Security

While most building owners don?t want to think about it, commercial buildings, newsrooms, concert venues, and other highly-populated areas are established targets for mass shootings, making security and surveillance the utmost priority in public places. The number of mass shootings incidents in the U.S. climbed to a whopping 262 yesterday according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive.

Now entrepreneurs Sonny Tai and Ben Ziomek, co-founders of Aegis AI?, are using machine learning to solve this problem. The company has developed video surveillance software which uses artificial intelligence to detect firearms through security camera feeds to warn building occupants of dangerous intruders and automatically dispatch notifications to law enforcement.

Tai, who grew up in South Africa, told In-Building Tech in an interview that he has been deeply impacted by the incidence of gun violence both South Africa and in the U.S. While attending an intruder training for school teachers, Tai heard one of the trainers mention that there was a need for security cameras to identify guns or knives automatically. The idea clicked, and Tai says he got to work immediately on the project.

The company?s co-founder noted that its software is designed to detect ?gun in hand? not concealed weapons and says it can dramatically reduce response time and provide situational awareness to first responders during an attack.

?The average mass shooting takes 12.5 minutes, yet it takes law enforcement 18 minutes on average to respond. By eliminating delays and delivering accurate information to first responders during a shooting our technology can improve the outcomes in emergency situations,? said Tai.

?The most terrifying thing for a law enforcement officer is entering a building knowing there are armed intruders inside but not knowing where or how many there are,? Tai added.

Aegis AI?s algorithm can identify a gun within the first five seconds with 98% accuracy and was trained using more than 30,000 images of guns and knives from the web and through the company’s own database which includes images in diverse lighting and other scenarios.

Once the software identifies an intruder, the information is verified by a human analyst and text alerts are sent to building owners and other parties identified on the roster.

Aegis AI has been described as a game-changer in the proptech sector by MetaProp, a leading early-stage proptech investment and advisory firm that has provided $2 billion in funding to more than 90 companies in the sector.

?Being a part of the MetaProp accelerator has enabled us to put our software in front of building and property owners where it can make a massive impact,? Tai said.

The company?s software costs approximately $20 per security camera per month and does not require any additional sensors, or hardware and sits on top of existing video management software (VMS) systems through an open API.

?For a building with 100 cameras our technology is $2,000 a month or $24,000 a year which is more cost effective than having a salaried security guard which can cost $60,000 a year,? said Tai

Aegis AI is currently integrated with the Milestone VMS, and the company says it’s in the works of partnering with Genetec and other providers.

Aegis AI plans to deploy its software in five schools in Chicago and Seattle in the next few months and is also working with Haneda, Tokyo?s International Airport, to develop a computer vision detection system for guns and knives ahead of the 2020 Olympic games.

Cloud-based building management systems, IoT devices, and remote mobile connectivity are rapidly transforming today?s facilities and security management ecosystem in the commercial real estate sector saving valuable time in the event of an emergency by placing ?human sensors? in the field. For property owners and managers, commercial building security, both physical and cyber, is an increasingly important aspect of day-to-day operations.

A recent Gartner report estimates 70% of all software interactions will occur on mobile devices, by 2022. ?As mobile use becomes more integrated into daily roles across multiple industries, remote access is becoming a more significant part of building security and management.

Many commercial building security systems include surveillance, alarms and other technologies to ensure tenant safety; the deployment of cloud-based platforms and the Internet of Things (IoT), in-building security systems have evolved to offer remote access monitoring capabilities which provide access building systems from virtually anywhere. These technologies are vastly changing the nature of building facility management and improving security in many ways.

Immediate access to commercial building security threats

Due to the size and nature of building and facility management, it is becoming more essential to have human or building security staff in the field. ?Now, through the deployment of IoT devices and remote monitoring local teams can consistently check on different aspects of building safety and perform their jobs far more efficiently. The primary benefit of remote monitoring is the ability for building staffers to be on the move and address multiple issues in real-time rather than having staff stationed in a control room during an emergency.

Cloud-based BMS improve response time in emergency

Cloud-based building management systems are providing today?s facilities with access to mass messaging, video monitoring, intrusion detection and alarms, visitor management, and building management operations ? ?all from one user interface.

Having a fully integrated security system enables first responders to save lives and manage an emergency situation more effectively. In the case of a fire or a hostile intruder, first responders can better assess which building assets are operating correctly to implement a viable evacuation plan for occupants.

The ability to observe what is happening throughout the building and remotely controlling its elevators, locked doors and exits can be crucial in emergency situations.

Remote access eliminating labor costs

These technologies are significantly reducing the labor and workforce costs involved in operating and maintaining a physical security infrastructure. Rather than monitoring security situations from a control room, ?teams can remain visible throughout the facility while they watch real-time information through their devices.

This enables security professionals to make more explicit decisions about whether to dispatch and what staff is required to manage emergency situations and leads faster responses to security issues from anywhere.

In many cases, these systems eliminate the need to dispatch a technician to assess a situation and resolves issues such as property access for tenants and disabled or broken badges can be fixed with incurring additional labor costs. Further, these remote access solutions give end-user customers a greater ability to perform day-to-day tasks remotely.

The immediate benefits of enabling remote work and monitoring security systems result in significant labor and cost savings.

Building owners must remain cognizant of the growing need for implementing safety systems that enable secure, quick and efficient access to buildings and their networks by first responders and importance of keeping controls in the palm of their hands.

IoT is key to building efficiency, but cybersecurity has to be addressed

While the buildings we work and live in are getting better, smarter, and more connected as we speak, they are also becoming exponentially more vulnerable to cyber attacks, which means cybersecurity measures are a must for modern buildings.?

