediction algorithms either 

did not account for how humans 

perceive distorted images, or were 

too computationally intensive to 

be practical. Drawing from neuroscience 

models of low-level vision, 

the SSIM model disruptively solved 

both problems by providing the 

world’s best solution to the video 

quality prediction problem at at a 

low computational cost. 

“The first breakthrough was a 

very simple model developed by an 

advanced graduate student, Zhou 

Wang and myself called Universal 

Quality Index. We later developed 

the final SSIM model with another 

grad student (Hamid Sheikh) and 

our NYU collaborator, Professor 

Eero Simoncelli,” Bovik said. 

The students’ efforts were critical, 

Bovik said, particularly Wang’s 

development of the efficient SSIM 

model and Sheikh’s NSF-supported 

large-scale human study of picture 

quality. 

“NSF support of graduate students 

28 

is a major reason for the success of 

many research projects,” Bovik said. 

Early in Bovik’s academic career- 

-back in the mid-1980s--he began 

collaborating with visual psychologists 

and neuroscientists to better 

understand perception. In the process, 

he became an accomplished vision 

scientist. 

With support from 

NSF, he applied discipline-crossing 

theories 

about how humans see 

and perceive objects and 

motion, and used them 

to accurately assess how 

naturalistic or distorted 

an image or video would 

appear to a human viewer. 

Among the insights 

from visual perception 

theory that the SSIM 

model incorporates are: 

Contrast masking, where the 

texture or “busyness” causes image 

distortions to become less perceptible. 

Luminance masking, whereby 

distortion is less visible in brighter 

regions. 

And structural similarity, the 

idea that visually important structures, 

such as edges and details, are 

modified or destroyed by compression, 

which can also give rise to new 

“false” structures that are perceived

as distortion. Humans perceive visual 

distortions, such as compression, 

blur or noise, remarkably consistently 

with each other. 

When Bovik’s team tested their 

SSIM index on the world’s largest 

databases, including as many as 

25,000 human judgments of quality, 

they found it successfully predicted 

human quality assessments to a 

larger degree than any previous algorithms. 

This was later confirmed 

on even larger datasets containing 

more than 250,000 human judgments 

of picture distortion. 

“When distortions such as blur, 

noise, compression artifacts and 

channel errors appear, it’s something 

that your brain responds to very 

quickly,” Bovik said. “It’s instantly 

annoying to some degree and that 

degree of annoyance is amazingly 

consistent among humans.” 

The SSIM model has proved indispensable 

to broadcasters and has become 

a de facto industry standard, 

widely commercialized around the 

globe in a variety of products. 

Beyond its adoption as a standard 

tool in broadcast and postproduction 

houses throughout the 

television industry, the SSIM index 

is part of the global ITU standard 

H.264 video coding reference software--one 

of the most commonly 

used formats for the recording, 

compression and distribution of 

video content. This allows developers 

everywhere to “SSIM-optimize” 

their encoder implementations and 

rate-control protocols. 

“This research is an excellent example 

of how a deep understanding 

of basic science can lead to technological 

advances that have positive 

benefits across the globe,” said 

Lynne Parker, division director for 

Information and Intelligent Systems 

at NSF. “Dr. Bovik’s research team 

has translated a scientific understanding 

of human perception into 

vast improvements in our global, 

video-based communications technologies. 

Breakthrough advances 

such as the SSIM index illustrate the 

broad impact that is possible as a result 

of investment in fundamental, 

interdisciplinary research.” 

Other applications 

Bovik and his students did not stop 

with SSIM. He has gone on to create 

many newer technologies for 

image processing and video quality 

assessment with NSF funding. These 

include MOVIE (the MOtion-based 

Video Integrity Evaluation) index 

for video quality assessment, the 

DIIVINE, BRISQUE, BLIINDS and 

NIQE no-reference image and video 

quality models and the LIVE Image 

and Video Quality Databases. 

Recently, again with funding from 

NSF, he created algorithms that can 

assess the quality of images without 

an original reference image--an 

29 

even trickier task. This research was 

inspired in part by work by a famous 

result in visual neuroscience 

that suggests that images of the real 

world, if they are of good quality, 

obey certain statistical laws. 

