ISC West's "Best In Show" has failed. For more than a decade, it has become increasingly irrelevant as the selections exhibit a cartoon level understanding of technology and the market. The 2018 winner is a case in point, as it is the same appr...
By John Honovich - 4 days ago
Following criticism of Hikvision's ongoing port forwarding recommendation (e.g., Hikvision Hardening Guide Recommends Port Forwarding and Hikvision HQ Contradicts Cybersecurity Director), Hikvision has issued a new document entitled About "Port Fo...
By IPVM Team - 21 days ago
The 'data' and 'research' that headlines many articles is a scam, perpetrated by a variety of Indian firms that have exploited the carelessness and ignorance of many companies and the press. Examples Axis is touting: By 2020, the market will ...
By John Honovich - 24 days ago
Just 2 years ago, Ingram Micro was acquired by a Chinese company that paid them $6 billion in cash, nearly 40% more than their then stock price. It was an incredible deal. Why pay so much? And why would a regional Chinese airline buy a US-based...
By John Honovich - 2 months ago
Convergint needs you to understand. When Convergint acquires companies, as they continuously do, it is an acquisition, e.g.: But when Convergint gets acquired, they do not like calling it what it is. IPVM raised this issue in our initial repor...
By IPVM Team - 3 months ago
Hanwha Techwin's CEO has come out swinging against the Chinese. In this note, we examine his statements, the relative positioning of Chinese and Korean manufacturers and how it reflects an increasing conflict between Chinese manufacturers and the...
By John Honovich - 3 months ago
Who do you trust? Who do you want to be associated with? Axis is raising hard questions to start 2018. In this note, we examine these questions, the competitive impact of them and how it fits in a clear industry trend.
By John Honovich - 3 months ago
The fight is on. Hikvision and their owner, the Chinese government, 'strikes back' against the Wall Street Journal and US politicians raising concerns about Hikvision. In this note, we examine Hikvision and the Chinese government's response and ...
By John Honovich - 3 months ago
The Chinese government is angry at the BBC and WSJ's reporting on Chinese video surveillance (see BBC Features Dahua and WSJ Investigates China's Total Surveillance State). Much like Hikvision's attacks on IPVM for our reporting, Hikvision's su...
By John Honovich - 4 months ago
Vandalism of security systems is a common concern. It is so common that camera vandalism statistics show that designers routinely sacrifice camera optimal viewing positioning to mount cameras high and far enough away to minimize vandalism. This s...
By John Honovich - 4 months ago
After 60+ years, ASIS is dumping its eponymous show name and replacing it with 'GSX'. This is a classic marketing mistake. For a show struggling for years, this only makes things worse. In this note, we examine the issues, compare to a histori...
By John Honovich - 5 months ago
The buffer overflow vulnerability in Dahua products is not in dispute, in fact we covered it when it was first published. What is in dispute is how significant the vulnerability is, and the risks posed to users with unpatched devices. This was r...
By Brian Karas - 5 months ago
Hikvision, through the Chinese government's authoritative news service, has criticized the WSJ investigation into Hikvision. In this English-language exclusive, IPVM shares the Chinese response, examining their counter-claims and how this will im...
By John Honovich - 5 months ago
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has released a detailed investigation into Hikvision's government ownership and cybersecurity problems, hitting the paper's front page. Given the WSJ's global readership (42 million monthly readers, 2+ million pai...
By John Honovich - 5 months ago
Ingram Micro, as a huge as they are overall, with $40+ billion in annual sales, has never been a force in physical security, despite, or perhaps because, of their many lame attempts to sell into this market. For example, Disaster at the Ingram Mi...
By John Honovich - 6 months ago
ASIS is being deceptive with its conference reporting, effectively inflating the event's real actual attendance. What they try, but struggle to do, is report 'registrants' but, as our examples below show, they clearly are misrepresenting it as ac...
By John Honovich - 7 months ago
A short seller has alleged Ubiquiti is 'completely fraudulent'. Ubiquiti's CEO has responded calling them 'clowns'. Here is the short seller's Citron Research's report on Ubiquiti and embedded below is their video about Ubiquiti: Poor Researc...
By John Honovich - 7 months ago
On-premise security systems are dead. But $75 print books are alive and well. Such are the lessons from Brivo's CEO new book "The Five Technological Forces Disrupting Security" to all of you 'server-huggers' out there. It does raise a fascinati...
By John Honovich - 7 months ago
The Outstanding Security Manufacturer finalists (US edition) are here: And if you are wondering, "How did those 3 get chosen?" then you are thinking right.
By John Honovich - 8 months ago
Hikvision is happy to have bad cyber security unless they are hit with bad press, as we detail inside. When you look at the pattern of their behavior, it is clear that anyone concerned about cyber security is taking significant risks with Hikvisi...
By John Honovich - 8 months ago
Dumbo, revealed by Wikileaks, has become big news. Unfortunately, 'experts' in the security industry have gotten it wrong, incorrectly contending that Dumbo hacks IP cameras. In this report, we examine Dumbo, the erroneous claims and the impact ...
By Brian Karas - 8 months ago
The hype for deep learning in video surveillance is accelerating. Between the race to the bottom and dearth of a 'next big thing', certainly pent up demand exists. But now is the time for a healthy skepticism about when and what deep learning ca...
By John Honovich - 9 months ago
Less than 3 months ago, Dahua received DHS ICS-CERT's worst score of 10.0 for their backdoor. Now, Dahua has received another 10.0 score for a new vulnerability. Despite that, Dahua has remained silent. In this note, we examine the vulnerability...
By Brian Karas - 9 months ago
Knightscope continues its hyper growth, at least when it comes to controversy, this time with a 'suicidal' robot in Washington DC. And here is another view of the Knightscope robot out of action: Ironically, Knightscope is right now sel...
By John Honovich - 9 months ago
ONVIF Chairman Per Björkdahl has taken a strong public stance against low cost cameras that are 'much more vulnerable to attack' as he explains in this Source Security 'roundtable': This is fascinating on a number of levels.
By John Honovich - 10 months ago
