3 Secrets to Effective Perimeter Security

Perimeter security can be completed by combining networked video management platforms, video analytics applications and wireless transmission technologies.

When tasked with securing the perimeter of an organization comprised of facilities and assets that are essential to the functioning of society and economy, there is no room for error. However, the complexity of these organizations often makes them the most challenging to secure. Ports, water distribution systems, energy production facilities and even municipal environments are typically encompassed by widespread, hard-to-reach geographic perimeters that are difficult to monitor efficiently. Oftentimes, these organizations will establish a central security command center from which all security operations are managed. This can be a highly effective strategy if the right tools and technologies are put in place at the outermost "edge" of the perimeter. These tools need to be enterprise-class, designed to easily integrate with existing security systems and capable of delivering actionable intelligence -- the most critical information, delivered to the right people in time for a coordinated and appropriate response.

By Mariann McDonagh

Before putting any tools in place, it is absolutely critical to identify and assess the unique demands of your perimeter environment.  Perimeters are the outermost expanse of a security network and often consist of harsh environmental conditions devoid of access to communications infrastructures.  Their remote and punishing nature makes physical monitoring of these expanses inefficient and unpleasant.  When establishing a perimeter security strategy, you must consider these factors and identify the tools to help you overcome them.  Video analytics at the network edge can replace the need for security monitoring personnel along the perimeter by automatically surfacing movement and activities within specified regions.  Wireless technology can overcome long distance networking needs that, until recently, would have been inaccessible.  A robust, enterprise-class video management platform can tie together all of the disparate security systems throughout your perimeter and deliver actionable intelligence to multiple locations simultaneously. 

Once you have assessed the needs of your unique perimeter environment, it is time to deploy the necessary tools to help you more effectively close any gaps and monitor wide-spread unmanned areas with limited security resources.

NETWORKED VIDEO MANAGEMENT PLATFORMS

An enterprise-class networked video management platform, designed to protect a wide-area perimeter and the physical systems and facilities that are contained within it can be a valuable tool for security.  Networked video management platforms provide enhanced command and control over the massive amounts of data collected by perimeter security systems.  Multiple camera feeds, sophisticated sensor data, access control systems and biometric screening devices all produce valuable security data, but only a networked video management solution, with an open architecture, can transform these disparate data sources into actionable intelligence.

By connecting perimeter surveillance systems with IP networks, security administrators can remotely monitor and maintain operations across expansive perimeters from a centralized command center; significantly reducing the required security monitoring personnel.  Automated health-check features of more robust IP surveillance solutions report on critical device failures throughout the perimeter to eliminate the risk of a breach due to malfunctioning security systems.  Video management platforms equipped with centralized monitoring tools can also integrate with access control and alarm systems to provide centralized password management and report on unauthorized access attempts to restricted areas based on rules defined by the user.

Finally, by integrating powerful video analytics with a networked video management platform, key security decision makers are provided with automatic alarms and alerts to activity and movement occurring in even the most remote and unmanned expanses of a perimeter.  This valuable intelligence can be leveraged for a proactive response to impending security breaches, thereby avoiding many potential threats.

VIDEO ANALYTICS

The implementation of an enterprise-class networked video management solution with integrated analytics provides better situational awareness in an environment with geographically distributed facilities and wide-area perimeters. 

It starts with the deployment of sophisticated analytics technologies at the edge of a video surveillance network.  Analytics, embedded into ‘edge devices’ like IP cameras, encoders and video servers, can automatically identify suspicious behaviors across the security perimeter, before they escalate.  For instance, analytics are capable of establishing tripwires or virtual perimeters for real-time object detection, identification, and classification.  Analytics applications can also automatically detect persons loitering, abandoned objects, blocked exits and camera tampering or shifting.  This functionality significantly increases the effectiveness of limited security monitoring personnel in a central command post.