“These laws can be used to explain 

the success of the SSIM model and 

of other algorithms that we’ve created, 

and we have also used them 

to design the new breed of ‘blind’ 

models that do not need a reference 

signal,” Bovik said. “The human visual 

system has evolved in response 

to those statistics. By observing 

those statistics, we can predict how 

neurons will respond to the early 

vision system and vice-versa: by 

examining the brain, we can get insights 

into natural scene statistics. If 

you have a photograph or video and 

it doesn’t obey those scene statistics, 

then it’s likely been distorted.” 

Bovik and his team are applying 

this idea to a range of digital image 

quality issues. Their solutions range 

from algorithms can give digital 

cameras the ability to determine 

whether photographs are objectively 

“good,” to systems that can significantly 

improve the accuracy of 

facial recognition, to advanced image 

capture methods using infrared 

and other wavelengths.


OnSSI and Galaxy Control deliver seamlessly integrated 

VMS and access control solution Provides Heightened 

Situational Awareness and Streamlined Investigations 

Pearl River, NY, October 29 - In 

continuing to deliver higher performance 

and added value to customers, 

OnSSI announces that the System 

Galaxy access control solution 

from Galaxy Control Systems fully 

integrates and supports the Company’s 

Ocularis 5 Video Management 

Software (VMS). The integration 

of these industry- leading VMS 

and access control solutions provides 

users with greatly enhanced 

real-time situational awareness and 

significantly streamlines the postevent 

investigation process. 

“The correlation of video and access 

control provides users with an 

effective, efficient and intelligent 

solution that is proven to improve 

overall security and heighten situational 

awareness,” said Ken La- 

Marca, VP of Sales and Marketing, 

OnSSI. “The integration with Galaxy 

Control Systems was facilitated 

by Ocularis’ open architecture, 

which enables the ability to process 

comprehensive intelligence across 

multiple platforms.” 

Working in concert with System 

Galaxy, OnSSI’s Ocularis 5 provides 

critical information that lets operators 

quickly assess situations as 

they unfold, and use the information 

gathered to determine the best 

course of action. 

“The combination of Ocularis 5 

30 

and System Galaxy creates a unique 

and powerful VMS-Access Control 

solution that capitalizes on the combined 

strengths of these respective 

platforms to improve overall safety 

and security,” said Robert Laughlin, 

President, Galaxy Control Systems. 

“The latest version of System Galaxy 

includes enhancements that further 

enhance the user experience and 

streamline installation, while providing 

a comprehensive access and 

surveillance management platform 

by integrating OnSSI’s Ocularis 5.” 

The seamless integration between 

Ocularis 5 and System Galaxy enables 

real-time access control activity 

and user-defined, real-time 

on-screen event annotation. Each 

door can be assigned a preset NVR/ 

DVR and camera, with alerts triggered 

by valid or invalid access attempts, 

which are tied to pre- and 

post-event video. Upon receiving an 

alert, operators can engage the full 

power of both Ocularis and System 

Galaxy to quickly and easily retrieve 

live video, control cameras, lock/ 

unlock doors and much more. In 

addition to delivering unprecedented 

real-time situational awareness 

the combined solution provides

faster and more accurate retrieval of 

correlated video and data for more 

effective and efficient post-event investigations. 

Ocularis 5 is based on a new recorder 

that accommodates a significantly 

higher density of cameras 

per recorder while maximizing 

HDD storage without the need for 

user configuration. It features automatic 

load balancing for managing 

recordings across system servers. 

Ocularis 5 also allows for multiple 

different recorders to be combined 

under the same Base (including 

legacy Ocularis 4.X recorders) with 

centralized user and event management. 

System Galaxy is a scalable, enterprise-class 

access control and 

management solution, seamlessly 

integrates security and building 

management functions. Additional 

features include active directory 

support to enable real-time identity 

management, individualized identity-based 

door access, and the ability 

to generate specific reports for each 

screen view or credential holder. 

Data can be shared with other systems 

such as time and attendance, 

visitor management, time clocks, 

parking garages and personal messaging. 

System Galaxy accommodates 

unlimited users and is also 

accessible from mobile web browsers 

and designed for backward compatibility 

with all legacy Galaxy systems. 

For more information on OnSSI visit 

www.onssi.com. 

About OnSSI 

On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc. 

(OnSSI) was founded in 2002 with 

the goal of developing comprehensive 

and intelligent IP video surveillance 

management software. OnSSI’s 

Ocularis IP security and surveillance 

VMS platform increases security, 

reduces operational costs, and 

helps organizations move closer to 

prevention. Ocularis delivers open 

architecture, flexibility, and scalability 

for a range of applications including 

education, gaming, government, 

healthcare, manufacturing, 

public safety, transportation, and 

utilities. OnSSI is headquartered in 

Pearl River, New York and has representation 

in over 100 countries. 

