CCTV Surveillance for your business or residence is already installed; now, how should you ensure utmost safety?
We are inarguably deploying the best CCTV surveillance systems for our business, approaching the most popular vendors for the CCTV installations. The strategic locations are all identified, the ideal choice of the CCTV cameras are made; nevertheless, the security breaches are still rampant. Rather than viewing the footages to pin the intruders, preventing the crimes and catching them red-handed helps in controlling the increasing crime rate. We have shared below the common blunders which should be replaced by the best practices for maximum results with CCTV surveillance for businesses. At Techno Edge Systems, we offer top services for CCTV surveillance for business Dubai, and for the domestic use.
How to make the most of CCTV surveillance for Businesses in Dubai?
First and foremost, it is ideal to check with your CCTV surveillance service provider if the opted CCTV surveillance system for your business is traditional DVR/NVR/VMS with remote access or cloud-based VSAAS. For the cloud-based security system, though the physical devices are present on-site, the recording is managed at the cloud level. For employing the best practices, understanding the CCTV security system is of utmost importance
- Lack of training among the staff: Though the CCTV cameras are all placed at the right location for the best viewing angle, however, with the employees blocking the view of the CCTV cameras will not help anyone.
How to Fix:
The best practice should be that the employees are trained and informed beforehand to avoid obstructing in the viewing angle on the CCTV cameras to restrict mishaps.
Also, if your CCTV surveillance system supports real-time viewing then the staff should be trained for regular monitoring of the screens.
- Easy-to-hack-passwords: Most of the CCTV surveillance cameras installed use web-based graphical user interfaces for setting the usernames and password to control the systems. However, it is estimated that most of the users fail to reset the credentials and leave the default settings as it is. With this background, the hackers needn’t struggle much to hack to trivial passwords like ‘123456’ or ‘psswd’ or ‘abc123’, and so on. With very few cameras having the option to disable the GUIs, and with the cameras often available on the shared network;the hackers are taking advantage by hacking into the system.
How to Fix:
The best practice should be to develop long, tough passwords which are far from being evident. For a public network, each camera should be assigned with different, difficult passwords; whereas the private or a VLAN, a common, tough password for all the cameras can be set.
- Vulnerability due to Internet Access: Many of the users of the CCTV surveillance systems prefer remote mobile access for real-time viewing; however, connecting the DVR/NVR to the internet can be dangerous. It basically gives leeway to the hackers to step in and access the footages.
How to Fix:
The best practice for a traditional DVR/NVR surveillance system is to ensure the least number of ports forwarding when connecting to the internet is inevitable. For port forwarding, the technicians will configure specific ports for DVR when routing to the mobile devices through the internet for remote access. Further, using the modern firewalls in tandem will help in analyzing the protocols sent over the wrong ports.
As far as the cloud-based surveillance footages to accessed, there is no such thing as port forwarding; hence there is no scope for vulnerability.
- Sharing Network Topology: Mixing the CCTV camera network with the standard network is the common mistake the vendors make which highly compromises the entire network security. Due to this mistake, the hackers easily gain access to the main network or sometimes instigate a virus attack.
How to Fix:
The best practice is keeping a separate physical or VLAN for a security system.
- Out of Date Operating System: All security camera systems have an OS which can cause vulnerability to the security system. Though the security system manufacturers are providing the security updates on a constant basis for with the Windows-based or Linux-based CCTV security setup the vendors are not being immaculate in forwarding them to the users.
How to Fix:
The users and the vendors should make sure all the systems are up-to-date with the security patches installed promptly. Next important measure is to set the OS passwords to avoid cyber attacks.
While there are many important measures be employed to maximize the safety through CCTV surveillance at businesses, like encrypting the video footages, equipment storage, etc; avoiding the above-mentioned blips can help overcome the security system lapses at the businesses.
For CCTV surveillance services for businesses in Dubai, contact +971-54-4653108 or visit our website www.cctvinstallationdubai.ae.