Axis: "It’s A Question Of Trust And Who You Want To Be Associated With"

If you're looking for a one time sale, lower pricing rules the day.  If you are a company built on repeat business and referrals, then sales are built on Trust.  

"The end customer is not aware of "prestigious" brand or "no name". He doesn´t know the names of typical camera manufacturers anyway." that comment could not be more wrong. 

I would think any large end user dealing with a system of more than a hundred cameras (maybe even less) or even one that has more than five years experience in the industry not only knows brands, but also knows more than most trunk slammers (and obviously some manufacturers) when it comes to camera brands. 

Not sure how many end users like me are on here, but whatever the number it would obviously surprise you.

I tell the end users that I meet to do their own 'due diligence'. I appreciate that not everything on the web is true (really it isn't lol) or exaggerated, bit like reading Tripadvisor reviews where somebody decimates a 5 star hotel because the ketchup wasn't Heinz, but in general good info about a product, it's origin and past 'issues' is available and a lot of it thanks to IPVM.

We are only starting to enter the era of trust

before just a black box recording video images

now we have moved to ai (artificial intelligence)

large teams at hik dahua focused on delivering ai with no fundamental standards

you previously wrote hik installed at military airbase

with ai they will know

who the senior military are

and when they are at the base

Trust as I stated many time is the

key factor when dahua hik run a business like the film minority report 

heaven help

the

world

This is really an issue about trust (competence, culture, commitment and execution), throughout the supply chain, and the word trust itself is really loaded.

(I'm not writing this as a fan of Hik)

When we install IP cameras at customer sites, all cameras are on their own dedicated VLAN and they're not permitted to communicate to the public Internet. So anything security concerns related to the camera itself falls away. Our customers are so price-sensitive that we have a near-impossible task of convincing them to go with anything higher priced than Hik.

I really like Axis, and Avigilon (we're Canadian) and would love for Hik to not be an option (for the sole reason I supporting a non-North American company).

This is my second post on IPVM. I totally understand the concerns that Hik brings (I think!), and I wanted to ask: in a network that's properly setup using best practices, is there still a security concern I'm missing?

Axis' approach to win the market over by talking "trust" feels a lot like Blackberry talking about how important security and encryption is in their handsets. iPhones security was "good enough" for most... and they came with a camera.

My point is: if a customer achieves what they want with Hik (feature parity, image quality, good enough network security, much lower price) then can Axis beat them by arguing about trust? For customers with deep pockets who won't compromise on security, maybe, but everybody else? I'm not sure.

With hik and dahua introducing so many new functions like ai and analytics return to site visits be more like 5 times a week

if cloud based it would have a chance 

throw in viewing remotely via an app

and all those horrible insecurities bubble up

intresting customers discuss in this forum 

only deal with high end customers with controlled networks this isn’t the norm for 90 percent of installs

any multi site customers want central viewing 

they need to improve security never being on the internet is a fantasy

In my opinion there can be no trust with the products manufactured in China.  This is not a racial or nationalist reason, it's technological.  They've proven time and again that they are not up to speed with the current demands for network (IoT) security in the devices that they make, either they can't do it, or just won't.  Almost all of the DVRs, NVRs and IP cameras coming from the major chinese manufacturers share a common component, the HiSilicon processor running it. 

I would suspect that HiSilicon delivers this processor along with a pre-built embedded BusyBox Linux OS for the manufacturers to put their DVR/NVR/IP camera program on top of.  Everything I've seen of this underlying OS is that security is not a concern, if it was then we wouldn't be seeing devices in 2018 still utilizing FTP and Telnet when these protocols were archaic and unsafe to use in 2005! 

Add to that the fact that no effort seems to be spent in developing for modern interfaces.  Can your device be accessed with a browser other than Internet Explorer, or does the CMS software from the manufacturer still utilize C++ runtime installation libraries from 2010?  Have you seen any development or efforts to implement 2 factor authentication or secure protocols from these manufacturers?

The overall attitude seems to be "it's good enough for the price point", but this shouldn't be allowed to fly in this day and age.  Security is the responsibility of the manufacturer above all and the lack of effort being put forth by them in this realm is ludicrous.  We're running full speed to the edge of the cliff with these devices and the only thought seems to be "how many more can I sell before we go off the edge like Thelma and Louise".

I am very eager to hear the results of the Senate meeting on January 30th when they discuss the situation with these manufacturers and their current methods of doing business.  Who knows, with the current hike in tariffs on solar panels from china being implemented, could something similar be forthcoming for security products?  Could this spur a movement to somehow start manufacturing quality, well secured up-to-date devices here in the US?  I can dream, right?