With its acquisition of Germanybased 

VMS company, SeeTec AG 

and the launch of Ocularis 5, OnSSI 

continues to drive global expansion 

and technological innovations. 

31 

About Galaxy Control Systems 

Galaxy Control Systems, a privately 

held company headquartered in 

Walkersville, MD, is a leader in the 

integrated access control industry. 

The company’s hardware and software 

solutions, all manufactured 

in the USA, provide access control, 

video surveillance, alarms, photoimaging, 

badging, elevator control, 

building management and time and 

attendance for small applications, 

fully integrated security management 

systems and enterprise-class 

control systems. All Galaxy Control 

Systems products are scalable and 

backwards compatible, designed 

and engineered to deliver lower Total 

Cost of Ownership and a higher 

Return on Investment than competitive 

products. With unsurpassed 

technical support, Galaxy supports 

their reseller partners with free ongoing 

training while providing the 

highest levels of system implementation 

and maintenance. 

For more information on Galaxy 

Control Systems’ extensive line of 

products, visit www.galaxysys.com.


PureTech Systems supports upgrade of 

Remote Video Surveillance System for Customs 

and Border Protection 

PHOeNiX, aZ. -- Puretech Systems 

inc., a leading manufacturer 

of geospatial video analytic software, 

today announced that it recently 

completed the initial field 

deployment and test of the remote 

video Surveillance System (rvSS) 

Upgrade for the U.S. customs and 

border Protection (cbP). This test 

successfully demonstrated the technical 

capabilities of the system and 

was a key program milestone in its 

deployment schedule, which includes 

installation at additional border 

patrol stations this year. 

USbP agents are now operating 

the rvSS in Nogales, ariz. 

Puretech Systems, a member of the 

general Dynamics OneSource team 

(gDOS), which was awarded the 

rvSS Upgrade contract, provides 

the software for full motion video, 

target detection, sensor control and 

the geospatial user interface. 

located on elevated fixed towers 

and building structures, the rvSS 

Upgrade wide-area electro-optical 

and infrared multi-sensor camera 

system provides border Patrol 

agents with persistent ground- surveillance 

and real-time video analyt- 

ics to effectively 

detect, track, 

identify, classify 

and respond to 

missions along 

U.S. borders. to 

date, Puretech 

Systems has 

participated 

in the deployment 

of a new 

command-andcontrol 

system 

and upgraded 

rvSS camera 

suites on new 

and existing tower sites supporting 

the Nogales border Patrol Station. 

During the test, the system assisted 

field agents in real- world missions. 

“The remote video Surveillance 

System is a critical element of our 

overall plan to secure the border, 

increase our mission effectiveness, 

and protect our agents,” said mark 

borkowski, assistant commissioner 

and chief acquisition executive 

from cbP’s Office of technology 

innovation and acquisition. “The 

gDOS team has done a great job 

honoring its commitments and we 

32 

The RVSS border protection upgrade, featuring video analytics and 

geospatial command and control developed by PureTech Systems, 

achieves system acceptance by Customs and Border Protection. 

are excited to have achieved an initial 

operating capability in our first 

area of responsibility. We look forward 

to continuing this strong relationship, 

and to completing the rest 

of our arizona deployments over 

the next year.” 

“The rvSS Upgrade program deployment 

is an important milestone 

for Puretech Systems, for our Pureactiv 

software suite, and for the entire 

general Dynamics rvSS team,” 

explained larry bowe, president of 

Puretech Systems. “Our solution is 

targeted at ground-based defense

and homeland security applications 

which require long range, accurate 

performance in various terrain and 

weather conditions. The system acceptance 

of PureTech’s solution 

for use at the U.S. border confirms 

that we are correctly addressing the 

needs of this market.” 

The RVSS Upgrade program has 

a potential 10-year performance 

period, during which the General 

Dynamics OneSource team, which 

includes PureTech Systems, will 

manage the operation and maintenance 

at all sites. 

