On The Editor's Desk

Three days before privacy advocates rallied outside Madison Square Garden in support of New York City's proposed "Ban the Scan" legislation, I walked into the same venue to see Mumford & Sons.  Like thousands of other concertgoers that night, I passed signage informing guests that facial recognition technology may be used as part of the arena's security operations.  Most people barely seemed to notice. Yet just days later, that same technology became the focus of...

Some industry stories unfold over days or weeks. The separation of ADI and Resideo has been more than a year in the making.   On Aug. 4, that story came full circle as ADI began trading as an independent public company, bringing to fruition plans its president, Rob Aarnes, outlined to Security Systems News last summer.  The completion of the spin-off closes a chapter that began in July 2025, when Resideo  announced plans to separate ADI from...

If you’re like me, you’ve followed the sad tale of Nancy Guthrie, mother of “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie, an 84-year-old woman who was living her life and living it independently, right up until that was taken away from her this past February. With the release last week of two ransom notes, the Guthries are back in the news again. All these months later, no one has a clue who did this. What authorities, and the Guthries, are left with is black-and-white video footage...

Last week, Senior Editor Theresa Flaherty wrote a blog about accidentally leaving her keys hanging in the office door for several hours. Around the same time, NBC's “Today” show was tightening studio security procedures after an intruder bypassed security and entered a restricted area of Studio 1A.  While the two situations were vastly different in both severity and consequence, they share a common thread: access control is often most noticeable when it fails.  Fortunately,...

I recently left my keys dangling in the lock of our office door for several hours, an instance of absentmindedness that Editor Cory Harris pointed out was an access control failure. Every day at this strange new job provides an educational opportunity because, as I’ve quickly become aware, security is e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. I’m seeing it in TV shows. To be fair, cop shows are among my personal favorite, so yeah, Benson & Stabler are always looking for security video footage. I’m...

On Saturday night, I checked something off my bucket list: I finally saw “Weird Al” Yankovic perform live.  That may not sound like the beginning of a security industry lesson, but as I watched a performer who has remained relevant for more than 40 years, I couldn't help thinking about the companies and leaders that have achieved similar longevity in our industry.  As a longtime fan, the concert was everything I hoped it...

Three weeks ago, while enjoying a glass of wine at the elegant marble bar of a restaurant, I found myself listening to the anxiety of the 19-year-old server asking for help uncorking a pricy bottle for a table that had requested “bottle service.” She was terrified of breaking the cork halfway (but then, aren’t we all?). The bartender loosened the cork enough so that the server would be able to pull it out with a flourish for her table with no one the wiser. That very same...

Independence Day may be synonymous with fireworks, parades and patriotic celebrations, but for the security industry, it is also a reminder of the responsibility that comes with protecting large public gatherings and critical community assets. As America commemorates its 250th anniversary, Allied Universal CEO Steve Jones recently highlighted the importance of service and civic responsibility - values that resonate deeply with security professionals working to keep communities safe every day. In...

Another week, another industry report - and another reminder that the biggest risks in security are often the ones organizations think they’ve already solved. The latest research from the FIDO Alliance and HID doesn’t just highlight weaknesses in enterprise identity security - it exposes a fundamental disconnect between what organizations believe is happening and what actually is not. And that gap is wider than many may expect. On the surface, the numbers are reassuring. In the...

I’m always fascinated by the number of reports tracking where the industry is headed — and how the public perceives these increasingly relevant topics. What’s becoming clear, however, is that when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI)-driven surveillance, the conversation isn’t about acceptance or rejection - it’s about limits. The Public Safety & Privacy Benchmark from LiveView Technologies (LVT), conducted by The Harris Poll, makes one thing clear right...