AI, Cloud and Cybersecurity Open New Opportunities for Integrators

AI, Cloud and Cybersecurity Open New Opportunities for Integrators 

I was recently asked which technologies are going to have the most significant impact on the physical security industry in the next few years. With the rapid pace of change in technology today, there is no simple answer to this question.

One thing that is certain is that companies are under pressure to become more efficient, secure and operationally aware. That, in turn, is driving the need for real-time data capturing and processing from every part of their business, including security.

We are just beginning to see how emerging technologies and concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI), Cloud computing and cybersecurity are impacting our industry. As companies plan for the future, budgets are increasingly focused on innovative solutions that can help to process the growing amount of data being captured and consumed.

Manufacturers and systems integrators that understand this shift have been quick to identify opportunities to win new business through the introduction of value-added applications or new services capable of generating recurring monthly revenue.

We explore some of those technologies and opportunities below.

Artificial intelligence and analytics

AI analytics is the product of automating data analysis—a traditionally time-consuming and people-intensive task—using the power of today's artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

AI analytics refers to a subset of business intelligence that uses machine learning techniques to discover insights, find new patterns and discover relationships in the data. In practice, AI analytics is the process of automating much of the work that a data analyst would normally perform.

Customers are looking to AI and data analytics to gain better insight into their operations. These offerings can enable security-related intelligence or operational and customer insights. The key to AI is self-learning algorithms that, over time, get better at identifying certain targeted behaviors or transactions and reducing false positives.

We have also begun to see several chip manufacturers introduce next generation processors with AI built into the core firmware. As a result, systems integrators can expect to see many product innovations in 2018 focused on advanced video analytics, data integrations and application software.

The challenge for their customers will be clearly defining which data is most valuable to them, who will have access to it, and how to best manage it. Systems integrators can play a key role in this process by having those discussions with customers up front and encouraging a proof-of-concept phase before fully rollouts are undertaken.

 

Cloud-based services

Cloud based services provide information technology (IT) as a service over the Internet or dedicated network, with delivery on demand, and payment based on usage. Cloud based services range from full applications and development platforms, to servers, storage, and virtual desktops.

In addition to AI and data analytics capabilities, we are seeing demand from customers for Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. The combination of low, upfront capital costs and outsourced services has made Cloud-based video and access control popular, especially in the hospitality and small-to-medium enterprise markets. Examples of SaaS cloud service providers include Dropbox, G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, and Slack. In each of these applications, users can access, share, store, and secure information in “the cloud.”

As technology providers add more sophisticated applications and services to further drive customer insight and efficiencies, expect enterprise retail customers to begin moving to this model as well in 2018. For systems integrators, SaaS solutions can represent a recurring revenue stream and a great opportunity to generate new business.

 

Cybersecurity impacts

Cyber attacks can cause electrical blackouts, failure of military equipment, and breaches of national security secrets. They can result in the theft of valuable, sensitive data like medical records. They can disrupt phone and computer networks or paralyze systems, making data unavailable.

Cybersecurity is crucial because it safeguards all types of data against theft and loss. Sensitive data, protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII), intellectual property, personal information, data, and government and business information systems are all included.

The sheer scope and size of the data breaches we saw in 2017 – Equifax being one of the most notable – has heightened concerns over cyber-preparedness. Increasingly, customers are evaluating their own level of cybersecurity preparedness, as well as that of their suppliers.

There’s no doubt that our industry is taking cybersecurity seriously, however there is still work to be done, and both systems integrators and their manufacturer partners need to be prepared. Information technology (IT) departments will continue to play an expanded role in approving products for deployment on corporate networks. The use of third-party cybersecurity audits will also become more commonplace, which will significantly impact how products are developed and deployed.

In addition to ensuring that their products are secure, manufacturers and system integrators will also need to improve their own organizational security. For video solution providers, that could mean demonstrating how they protect their software code and architect their software, and how compliant their solutions are with data privacy standards in North America and globally.