PureTech Systems Inc. is a manufacturer 

of wide-area perimeter surveillance 

software solutions including 

internally developed outdoor video 

analytics, multi-sensor integration 

and a map-based (real object size) 

command and control. It is offered to 

fortune 1000 firms, petro-chemical, 

water and electric utilities, seaports, 

airports and federal, state and local 

governments. With headquarters in 

Phoenix Arizona, PureTech Systems 

serves national and international 

markets. To find out more about 

PureTech Systems Inc. visit our website 

at www.puretechsystems.com or 

contact Eric Olson at 602-424-9842 

or Eric.Olson@PureTechSystems.com. 

ThreatConnect & DGI uncover 

extensive South Chinese espionage 


cal analysis, as well as data visualization 

to clearly connect the points 

between the adversary, their capabilities, 

the infrastructure they used 

and the victims being targeted. 

To create this report, ThreatConnect 

used a unique methodology 

built into their Threat Intelligence 

Platform called The Diamond Model 

of Intrusion Analysis. Using that 

repeatable process, any ThreatConnect 

user can derive a multidimensional 

picture of the underlying relationships 

between threat actors, 

their tools, techniques and processes. 

The full Project CAMERASHY 

report is available at http://www. 

threatconnect.com/camerashy. 

About ThreatConnect, Inc. 

ThreatConnect, Inc. provides industry-leading 

advanced threat 

intelligence software and services 

including ThreatConnect®, the 

most comprehensive Threat Intelligence 

Platform (TIP) on the market. 

ThreatConnect delivers a single 

platform in the cloud and on-premises 

to effectively aggregate, analyze, 

and act to counter sophisticated 

cyber-attacks. Leveraging advanced 

analytics capabilities, ThreatConnect 

offers a superior understanding 

of relevant cyber threats to business 

operations. To register for a free 

ThreatConnect account, or to learn 

more about our products and services, 

visit: www.threatconnect.com. 

33


Milestone goes wide with new device pack 

COPENHAGEN – October 29, 

2015. Milestone Systems, the open 

platform company in networked 

video management software (VMS), 

has released Device Pack 8.2 for 

partners and customers using Milestone 

XProtect monitoring solutions. 

A highlight of this release is support 

for perspective correction of 

video from 180, 270 or 360 degree 

panoramic cameras from Pelco by 

Schneider Electric. The support is 

achieved by a plugin to the Milestone 

XProtect Smart Client. Global 

unit shipments of 180/360 degree 

panoramic network camera is forecast 

to increase by more than 60 

percent year-on-year according to 

research analysts IHS. Panoramic 

cameras are predicted to gain market 

share in verticals such as retail, 

airports, and casinos, where 

monitoring wide indoor areas is a 

key requirement of the video security 

solution. In these scenarios, the 

cameras can reduce capital expenditure 

as fewer cameras are required 

to cover the same area compared to 

fixed or PTZ cameras. 

The challenge using fisheye panoramic 

cameras is that the picture 

from the camera needs perspective 

correction, which can be adjusted in 

the camera or in the software. This 

process called dewarping has several 

benefits when done in the software 

as it allows retrospective viewing. 

This gives the user the ability 

to go back in time to view the total 

scene in its original form and then 

pan, tilt, and/or zoom with corrected 

perspective within the 360-degree 

image. 

In addition to the support for Pelco 

panoramic cameras, nearly 200 

devices have been added to Milestone 

Device Pack 8.2. This list of 

new model support includes cameras 

from Axis Communications, 

Bosch and Samsung Techwin. The 

number of ONVIF-supported devices 

has increased by 64 now totaling 

1271 devices. 

ONVIF Testing Ensures Quality 

The XProtect Device Packs include 

tested drivers that are optimized 

to enable the capabilities of a camera 

or other hardware device to be 

managed by XProtect software. 

Testing the drivers ensures the highest 

functionality for a video surveillance 

solution, which is important 

for total system operability, efficiency 

and stability. Milestone works 

closely with the device manufacturers 

in the Camera Partner Program 

34 

(CaPP) to achieve the optimal interaction 

between their devices and 

the XProtect VMS. 

Milestone has always promoted 

driver standards like ONVIF and 

remains dedicated to supporting 

the broadest range of cameras and 

devices on the market. In the case 

of ONVIF supported devices, it is 

often assumed that a device that 

has passed the ONVIF test tool will 

work fully in a given infrastructure. 

This is not always the case as there 

are marked idiosyncrasies that need 

to be taken into account to insure 

proper interoperability and to leverage 

full feature use of a device with 

a VMS. Before ONVIF supported 

devices are listed on the Milestone 

supported hardware list on milestonesys.com, 

they have been tested 

to ensure that the functionality with 

XProtect is compliant with the ON- 

VIF specifications. 

