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SSI Reports On Hikvision Being Expelled But Won’T Name Their Name

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Brian Karas
Feb 10, 2017
IPVM

In a summary of a Genetec press conference, SSI describes Genetec's move to expel Hikvision, but does not actually name Hikvision in their coverage:

Day one of presentations featured Genetec’s President and CEO, Pierre Racz, discussing how his company dropped compatibility with Chinese government-owned camera manufacturers.

Further, when quoting Genetec's CEO they show where they modified his quote, using the text "the cameras" as a generic reference:

“We’ve said very categorically, that we don’t support [the cameras] out of the box. You need a special license and for us to grant that license you need to sign a waiver that you will hold us harmless if those devices attack you or attack other people on the network.”

In an attempt to cover Genetec's event, without negatively mentioning Hikvision, their reader ultimately loses when they receive incomplete or inaccurate coverage of major industry events.

This is a good example of why IPVM does not accept advertising or manufacturer sponsorships, it allows us to report on events in detail, and not worry about losing advertisers.

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Michael Budalich
Feb 10, 2017
Genetec

Not surprised. Such misleading "journalism"

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U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 11, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Chinese government-owned camera manufacturers

Chinese government-owned camera manufacturer

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 11, 2017
IPVM

If that was not a typo / error, it was likely alluding to Huawei, whose government ownership / control is not as clear cut as Hikvision's.

U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 11, 2017
IPVMU Certified

If that was not a typo / error, it was likely alluding to Huawei, whose government ownership / control is not as clear cut as Hikvision's.

Perhaps, but since as far as I can tell, the Huawei cameras are Hik rebadges, (much like the also restricted Interlogix models), there is only one actual manufacturer.

Question on the Genetec statement:

We’ve said very categorically, that we don’t support [the cameras] out of the box. You need a special license and for us to grant that license you need...

Although I agree that the phrase "government-owned camera manufacturers" is but a spineless euphemism, do you think that the quote was actually:

We’ve said very categorically, that we don’t support Hikvision out of the box. 

Because Hikvision is not exactly a "category".

 

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Ethan Ace
Feb 11, 2017

Huawei makes a lot of their own cameras. I think there are some Hikvision OEMs on the lower end, but it's not the entire line. 

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FM
Fahad Mahboob
May 28, 2017

Most of the publications these days tend to be Press Release republishing outfits. I came across this article where the section discusses why Genetec discontinued support for HIKVision cameras and the link has been to the article has been deleted in a clear attempt to cover up earlier reporting.

No one is perfect, but coming clean about cyber issues should not be treated as a personal attack. It can be taken as an opportunity to explain what the flaw was and was it fixed or not. The article goes in circle about how what HIKVision is doing about it (including appointing a cybersecurity expert and R&D session).

JH
John Honovich
May 28, 2017
IPVM

The article goes in circle about how what HIKVision is doing about it

Fahad, recall that 'interview' was in February, a month before Hikvision acknowledged the 'privilege escalation' vulnerability which was confirmed as a backdoor earlier this month.

And has SSI or any of the trade publications covered that, including the DHS advisory? No.

It's self-censorship motivated by advertising revenue. 

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