If you’ve ever seen a demonstration of video analytics, I am sure it was easy to recognize the benefits provided by this sophisticated technology.  Video analytics applications sort through massive amounts of video data collected by any number of security cameras and identify only the most critical events and behaviors of interest.  By extending the resources of existing security personnel, video analytics prevent information overload and deliver the actionable intelligence required to eliminate threats before they escalate.  However, the effectiveness and cost of video analytics applications are often determined by their location in the security network.

Placing video analytics technology at the ’network edge’, where video is captured, is the most accurate and cost-effective method of deploying and scaling this technology within your organization.  Embedding video analytics technology in intelligent edge devices, including IP cameras, wireline and wireless video encoders, dramatically, reduces bandwidth and storage requirements by eliminating the need to send video data across the network to a centralized server for analysis.  Additionally, analyzing high-quality video at the point of capture can greatly increase the accuracy of alarms and alerts generated by analytics applications, reducing the likelihood of false positives and focusing security resources on legitimate threats. 

Video analytics at the network edge, integrated within a robust video management platform, allows users to deploy a variety of applications to secure wide-area unmanned perimeters:

• Intrusion detection allows users to define virtual boundaries around an area of interest and track movement within that sector. 
• Loitering applications detect people or vehicles that remain near secure or high value areas for extended periods of time. 
• Tailgating allows security personnel to detect people or objects that gain unauthorized entry through a secure access door by closely following authorized personnel.
• Virtual view applications enable users to track events or suspicious behavior over multiple locations by ‘stitching’ separate camera views together into one scene.

Adding a custom rules engine integrated with these analytics and the video management platform allows users to define sensitive areas and decide what objects or movements constitute a threat to the organization.  Once detected, these security breaches trigger alerts which prompt specific video and other data to be intelligently distributed back to a central monitoring location, as well as to security personnel in the field.

Simply put, video analytics at the network edge provides greater situational awareness, simplified administration, and lower cost of ownership.  Integrated edge analytics transform video into actionable intelligence for more effective perimeter security initiatives.

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY 

Whether you are concerned with securing the open water ways of a port or the expansive unmanned perimeter of an oil pipeline, the challenge is often the same: how to connect surveillance cameras in locations where running cable is either cost-prohibitive or impossible.  Adding the power of wireless transmission to a perimeter security system creates a robust, flexible solution.  Wireless video signals travel over radio waves, or frequencies, to transmit data between devices without cables or cords.  Higher powered signals are able to travel further distances and around greater obstacles than lower powered signals.   High-powered transmissions usually require government licenses to broadcast while low-powered transmissions are often unregulated.

There are several key types of wireless technology typically used in perimeter surveillance applications: WiFi, WiMax, and Mesh Networking.  WiFi is perhaps the most commonly recognized and widely deployed wireless technology.  WiFi signals typically have a range of 150ft. for indoor applications and 300ft. in outdoor environments with data speeds, also called bandwidth, of up to 24 MegaBytes Per Second (MBPS).  At this data transfer rate, it is possible to have multiple intelligent edge devices, including IP cameras and wireless video encoders, streaming video from access points on the network edge to a centralized monitoring station.  WiMax is a variation of WiFi technology designed to provide long-range wireless connectivity.  Mesh Networks use a series of interwoven wireless signals to extend the reach of WiFi transmissions by creating a long range backbone over which video data travels.  Mesh networks are ideal for providing low bandwidth access to a large coverage area. 

By connecting networked cameras using wireless technologies, security organizations can transmit high-resolution video across wide expanses and perimeters to a central monitoring location in real time.  This powerful solution overcomes challenges such as distance, lack of network infrastructure, and inclement conditions to enhance security in virtually any location.

Perimeter security is perhaps the most daunting challenge for modern security directors but fortunately technology is on their side.  By combining today’s networked video management platforms, video analytics applications and wireless transmission technologies, security directors can create a virtual wall around their perimeter, no matter how expansive it is.  The situational awareness and more efficient use of existing resources resulting from the combination of these technologies will produce measurable return on investment for years to come.

Mariann McDonagh is Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Verint Systems Inc. (www.verintsystems.com). 

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