Blogs

Safe to say that ISC West 2024 came up all 7s. Sorry, had to use some slot machine terminology as Las Vegas was the center of the security universe for the largest industry show of the year. It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic, and I’m sure my quartet of Security Systems News colleagues who joined me in Vegas – Ken Showers, Brad Durost, Acasia Gardner and Christina Throndson – would echo that sentiment. Boy, was that show floor packed to the gills or what? We...

I’m writing this after completing the first leg of my journey towards ISC West 2024, and I can safely say that “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult is the best road song of all time. What are some good runners up you might ask? “Roundabout” by Yes, and “Last Train Home” by Pat Metheny for sure. Late night drive? “No Sleep till Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys, easily answered questions. What might not be an easily answered question is what programming...

As we all prepare for ISC West next week, one man who sadly will not be in Las Vegas will instead be honored for his years of dedication to his company and the security industry as a whole. Paul Ahern was the longtime CEO of Cypress Integration Solutions who passed away in January 2023 after a battle with liver and pancreatic cancer. Paul’s presence at industry shows - including ISC West and Security Systems News’ own SecurityNext conference - demonstrated his commitment to not...

This week we’re talking about a subject near and dear to my heart, well, near at least if you count proximity. That’s right, we’re discussing the recent semiconductor investment in Arizona. I usually go to the well to find the most current security topics for my blogs, but things dry up the closer you get to a major industry show since everyone wants to play their cards close to their chests. I think the major semiconductor news isn’t too long in the tooth, however....

I’m sure we’ve all done self-checkout at a grocery store to save time, rather than stand behind shoppers in line with literally a cartful of items. But how about self-checkout at an airport? You’re probably saying, “What? How is that possible?” Well, folks, a new technology was recently unveiled at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, featuring a screening system designed for travelers who do not want to wait on long lines at airport security checkpoints....

A dozen lawsuits later and it sounds like Airbnb has finally put the kibosh on indoor security cameras in its policies. I’m not an aficionado of the rental properties lifestyle but I suppose I assumed that it was, at the very least, frowned upon beforehand to install security cameras indoors at places like this. Obviously, bathrooms and bedrooms were already a no-go but having a bunch of Norman Bates’ peeping on tenants while having a somewhat ambiguous policy on indoor surveillance...

The return of dreaded continuity. I swear that three is our lucky number and this will be the last time I discuss ransomware in this space, at least for a little while. BlackCat/ALPHV is apparently falling apart this week if you’ve been following that story closely. The official word is that they stole the $22 million payment from UnitedHealthcare and collectively ghosted the world. Which, you know, that money is kind of already stolen? I mean, that’s what blackmail basically is, guys....

Oh man, I really don’t like doing the same topic two weeks in a row, but we have to talk about ransomware again. It should be about the ADT webcast, but we’ll save that one for next week, as a treat. Instead, today we’re going to take our medicine and I get to say I told you so while discussing the ransomware attack on UnitedHealthcare by BlackCat. You’ll remember BlackCat (ALPHV) because we’ve covered it before, but also because in this very blog spot last week I...

This week international members of law enforcement patted themselves on the back for slaying the proverbial dragon of LockBit, but in reality, it’s just one head of the Hydra. I don’t mean to lessen or downplay that accomplishment either. This has been a serious blow to global cybercriminal activity and a victory against destabilizing actions taken by politically aligned criminal organizations (because let’s not pretend the ransomware gangs are largely state sponsored)....

It’s Valentine's Day and I’d love to mention that I have a sweetheart of a topic to share this week, but I’m sorry to say it’s left me a little brokenhearted. Since the beginning of February, I’ve been watching a lot of Q4 2023 reports roll out and while we can still safely call it the year of AI, it’s also the year of the residential security market falling flat on its face. I talked about this a bit in my last blog post where I discussed ADT...