The need to bolster cyber defenses will also create demand for new equipment and software upgrades as the vulnerabilities of customers’ legacy equipment are exposed.

Cybersecurity will be a challenge for some systems integrators, but a great business opportunity for others. Customers will increasingly look for integrators that can meet their cybersecurity standards and possibly pass a cyber audit. If there’s a weak link in the chain – from product design to installation or service – then everyone loses. System Integrators know major China manufacturers like Dahua, Hikvision, Uniview are not impacted, from everything we have seen. We executed the proof of concept code from the disclosure on multiple devices and were unable to gain access using the backdoor. The backdoor primarily impacts devices using HiSilicon SOC with Xiongmai software, which is dozens of small OEM manufacturers, using minimally modified OEM firmware, Open Source OS and drivers, and enabling telnet on port 9530.

So it’s important that integrators and manufacturers work closely together and ensure that they share the same high cybersecurity standards. Integrators should also demand that their manufacturer partners be diligent about educating them on products and keeping software up to date to reduce potential vulnerabilities.

 

Knowing your market

Many of today’s leading system integrators have begun investing in the additional resources needed to educate staff and align their organizations so they can successfully adopt and provide these new capabilities to their customers.

It’s important that your organization have conversations with both your end user customers and your technology providers so you can take advantage of new opportunities while also helping to clarify what’s possible today and what’s still on the horizon.

As integrators move from equipment sales to consultative solution sales, it is important to understand the unique business problems of the customers in your target market. While this concept is not new, a growing number of integrators are putting vertical market initiatives in place to concentrate their expertise.

The top five business challenges of yesterday may no longer be the top five challenges of tomorrow. Integrators need to understand what those unique challenges are for each vertical they play in, and work with manufacturers that can provide proven solutions for specific markets.

Network Security Checklist

Network Security Checklist 

Your business faces threats on many fronts, and the more users, devices, and applications you add, the more vulnerable your network becomes.

Network security is any activity designed to protect the usability and integrity of your network and data. It includes both hardware and software technologies. Effective network security manages access to the network. It targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on your network.

Network security combines multiple layers of defences at the edge and in the network. Each network security layer implements policies and controls. Authorized users gain access to network resources, but malicious actors are blocked from carrying out exploits and threats.

Digitization has transformed our world. How we live, work, play, and learn have all changed. Every organization that wants to deliver the services that customers and employees demand must protect its network. Network security also helps you protect proprietary information from attack. Ultimately it protects your reputation.

Major China manufacturers like Dahua, HikVision, Uniview are not impacted, from everything we have seen. We executed the proof of concept code from the disclosure on multiple devices and were unable to gain access using the backdoor.

The backdoor primarily impacts devices using HiSilicon SOC with Xiongmai software, which is dozens of small OEM manufacturers, using minimally modified OEM firmware, Open Source OS and drivers, and enabling telnet on port 9530.

For Firewalls 

SL No	Guidance	Compliance
1	Update the router to the latest firmware version.
2	Disable ping (ICMP) response on WAN port.
3	Disable UPnP (universal plug-and-play).
4	Disable IDENT (port 113).
5	Disable remote management of the router.
6	Change the default administrator password.
7	Enable stateful packet inspection (SPI).
8	The settings for a firewall policy should be as specific as possible. Do not use 0.0.0.0 as an address.
9	Check for incoming/outgoing traffic security policy
10	Check for firewall firmware / OS updates
11	Allow only HTTPS access to the GUI and SSH access to the CLI
12	Re-direct HTTP GUI logins to HTTPS
13	Change the HTTPS and SSH admin access ports to non-standard ports
14	Restrict logins from trusted hosts
15	Set up two-factor authentication for administrators
16	Create multiple administrator accounts
17	Modify administrator account lockout duration and threshold values
18	Create multiple administrator accounts
19	Check if all management access from the Internet is turned off, if it does not have a clear business need. At most, HTTPS and PING should
20	Ensure that your SNMP settings are using SNMPv3 with encryption and configure your UTM profiles
21	All firewall policies should be reviewed every 3 months to verify the business purpose

