Axis: Technological trends that will affect the security sector in 2021

The events that have occurred in recent months have changed our way of life, work practices and business operations. Axis analyzes in this article what the trends will be this year in terms of security, shaped by how and why technology will be used and the associated implications.

It is useful to first look back, when looking forward: retrospection has a wonderful way of providing context for future-looking observation activity. And when looking back over the past year, a pointless activity could be trying to predict the future.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had taken hold in Asia before the end of 2019, pocos habrían predicho el enorme impacto que tendría en todo el mundo a lo largo de 2020. En un corto espacio de tiempo, nuestra forma de vida, prácticas de trabajo y operaciones comerciales se pusieron al revés. Las restricciones de viaje, las normas de distanciamiento social, el aumento de los requisitos de higiene y la presión ejercida sobre los servicios de salud afectaron al sector de la seguridad.

In Axis Communications hemos visto, el impacto que ha tenido en nuestro propio negocio y fuerza de trabajo -con la salud y seguridad de los empleados a la vanguardia-, también vimos surgir nuevos casos de uso para la tecnología y soluciones de seguridad, además de nuevas formas de trabajo, que continuarán hasta el 2021 y más allá.

However, el avance tecnológico continúa y, As we have seen in recent years, instead of announcing the emergence of entirely new technologies, the trends we see for 2021 are shaped by how and why technologies are used, and the associated implications.

Trust as a priority

There are many factors that contribute to maintaining trust, and the technology sector is under scrutiny now more than ever. Customers and end users are demanding transparency around how technology is used and how data is managed, especially with the increase in surveillance. This, along with the need to maintain privacy, will be a key challenge.

The renewal of debates around trust will directly impact the way organizations in all sectors actively demonstrate why they are trustworthy. Due to its nature, the security sector will be under even greater pressure to double its efforts in this area.

The world moves horizontally

In recent years, applications and services have been largely designed for specific environments, whether server-based, in the cloud, or at the edge. Driven by the desire to achieve optimal performance, scalability, and flexibility, along with the benefits of accessing and using data anytime and anywhere, Next year will see momentum toward horizontal integration between environments.

Increasingly intelligent applications and services will be deployed across the three instances - server, cloud, and edge- leveraging the best capabilities of each, improving solution performance and efficiency. For example, Edge analytics on a surveillance camera could potentially send a message to an operator with an alert, The operator would then access the live video feed through a cloud-based application to verify and respond.

This shift to a 'horizontal' approach will increase the speed and accuracy of security and surveillance, moving from a reactive approach to a proactive one, manual and automated, while reducing bandwidth, energy and cost.

Cybersecurity

That horizontal integration will only increase attention paid to robust cybersecurity - a chain, after all, is only as strong as its weakest link- and the constant evolution of the threat landscape underpins its relevance year after year.
Due to the possibility of obtaining high financial benefits and disrupting essential infrastructure, new capabilities will continue to emerge, tactics and threats that will require constant vigilance.

Artificial Intelligence will be employed by cybercriminals as much as in any other sector, enhancing their ability to find and exploit vulnerabilities.

Las falsificaciones profundas se volverán aún más sofisticadas y realistas, lo que podría poner en duda las pruebas de vigilancia por vídeo. Consequently, será necesario seguir desarrollando métodos para verificar el contenido, los dispositivos y las aplicaciones a fin de mantener la confianza en su autenticidad.

Los avances en la ciberdelincuencia también se extenderán a métodos probados y reales, que serán más difíciles de detectar. As a result, los empleados serán aún más susceptibles a este tipo de ataques y se necesitará, como siempre, una educación constante y recordatorios de las mejores prácticas en materia de ciberseguridad.

Traditionally, la ciberseguridad se ha basado en un modelo de ‘perímetro’, en el que la red está protegida por una única pared, esperemos que impenetrable, compuesta por cortafuegos, VPNs/VLANs, air-gaps, redes definidas por software y otras tecnologías. Pero este modelo es desafiado, y una sola brecha puede resultar en que toda la red se vea comprometida.

Therefore, se acelerará el paso a las redes de confianza cero, en las que se evalúa de forma independiente el perfil de seguridad de cada dispositivo y aplicación. La confianza se entregará a través de la comunicación de dispositivo a dispositivo y/o de aplicación a aplicación mediante un firmware firmado, actualizaciones de software, secure boot, datos/vídeo cifrados e identidad segura. Puede parecer una acusación de la época en que vivimos, but the only way to trust the security of something is to trust nothing.

The reality of AI

AI has been talked about for so long that some might question its validity as a trend. But with machine learning (ML) and learning-based techniques, now widely available in surveillance technology, the implications of its use will be a factor in 2021.

There are now concrete examples of several use cases of AI in surveillance, but as seen in other sectors (For example, autonomous vehicle accidents) the positive impact of AI can be outweighed by attention to specific failures. Narratives tend to focus on automation errors, and without a doubt this will also be the case in the surveillance sector.

However, this should not act as a deterrent and the positive cases of potential use of machine learning and deep learning in surveillance should not be overlooked. For example, the use of these capabilities on edge devices can help identify objects and reduce false positives. As a result, security experts can move to a proactive, event-based way of working, instead of continuous manual surveillance.

Low- or no-contact technologies

Regulations, standards and consumer habits established during this year will be common in 2021. Technology will support the way supervision and enforcement are carried out, driven by hygiene concerns and social distancing.

As a result, the implementation of little or no-contact technologies, especially in areas such as access control, will increase. Besides, surveillance solutions with people-counting capabilities will become the norm, to ensure compliance with social distancing rules.

Reimagining sustainability

One of the concerns during the pandemic has been that attention to the environment and sustainability has decreased. Several major environmental incidents have brought these debates to the forefront, and it is expected that 2021 sustainability will regain its position as a primary area of concern.

Los materiales utilizados en los productos y su duración siguen siendo dos de las áreas más impactantes en las que el sector de la vigilancia puede impulsar los beneficios ambientales. Si bien se han dado pasos importantes para reducir el uso de plásticos y PVC en los productos y aumentar el nivel de utilización de materiales reciclados y reciclables, se pueden hacer más progresos.

Además de los materiales utilizados en los productos, la duración de los mismos será un factor crítico para la toma de decisiones de los clientes. Es mucho mejor para el medio ambiente, y para la economía, especificar un producto de alta calidad con una larga vida útil prevista, que uno que requiere ser reemplazado después de unos pocos años.

Está claro que las predicciones deben tomarse en poca cantidad, y los acontecimientos de 2020 demostraron por sí solos los riesgos de tratar de predecir con exactitud los acontecimientos futuros. However, las tendencias descritas anteriormente son, creemos, lo suficientemente amplias como para aplicarse incluso en el contexto de un entorno turbulento.

Lo que seguirá siendo cierto es que los períodos de incertidumbre subrayan la necesidad de agilidad y de un enfoque abierto para la resolución de problemas, cualquiera que sea el futuro.