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EDITORIAL
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We’re in IT together
The 2018 exhibition season kicks off in
earnest this month and the main topics of
discussion will likely be the same across the
board, with one topic making a big showing
By the time you read this it’s more than possible that you’ve
already started filling up your diary with dates for
exhibitions, roadshows or networking events. Take a quick
look through this edition and you’ll see that we’re starting to
ramp up the coverage on the UK industry events, looking at IFSEC
International and the NSI Installer Summit while last month we
highlighted some of the seminars at SCTX. There are more
options than ever when it comes to getting out and meeting
people at events and whether you choose to attend any of the
above or some of the excellent roadshows organised by various
quarters in the industry you will notice a recurring theme in the
aisles and training/seminar theatres this year. What’s surprising
is that this is a subject that no-one was really talking about at
any length before 2016 and that subject is the cyber security of
networked systems.
Since the inception of the Internet there have been individuals
who have made it their career choice to try to hack into
networked systems for nefarious deeds of one kind or another so
the fact that today, when we have so many IP solutions on the
market, it is not really any great stab in the dark to expect that an
IP camera can be seen as a way into a company or private IT
system. Yet for so long the industry seemed to spend most of its
efforts in focusing on reducing the bandwidth requirements of
security systems rather than securing the structure. I remember
talking to a company a few years ago who were pushing the idea
of having an entirely separate network to keep cameras off the
company system, not for security reasons, but so surveillance
coverage wasn’t hindered by overnight backups and strains on
the service at busy times of the day.
Today there is much talk of the cyber security of the
technology because there are so many items being connected to
the Web such as IoT/smart devices that there is more of a risk -
as we have been told many times, the more you have connected
to the Net the more access points there are for hackers. It’s not
just the security systems that pose a risk it’s everything on the
network as well, which is why at the events this year there will be
much talk of whose responsibility it is to protect networks from
cyber threats. The installer, the manufacturer and the customer
all have roles to play in this conundrum and there are a host of
products that are utilising some innovative technology to secure
the systems already available.
If you do attend any events in 2018 be sure to talk cyber with
those you meet - don’t say it’s not your responsibility, because
every installation is only one hack away from a problem.
Andy Clutton
EDITOR
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