For Routers

SL No	Guidance	Compliance
1	Do not use Default password for your router
2	Check if the router block access to a modem by IP address
3	Ensure that router admin gets an alert when a new device joins the network
4	Most routers let you disable UPnP on the LAN side
5	Enable port forwarding and IP filtering for your router
6	Check if the router supports HTTPs, in some routers it is disabled by default
7	If HTTPS is supported, can admin access be limited exclusively to HTTPS?
8	Check if the TCP/IP port used for the web interface can be changed
9	To really prevent local admin access, limit the LAN IP address to a single IP address that is both outside the DHCP range and not normally assigned.
10	Check if the admin access can be limited to Ethernet only
11	Check if the router access can be restricted by SSID and/or by VLAN
12	The router should not allow multiple computers to logon at the same time using the same userid
13	Check if there is some type of lockout after too many failed attempts to login to the web interface
14	Make sure the remote administration settings are turned off by default
15	Check if the port number can be changed remotely
16	If you forget to logout from the router, eventually your session should time out, and, you should be able to set the time limit, the shorter, the more secure
17	Inbound WAN: What ports are open on the WAN/Internet side? The most secure answer is none and you should expect any router not provided by an ISP to have no open ports on the Internet side. One exception is old school Remote Administration, which requires an open port. Every open port on the WAN side needs to be accounted for, especially if the router was provided by an ISP; they often leave themselves a back door. The Test your Router page links to many websites that offer firewall tests. That said, none of them will scan all 65,535 TCP ports or all 65,535 UDP ports. The best time to test this is before placing a new router into service.
18	Inbound LAN: What ports are open on the LAN side? Expect port 53 to be open for DNS (probably UDP, maybe TCP). If the router has a web interface, then that requires an open port. The classic/standard utility for testing the LAN side firewall is nmap. As with the WAN side, every port that is open needs to be accounted for.
19	Outbound: Can the router create outgoing firewall rules? There are all sorts of attacks that can be blocked with outgoing firewall rules. Generally, consumer routers do not offer outbound firewall rules while business class routers do. In addition to blocking, it would be nice if the blocks were logged for auditing purposes. Note however, that devices connected to Tor or a VPN will not obey the outbound firewall rules.

For Network Switches

SL No	Guidance	Compliance
1	Check if the latest firmware is used.
2	Check the switch's user guide's for security features and see if the required ones have been implemented properly.
3	Create an Enable Secret Password Encrypt Passwords on the device
4	Use an external AAA server for User Authentication
5	Create separate local accounts for User Authentication Configure Maximum Failed Authentication Attempts
6	Restrict Management Access to the devices to specific IPs only
7	Enable Logging for monitoring, incident response and auditing. You can enable logging to an internal buffer of the device or to an external Log server.
8	Enable Network Time Protocol (NTP) - You must have accurate and uniform clock settings on all network devices in order for log data to be stamped with the correct time and timezone. This will help tremendously in incident handling and proper log monitoring and correlation.
9	Restrict and Secure SNMP Access

For Linux Servers

SL No	Guidance	Compliance
1	Update your package list and upgrade your OS
2	Remove unnecessary packages
3	Detect weak passwords with John the Ripper
4	Verify no accounts have empty passwords
5	Set password rules
6	Set password expiration in login.defs
7	Disable USB devices (for headless servers)
8	Check which services are started at boot time
9	Detect all world-writable files
10	Configure iptables to block common attacks
11	Set GRUB boot loader password
12	Disable interactive hotkey startup at boot
13	Enable audited to check for read/write events
14	Secure any Apache servers
15	Lock user accounts after failed attempts with Fail2Ban
16	Set root permissions for core system files
17	Keep watch for any users logging on under suspicious circumstances
18	In case of remote access activity: Make sure that the suspicious activity is flagged and documented
19	Make sure that the Suspected account privileges temporarily frozen
20	Make sure that there is a process in place for changing system configurations
21	Check that all system configuration changes are being recorded
22	Ensure start-up processes are configured correctly
23	Ensure regular users cannot change system startup configuration
24	Remove unused software and services
25	Review your server firewall security settings and make sure everything is properly configured
26	Make sure that membership to both the admin and superadmin group is restricted to as few users as Possible without causing any  problems

