I attended the 2012 ISC West show and came away convinced that while video surveillance has evolved as a centerpiece of our industry, we can do more to secure video from the emerging threat of cyber breaches. Today digital and physical theft is converging. Countermeasures involve video surveillance integrated with security applications, and the opportunity to protect video and data should not be overlooked by integrators and left solely to overburdened IT departments.
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Internet Protocol (IP) networking “expertise” and cloud computing knowledge are areas that propel video surveillance and integrated security solutions to the next level. Moving forward, protecting information — and video images — will favor cloud deployments, as cyber security upgrades are automatic and failover and redundancy are best practices.

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Andy Grove, former chairman and founder of Intel Corporation, is a technology visionary and referred to a major market disruption as a “strategic inflection point” by calling it a “10x change,” meaning that the magnitude of the change is 10 times that of the changes that the business has been accustomed to.
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The cyber crime problem is huge and involves many disciplines from across the information technology (IT) department, human resources, legal and traditional physical security. The threat vector is so vast that companies must collaborate more effectively internally to coordinate their defenses.
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This January I had appointments with leading firms to discuss cyber strategy. These included the largest IT company in the world, a multibillion-dollar intelligence security consultancy, and a global physical security firm completing a billion-dollar acquisition. All understand cybersecurity is a leading issue in the boardroom and represents a recurring revenue goldmine if they incorporate cyber consulting and information protection solutions into their deliverables.
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The race is on and innovative chief information officers (CIOs), chief security officers (CSOs), and chief information security officers (CISOs) are on the starting line watching the emerging technologies of social media, mobility, and cloud computing change their jobs, the marketplace, and the integrator channel.
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2011 saw the untimely death of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and as we recognized his many accomplishments, the full impact he left on the world is still hard to believe. While his loss will certainly reverberate across Apple Corporation and the tech industry as a whole, I wondered what message this visionary man left the security industry.
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The 2011 ASIS show was enjoyable as I explored new solutions and mingled with old friends. A number of consistent trends continue to impact global security in new ways as improved network bandwidth drives “big data” sets, requiring better situational awareness prior to downloading to intelligent mobile devices; securing those mobile end points is another matter for a future article.
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The security executive’s role in America continues to gain strength and visibility. Whether in the public or private sector, the intelligence community, academia or a critical infrastructure installation, “securing the business operation” is paramount.
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I recently attended the 2011 Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. I recommend more physical security integrators take part in this venue to better understand the converging nature of the security business. I don’t expect physical system integrators to leap into cybersecurity tomorrow, but, these vendors in the cybersecurity arena are making money, economy be damned. The response to my question, “How’s business?” ranged from “Excellent” to “Incredible.” Cybersecurity and cloud computing are the future of our “physical” security market, and these vendors are looking for partners.

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