In the Milestone CaPP, this ON- 

VIF functionality test can be done 

by Milestone or the vendors can do 

the testing in their facility after they 

have completed a 4-day Milestone 

training class. The ability to do the 

complete Milestone certification 

test can save time and costs for camera 

manufacturers in their go-tomarket 

strategy.

Coming Attractions: 

“We are constantly working with 

our camera partners to provide the 

highest quality solutions for the 

benefit of our partners and mutual 

customers,” says Henrik Sydbo 

Hansen, Head of the camera Partner 

Program at milestone Systems. 

“This ensures the highest possible 

quality for a video surveillance solution.” 

The milestone XProtect Device 

Pack 8.2 is available now for download 

from: 

www.milestonesys.com/support/ 

download-software 

About Milestone Systems 

milestone Systems is a global industry 

leader in open platform iP 

video management software, founded 

in 1998 and now operating as a 

stand-alone company in the canon 

group. milestone technology is 

easy to manage, reliable and proven 

in thousands of customer installations, 

providing flexible choices in 

network hardware and integrations 

with other systems. Sold through 

partners in more than 100 countries, 

milestone solutions help organizations 

to manage risks, protect 

people and assets, optimize processes 

and reduce costs. 

Use of trademarks 

milestone Systems and the milestone 

logo are trademarks or registered 

trademarks of milestone 

Systems in the U.S. and other countries. 

a listing of the milestone 

trademarks can be found at news. 

milestonesys.com/trademark-information. 

all other trademarks and 

registrations are property of their 

respective owners. 

35 

November Print Edition 

Technology Focus: 

Intrusion Detection/ 

Perimeter Protection 

Market Focus: 

Airport/Aviation Security 

December Digital Edition 


Access Control/ID & 

Insider Threats 

Special Year-End 

Focus: 

DIGITAL YEARBOOK of 

2015 Airport/Seaport/ 

Rail/Border Security 

Awards Winners 

And 

2015 Homeland 

Security IT, Physical 

Security, Government 

Awards Winners


Using video intelligence to protect 

critical public infrastructure 

By Kimbry McClure 

Law enforcement and other entities 

charged with protecting national security 

are spending more time than 

ever planning and implementing 

security measures that ensure national 

security and improve public 

safety. This is for good reason: from 

the energy grid to sporting events to 

airports, security personnel know 

these venues are enticing targets 

for terrorist attacks due to the large 

amount of people and resources 

clustered together in one place. 

In a world of heightened extremism, 

lone wolf attacks, and general 

global instability, it is not beyond 

imagination to foresee a scenario 

where a small team of terrorists 

seizes a U.S. airport. With the prospect 

of hostage taking and hijackings 

looming large, the response 

time for emergency personnel and 

law enforcement becomes critical. 

First responders must locate the terrorists 

and their hostages quickly 

to coordinate an effective response. 

This requires enhanced detection 

capabilities that can seamlessly 

distribute information to decision 

makers and emergency personnel 

to identify and respond to threats in 

real time. 

To stay a step ahead of attackers, 

security and emergency personnel 

need a common operational picture 

to communicate with civil and federal 

agency authorities. This picture 

is not only essential in coordinating 

a rescue, but also in securing additional 

areas of the airport facility 

that the terrorists have yet to seize 

as well as collect evidence for both 

investigative and legal purposes. 

With many entities tasked with 

restoring airport security, organizations 

need the right technology 

to assist them. An important tool 

emerging in security today is a video 

intelligence system that assists 

emergency responders and officials 

in reaching their security objectives. 

Not Your Old-School 

CC-TV Cameras 

Many people imagine video surveillance 

cameras to be a single camera 

mounted on a wall pointing in a 

particular direction and transmitting 

video to a single television. In 

this scenario, multiple cameras in 

different locations within the same 

building work in isolation and only 

36 

detect motion and images. 

Most people do not realize that 

video intelligence has evolved tremendously 

in recent years. Today’s 

video intelligence system consists 

of a wide range of disparate sensor 

data combined into a single portal. 

The integration of sensor data into 

one place is a critical development 

for law enforcement working in

time sensitive situations. 

Back in our besieged airport, authorities 

do not have time to monitor 

separate video camera, alarm 

systems, GPS, and other audio, visual, 

and social media monitoring 

systems separately. Officials need 

data from these sensors to be organized 

in such a way that patterns 

can be quickly detected to ensure 

rapid decision-making. 