Only a few years ago, commercial buildings consisted of isolated building management systems that typically used simple controls to monitor heating and air conditioning, elevators and lighting systems.

Today demand for better occupant experiences and energy efficiency are generating state-of-the-art commercial spaces that provide everything from smart grid-connected solar installations to reduce energy costs, programmable LED lighting solutions aimed at improving worker productivity, sophisticated AV solutions for management teams to communicate and facial recognition technology to grant access to restricted spaces.

A staggering range of new internet of things (IoT) devices and applications are required for these components to connect and communicate with one another to achieve the operational and functional efficiencies in today?s building management systems.

A report by?analysis firm Gartner estimates enterprise spending on IoT security solutions worldwide will reach $1.5 billion in 2018, a 28% increase compared with last year. By 2021, security spending in IoT will more than double to $3.1 billion.

While enterprise executives are aware of the heightened cybersecurity risks and spending money to find solutions, they are struggling to implement proper protocols to prevent security breaches.

A recent survey by Ponemon Institute, an independent research firm specializing in security policy, found that 81% of corporate governance executives expect a data breach caused by an unsecured IoT device to occur in the next 24 months.

However, only 28% indicated that they include IoT-related risk as part of their third-party due diligence.

More than half of respondents said they have contractual agreements to mitigate third-party IoT risk, but only 26% reported that they have a method of proactively assessing these risks.

“Most organizations don’t realize how easy it is for a virus to enter into their systems. It can be as simple as someone log-in into their wifi or through third-party equipment like a vending machine,” ?said?Richard Kaun vice president of industrial protection at cybersecurity firm Verve.

For this reason, building owners and plant operators should prioritize cybersecurity the same way that they prioritize safety Kaun says.

“Cybersecurity is often overlooked because you can?t calculate the ROI until a breach actually occurs,? Kaun said.

Part of the problem is a gap in the ways that ?IT and OT sectors deal with security. ?Existing off-the-shelf IT products are not made for building automation systems which require customized solutions based on size, scale, and use, experts say.

?You can?t just slap cybersecurity technology into the industrial plant and commercial building environments,” according to Kaun. “While IT is all about confidentiality, integrity, and availability,?in the OT environment, operations are most important.? IT firms must work with plant operators in the OT side to create a viable cybersecurity plan and implement protocols which prioritize securing the most important aspects of their business which usually is to get the plant up and returned to normal, safe, expected operation as quickly as possible.?

Integrating a variety of stakeholders with the proper expertise is one of the most effective ways to navigate the increasingly complex cybersecurity risk landscape.

Components of a cybersecurity plan

Since the main priority for building owners is to get systems back up and running again, they should focus on three critical things: white-listing, or having an inventory of connected devices, securing backup capabilities, and a process for identifying and fixing the offense.

“Incorporating an alerting system which can immediately notify staff in the case of a breach is essential?having a plan in place to deal with the breach that?will define your chances of a quick recovery,” Kaun said.

Building and plant owners should create a white list or identify devices to be checked in the case of a?security breach. Generating a record not only helps to devise a plan for blocking access points but it also helps security teams know where to look in the case of a breach

A white list enables the security team to identify all IP-connected devices which could allow malware and other security threats to infiltrate surveillance systems and gain access to cameras, elevator controls, gates, and building power systems to retrieve sensitive data.

Having a secure plan for getting up and running as soon as possible is critical to recovering from a cybersecurity breach, especially for buildings and plants where even a brief outage can cause millions in damages.

?A minute or hour of downtime can costs commercial building and industrial plants massive losses. Many don?t know where to start and their challenge how to plan proper protocols without compromising efficiency,? Kaun said.

A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve often used to fix security vulnerabilities and other bugs.

A proper patching protocol can help to secure the environment and get things up and running more quickly while eliminating the root entry point of the breach.

There?s no way to prevent a cyber attack 100% of the time, but a good security plan should entail procedures and protocols that outline how often white lists and back-up processes should be updated and checked.

The IIoT agreement will allow Yorkland?s customers to have access to IoTium?s NaaS solution

California-based IoTium, a network infrastructure company for the industrial internet of things (IIoT), has expanded its presence in Canada through a strategic distribution alliance with Yorkland Controls, a provider of control systems and solutions.

Under this new agreement, Yorkland Controls will now offer the IoTium Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) solution as part of the firm?s portfolio of building automation systems (BAS) products. These solutions enable customers to remotely securely connect multiple commercial buildings with an array of sub-systems to the full range of applications that reside in public, private and hybrid clouds or datacenters.

The IoTium NaaS solution will enable Yorkland?s customers to gain insights into the performance of their buildings.

?The Canadian building automation market is eager to embrace the benefits of IIoT but has been slowed by concerns related to security and deployment complexities,? said Gerry Cellucci, vice president of Yorkland Controls. ?By adding the IoTium NaaS solution to our product portfolio, we?re enabling our customers and partners to overcome the barriers to IIoT adoption and securely deploy and manage a wide range of services for diverse building automation systems with the single click of a mouse.?

?This alliance with Yorkland Controls gives us a direct line to support their customer base in adopting next generation building automation technologies,? said Ron Victor, founder and CEO of IoTium.

The two companies said that the IoTium NaaS solution is immediately available to Yorkland Controls? customers and partners.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, IoTium is backed by GE Ventures, March Capital, The Fabric and Juniper Networks. The company?s patented technology enables a network as a service (NaaS) solution to connect legacy onsite systems to cloud-based applications, allowing building and industrial automation, oil and gas, manufacturing, transportation, and smart city industries to take advantage of the Industry 4.0.