A whitepaper published by Synectics illustrates the importance of critical infrastructure protection and wide-area situational awareness, as critical infrastructure provides the essential services that underpin our society and are the unseen backbone to each nation state's health, security and economy.
A whitepaper published by Synectics illustrates the importance of critical infrastructure protection and wide-area situational awareness, as critical infrastructure provides the essential services that underpin our society and are the unseen backbone to each nation state's health, security and economy.
Critical infrastructure is not something at the forefront of the public consciousness, yet it facilitates our everyday lives. Should access to critical services be cut off, society would quickly shut down and without food, power, communications and water, our civilized way of life would cease to function.
Natural disasters, criminal activity and increasingly hostile attacks designed specifically to cause disruption, all have the potential to significantly damage the critical infrastructure that a country or continent depends upon. Making sure the right safeguards are in place to protect individual assets is vitally important and requires the right systems and tools to facilitate collaboration with public bodies. It’s a task that is increasingly fulfilled through intelligently integrated surveillance.
What is intelligent integration?
Traditionally, security systems used to protect critical infrastructure assets have been implemented and managed separately. However as threats to critical infrastructure have evolved, so has the technology designed to guard against them in terms of both what it can do and how it is used. A holistic approach is increasingly becoming a favored strategy for those involved in critical asset protection.
Site systems that can be integrated include:
- Access control
- Intruder detection
- Communications
- Virtual perimeter tripwires
- Cameras – fixed, PTZ, analogue or IP, thermal and multi-spectral (color, mono, thermal, explosion proof)
- Emergency incident alarms
- Public help points
- Building management systems
- Microwave sensors
- Fire, smoke, temperature and hazardous fume alarms
Intelligent integration takes this concept to the next level and involves utilizing command and control software to not only collate the data, but analyze it as well.
Incidents, anomalies or meter reading deviations (e.g. gas levels, light levels or temperatures), from any number of sub-systems and from multiple geographical locations, can be identified and cross referenced against set parameters. This effectively enables operators to differentiate between meaningless events and meaningful situations that require further investigation or response.
Effective protection for critical assets is often based on decision processes. Feeding the most accurate data into that system is the best way to ensure decisions are based on facts, not assumptions.
As all systems are integrated into a single unified platform this ensures that any action is also logged and married with the appropriate data-set. If necessary, evidence is recorded and stored in case of prosecution. A comprehensive audit trail is also available which can be used for training purposes and future infrastructure protection planning.
The future of critical infrastructure surveillance
The integration opportunities discussed are not future gazing or theoretical. They are available now and are already being implemented by organizations across the globe. All those responsible for critical infrastructure, particularly in countries experiencing infrastructure-led growth, have an important opportunity to take advantage of technology in order to safeguard their vital assets and make the towns and cities they serve safer.
Customization is key and that can only come when software suppliers work in partnership with integrators and end users. Command and control solutions can be configured to deliver integrations and workflows that meet exacting requirements, but tailoring to that level requires a thorough understanding of needs. ‘Off-the-shelf’ in the world of critical infrastructure protection simply will not deliver desired results.
Technology is only part of the equation. Understanding the needs of the customer and developing partnerships with industry leaders will enable the intelligent integrations that can truly revolutionize the way critical infrastructure protection professionals work.