Subscriber Discussion

Security At Target - A Rare Insider Tell All

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 28, 2014

I found this looking for info on Target's Dome Camera Placement.  It's from 2004 so Target has been able to remedy anything they felt needed fixing. Still it's quite a manifesto! Apologies if its been posted already. Here's a screenshot of the first page of camera stuff...

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 28, 2014

And here is the rest as far as cameras are concerned:

JH
John Honovich
Jun 28, 2014
IPVM

Loronix became Verint and that is from a long long time ago.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 28, 2014

...that is from a long long time ago.

Seriously John if you can read this thing and not learn anything about retail operations then I'm impressed! Are you saying you have seen it already? If your insinuation is that it's somehow not relevant because parts of it are outdated, e.g. VCR, multiplexers, I would ask: do you really think that the procedures have all changed in 10 years? And Target is fairly progressive, no? You think no one has systems like this anymore?  

In any case the reason I found it at all was looking up those mirrored domes in the other thread:

...never look up into these mirrors. They probably think they're hiding cameras or something

One thought might be maybe those mirrored domes are being used as mirrors, as well as cameras, maybe so a cashier can see someone coming up behind them before they open the till?

Or do you suppose they have gotten rid of all the mirrors from a long, long time ago and now use Google Glass instead? :)

JH
John Honovich
Jun 28, 2014
IPVM

The video surveillance portion is ancient history and I am concerned that anyone will mistakenly think this reflects their current practice.

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Carl Lindgren
Jun 28, 2014

2004 my friend! I suppose you could also read how casinos used agents on catwalks with one-way glass to observe gaming operations and infer that we all still use those catwalks - possibly now occupied by robots, LOL.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 28, 2014

Ok, I'll admit I didn't see it at first, but I am forced to accept your devious anachronistic analogy. For anyone who might have missed it:

Robots = PTZs

Catwalks = Drop Ceilings

One way glass = Mirrored Domes

Well done, Sir!

JH
Jim Hall
Jun 28, 2014
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Carl Lindgren
Jun 28, 2014

Uhhhh sure. Excellent deduction, my dear Watson Wilson <snicker>.

"In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically...Let me see if I can make it clearer. Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backwards, or analytically."

Sherlock Holmes

-A Study in Scarlet

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 30, 2014

Target actually has their own security forensics lab now. In fact the City of Minneaopolis and St. Paul police Departments use the Target Forensics lab to help solve crimes. I believe the FBI uses them also as it is one of the only rated labs in the world.

Target Retail is now Genetec (Started converting over 3 years ago) The last I knew, the majority of the cameras used in Target Retail are now Axis cameras.

Avatar
Ari Erenthal
Jun 30, 2014
Chesapeake & Midlantic

I've got a cardboard box full of long, rambling, poorly written .txt files with detailed instructions on phreaking, social engineering, and other Angry White Boy pastimes. This kind of thing really takes me back. I feel like I should be wearing a trenchcoat and drinking a Mountain Dew and reading this on a CRT monitor.

But, really, I'd be suprised if any of this was current.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 30, 2014

But, really, I'd be suprised if any of this was current.

And even if some of this decade decayed material was current, I'd be surprised if a certain retailer didn't deny it... ;)

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jul 01, 2014

Please allow me to make amends for the discussion with these apparently unauthorized dvr exports...

JH
John Honovich
Jul 01, 2014
IPVM

The subtitle of the video says "Some of my favorite clips from when I worked at Target."

Is this accurate?

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jul 01, 2014

Good catch. I know what you're thinking: Where's the rest of them? Probably should read "All" instead of "Some"... I sent a PM to Dillion, maybe we'll get lucky...

JH
Jim Hall
Jul 01, 2014

Who says you don't need fast frames in security? At the 7:00 mark see why Jay-Z was lucky not to be alone on that elevator..

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