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Of cards, crackdowns and CCTV

When it comes to card technology for access control, there are technologies that have been hacked and prove easy to hack, and there are other technologies claiming to be unhackable and therefore more secure for your organisation. The reality is somewhat different as getting around card access has just become a tad easier.

One of the latest apps (applications in old-fashioned speak) for mobile devices is a little gem called Caribou, designed for Android phones. It allows you to bypass cardkey access controls by simply typing in the IP address of the device. The software then unlocks all the available doors in the sequence for a set period of time, allowing anyone entry and exit without needing a card.

You can see the video at www.cybersecurityguy.com/caribou.html. The ‘cybersecurityguy’ is obviously not an expert at video production, but the power of this app is clearly visible from the video on the site. In case you were wondering, I would say cards are dead.

Crackdown, at last

People in the local security industry have been complaining about the unregistered cowboys for years. It seems the Security Industry Alliance’s (SIA’s) efforts to enforce the law with respect to registration is delivering the goods as a bunch of companies have recently been suspended for operating illegally and a few people were arrested. Now that we have the authorities doing their bit, perhaps it is time for the end-user companies to do theirs and ensure any security companies hired for any purposes are registered with PSIRA.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions will delve a little deeper into these issues in future issues.

CCTV Handbook 2011

Have you got your very own CCTV Handbook 2011? It was shipped with this issue of Hi-Tech Security Solutions. If yours has been grabbed by someone else, please e-mail justin@technews.co.za and ask for your own copy. It provides an

in-depth look into the world of surveillance, looking at topics such as thermal cameras, video analytics, hybrid technology and much more through insight, opinion and case studies.

Do not miss it.

As always, your opinions and suggestions concerning any of the above or the contents of this issue are more than welcome. Send them to andrew@technews.co.za.

Andrew Seldon, editor

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