As law enforcement officials analyze 

the data received from multiple 

sensors, a video intelligence system 

triages the data received. During 

the airport terrorist attack, law enforcement 

is able to discern that the 

screaming coming from an airport 

personnel-only hallway is more important 

to respond to than the traveling 

high school band playing their 

instruments in the airport concourse. 

First responders have the 

ability to triage behaviors because 

the video intelligence system has 

automated the monitoring process 

on a scale much larger than manpower 

can provide. 

Automating data collection, organization 

and storage gives law enforcement 

attempting to prevent or 

respond to a terrorist attack a more 

speedy, meticulous and effective 

overall security strategy. Authorities 

no longer have to allocate manpower 

to spending time searching 

and investigating each person who 

is in a facility. Since different people 

present various behaviors, some that 

indicate a higher security risk than 

others, video intelligence systems 

flag these behaviors for law enforcement 

and give them the knowledge 

needed to make critical decisions. 

Overcoming the Unknown 

Adding automation to data collection 

and analysis provides other 

benefits. Criminals and terrorists 

are constantly changing their tactics. 

As a result, law enforcement 

does not always know the behavior 

profile to match the changing 

tactics. The integration of a video 

intelligence system provides law enforcement 

flexibility to quickly and 

easily input into the system new behaviors 

for the sensors to monitor. 

Without unified data management, 

authorities would need to take more 

time and manpower to update the 

sensors on what new behaviors to 

track. 

Authorities may also face uncertainty 

over which agencies, groups 

and decision makers need access to 

which data points. Today’s homeland 

security and emergency response 

strategies involve multiple 

agencies, organizations and decision 

makers. These groups require 

that data be shared in real-time to 

establish a common operating picture. 

The video intelligence system 

37 

overcomes data sharing challenges 

by creating a single portal to store 

and view information. As a result, 

information can be shared with ease 

between various coordinating entities. 

How to Implement a Modern 

Video Intelligence System 

Many in government are concerned 

about how much value they will receive 

when implementing new technology 

systems. The good news is 

a modern video intelligence system 

is not only effective, but also simple 

to implement. The system’s design 

focuses on an interface that is integrated 

into an organization’s current 

IT systems, including legacy 

IT. Therefore, the video intelligence 

system is built based on customization 

and flexibility. Additionally, the 

video intelligence system includes 

sensors, compute power and onboard 

storage that can be installed 

and implemented rapidly. 

Deploying a video intelligence 

platform gives law enforcement a 

technological asset that keeps pace 

with terrorists and criminals today 

and in the future. By placing these 

tools under a single management 

layer, law enforcement can devote 

more resources to what truly matters: 

ensuring public safety.


Louroe CEO discusses emerging surveillance 

technologies: Audio Analytics 

by richard brent, ceO 

louroe electronics 

crime never sleeps. law enforcement 

officers know this 

all too well as they are constantly 

reacting to theft, vandalism 

and assault incidents. Over 

the years, surveillance technology 

has grown to play an increasingly 

important role in delivering critical 

details to investigators and first responders. 

many security personnel rely 

on cctv and video analytics 

to learn important information 

about a suspect and crime 

scene. cameras can even detect 

a range of bad behaviors. 

However, video analytics alone 

does not yield a high success 

rate of incident detection. cameras 

are mainly used to review interactions 

after the event has occurred. 

This is where audio analytics must 

come into the picture. video surveillance 

is primarily reactive, but 

audio can be used to proactively deter 

altercations. but what exactly is 

audio analytics? 

audio analytics is the ability to 

analyze and identify a 

sound. Similar to how 

the human ear processes 

audio, the analytic software 

analyzes sounds 

through advanced algorithms 

and classifies it 

into a predetermined category such 

as aggression or breaking glass. 

The other advantage that audio 

analytics provide is confidentiality. 

language content is not analyzed 

during sound detection. The software 

does not listen to words, but 

distortion and physiological changes 

in the voice. in other words, the 

technology is language agnostic and 

upholds privacy. 

recently, there have been great 

innovations in the audio analytics 

market. in 2015, louroe electronics, 

industry leader in audio monitoring 

in the security industry, and Sound 

38 

intelligence, a premier audio classification 

software developer in the 

Netherlands, partnered to launch 

a suite of audio analytic solutions, 

most notably the aggression Detector 

and gunshot Detector. The 

analytic products integrate louroe’s 

microphones, select iP cameras and 

leading video management software 

(vmS). 