For Windows Servers

SL No	Guidance	Compliance
1	Install the latest service packs and hotfixes from Microsoft
2	Enable automatic notification of patch availability.
3	Set minimum password length.
4	Enable password complexity requirements.
5	Do not store passwords using reversible encryption. (Default)
6	Configure account lockout policy.
7	Restrict the ability to access this computer from the network to Administrators and Authenticated Users.
8	Do not grant any users the 'act as part of the operating system' right. (Default)
9	Restrict local logon access to Administrators.
10	Deny guest accounts the ability to logon as a service, batch job, locally or via RDP
11	Place the warning banner in the Message Text for users attempting to log on.
12	Disallow users from creating and logging in with Microsoft accounts.
13	Disable the guest account. (Default)
14	Require Ctrl+Alt+Del for interactive logins. (Default)
15	Configure machine inactivity limit to protect idle interactive sessions.
16	Require the "Classic" sharing and security model for local accounts. (Default)
17	Do not allow any shares to be accessed anonymously.
18	Restrict anonymous access to named pipes and shares. (Default)
19	Do not allow any named pipes to be accessed anonymously.
20	Do not allow everyone permissions to apply to anonymous users. (Default)
21	Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts and shares.
22	Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts. (Default)
23	Disable anonymous SID/Name translation. (Default)
24	Configure Microsoft Network Server to digitally sign communications if client agrees.
25	Configure Microsoft Network Server to always digitally sign communications.
26	Disable the sending of unencrypted passwords to third party SMB servers.
27	Configure Microsoft Network Client to digitally sign communications if server agrees. (Default)
28	Configure Microsoft Network Client to always digitally sign communications.
29	Allow Local System to use computer identity for NTLM.
30	Disable Local System NULL session fallback.
31	Configure allowable encryption types for Kerberos.
32	Do not store LAN Manager hash values.
33	Set LAN Manager authentication level to only allow NTLMv2 and refuse LM and NTLM.
34	Configure file system as well as registry permissions.
35	Ensure all volumes are using the NTFS file system.
36	Configure user rights to be as secure as possible: Follow the Principle of Least Privilege
37	Disable or uninstall unused services.
38	Configure log shipping (e.g. to Splunk).
39	Configure Event Log retention method and size.
40	Configure Policy Change audit policy & Privilege Use audit policy.
41	Configure Logon/Logoff audit policy.
42	Configure Account Management audit policy.
43	Configure the number of previous logons to cache.
44	Require strong (Windows 7 or later) session keys.
45	Configure machine inactivity limit to protect idle interactive sessions.
46	Digitally encrypt or sign secure channel data (always). (Default)
47	Configure Windows Firewall to restrict remote access services (VNC, RDP, etc.) to the organization VPN or only networks.
48	Configure the Windows Firewall in all profiles to block inbound traffic by default. (Default)
49	Enable the Windows Firewall in all profiles (domain, private, public). (Default)
50	Update and enable anti-spyware and antivirus software through Windows update.
51	Set the system date/time and configure it to synchronize against Organization time servers.
52	Disallow remote registry access if not required.
53	If RDP is utilized, set RDP connection encryption level to high.
54	Install software to check the integrity of critical operating system files.
55	Provide secure storage for Confidential (category-I) Data as required. Security can be provided by means such as, but not limited to, encryption, access controls, file system audits, physically securing the storage media, or any combination thereof as deemed appropriate.