The aggression Detector is a valuable 

deterrence tool because it distinguishes 

the sounds commonly 

associated with verbal aggression, 

such as screaming, 

shouting and yelling. 

Sound intelligence’s detection 

software automatically 

filters out background noises– 

such as traffic, weather, 

slamming doors and ventilation 

systems– while objectively 

detecting (rising) human aggression, 

anger or fear. The system then 

warns staff immediately (by a visual 

alert or by triggering an alarm) so 

that physical aggression can be prevented. 

analytics make the problem 

of aggression measurable. it also 

ensures that no incident goes unnoticed, 

and by the same token, that all

incidents are analyzed to avoid false 

alarms. 

Reports state that 90 percent of 

physical aggression is preceded by 

verbal aggression so this software 

truly is a game changer. By using the 

technology, more incidents are deterred 

as well as their costly consequences. 

Installing audio analytics 

software is far less expensive than 

assault investigation or lawsuit fees, 

creating a high return on investment. 

The Gunshot Detector recognizes 

gun discharge up to 3,000 feet away 

in quiet environments, and accurately 

analyzes gunshots from a 

variety of weapons including handguns, 

shotguns, rifles and automatic 

rifles. The key benefit that this solution 

offers end users is shortened 

response time as the detector sends 

an immediate notification to police 

and first responders upon identifying 

a gunshot. 

Over the next several years, the 

security industry will likely see an 

increase of sound detectors in cities, 

education centers, commercial 

buildings and correctional facilities. 

It’s only a matter of time before 

audio analytics becomes as commonplace 

as video analytics as law 

enforcement continues to partner 

with companies and their security 

departments to decrease crime. 

39

Coming Attractions – 2016 

January Print 


Access Control/Govt 

& Biometric ID 

Market Focus: 

Airport/Aviation 

Aviation Security 

Plus 

Guest Cyber Expert 

February Digital 


Perimeter Protection 

Intrusion Detection 

Market Focus: 

Oil/Gas/Utility 

Monitoring 

Plus 

Education Profile 

April Digital 


Video Surveillance 

Market Focus: 

Maritime/Coastal 

Port Security 

Plus 


May Print 


Satellite Communications 

Market Focus: 

Law Enforcement/ 

Public Safety 

Plus Education Profile 

June Digital 


Disaster Preparation 

And Response 

Market Focus: 

City/State/County/ 

Municipal Security 

Plus 


July Print Edition 


Perimeter Protection/ 

Intrusion Detection 

Market Focus: 

Airport/Aviation 

Security 

Plus 

Facility Security Expert 

March Print 


CBRNE/Detection 

Market Focus: 

Border Security/ 

Immigration 

Plus 

Video Surveillance 

Guest Expert 

For GSN Media Kit or Advertising Rates, 

contact Publisher Mike Madsen 

at 732-233-8119 

or by email at 

mmadsen@gsnmagazine.com 

40

The News Leader in Physical, IT and Homeland Security 

CEO/Editorial Director: 

Adrian Courtenay 

(O) 212-344-0759, X3 

(C) 917-696-5782 

acourtenay@gsnmagazine.com 

Publisher: 

Michael Madsen 

(O) 212-344-0759, X1 

(C) 732-233-8119 

mmadsen@gsnmagazine.com 

Senior Writer: 

Steve Bittenbender 

(C) 502-552-1450 

sbittenbender@gsnmagazine.com 

Senior Writer: 

Karen Ferrick-Roman 

(C) 412-671-1456 

karenferrickroman@gmail.com 

Columnist: 

John Convy 

Convy on Netcentric Security 

john@convyassociates.com 

Columnist: 

Shaun Campbell 

shauncampbell@safenetat.com 

Guest Expert Contributor: 

Denise Rucker Krepp 

(C) 202-546-2533 

kdrkrepp@hotmail.com 

Art Director: 

Gerry O’Hara 

OHDesign3 

(C) 203-249-0626 

gerry@ohd3.com 

Production Director: 

Tammy Waitt 

(O) 732-233-0245 

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41

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© 2015 HID Global Corporation/ASSA ABLOY AB. All rights reserved. HID, HID Global, the HID Blue Brick logo, and the Chain Design are trademarks or registered trademarks of HID Global or its 

licensor(s)/supplier(s) in the US and other countries and may not be used without permission.

October/November 2015 Digital Edition

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