For better or worse, surveillance has become commonplace in today’s world. 24/7 camera systems allow individuals, businesses, and public institutions to keep a watchful eye on their assets and better guarantee their safety. Depending on where your business is located, your facilities may encounter a large volume of public traffic. Whether your facilities are on a busy main street in a large city, or in a remote rural area, you always have to deal with the possibility of a physical security breach by nefarious actors looking to damage or steal your vital business assets. Implementing a functional security camera system is an essential mitigation against physical threats. However purchasing and properly configuring security cameras can be easier said than done. There are several essential steps that often get overlooked during configuration.
Before any purchasing or configuration can be done, you need to map out where exactly security cameras should be placed in your facilities. Luckily, this framework directed you to create a physical site survey in Stage 1. This documentation can be used to easily define the necessary placements. While you as the business owner can undertake this task on your own, it may be worth gathering your workplace cybersecurity team to gather diverse input on the best practices for camera placement.
There are some basic best practices that should be applied regardless of the size and location of your organization. Security cameras should always be placed above each physical entrance to your facilities. It is also recommended to have a camera covering each exterior wall of a building, regardless of entrance location. Interior cameras may not be necessary if your business is extremely small with a very small facility. However if you have more than five employees present on any working day, and/or a large facility with multiple hallways and rooms, it is recommended to implement interior security cameras. When implementing interior cameras, pay special attention to regulations and laws regarding privacy of your employees. Only implement cameras in appropriate public spaces that are regularly accessed by all employees and customers/visitors if applicable. Waiting rooms and front desk areas should be covered, as well as rooms hosting critical business technology and assets, such as network closets and records storage rooms.
Once you have determined how many security cameras will be necessary for your organization, you can move on to searching vendors for the best purchase option. Many retailers such as your local Walmart or Best Buy provide options. These vendors usually will suffice for small facilities where only one or two cameras are necessary. If your organization will require a larger number of cameras, you may want to look into buying larger systems from online vendors.
Make sure to closely review any product you are interested in purchasing. You must determine which cameras are appropriate for exterior and interior use, as well as any configuration and placement requirements. There are different designs and form factors for security cameras that are appropriate for different areas. The common ones are:
Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ): these cameras can be controlled remotely to perform functions like horizontal panning, vertical tilting, and zooming in. These cameras may be appropriate for use in busy public areas like waiting rooms where specific details are of great use.
Dome Cameras: these cameras have rounded lenses with discrete casing that obscures exactly where they are pointing. They are a good fit for large rooms and hallways that have highly mobile traffic.
Bullet Cameras: these cameras have long casings with lenses visibly pointing in a specific direction. Compared to dome cameras, they often provide a longer range of coverage and have an ominous appearance that can deter potential attackers. Bullet cameras are usually the best fit for exterior use.
Many older security camera systems used analog connections, but today it is more common to purchase network capable camera systems that fall under the Internet of Things (IoT). IP security cameras can be found with both wired and wireless capabilities. I highly recommend opting for a wired camera system rather than wireless. Configuration may be more difficult, but wired connections are so much more reliable and stable. It can be difficult to narrow down the correct wireless range between the cameras and access points. If wireless interference brings down a camera feed, you can lose potentially important video coverage. If your organization’s network has implemented a Power Over Ethernet (PoE) switch, you can purchase cameras that make use of this technology, eliminating the hassle of providing both network and power connections to cameras mounted in inconvenient locations.
Once you have selected and purchased your security camera solution, make sure to properly plan for their implementation. As with many devices under the IoT umbrella, security cameras suffer from a concerning lack of built in security. Therefore, this framework requires that all security cameras be placed on a dedicated VLAN segregated off from your regular business network. This reduces the attack surface so that if any cameras happen to be compromised, threat actors will not be able to pivot to more enticing devices like servers or employee workstations.
Many users of security cameras do not change the default credentials of the devices. This critical oversight makes hacking a security camera a cakewalk for any attacker. Make sure to apply unique usernames and passwords to each camera and store them in a password manager.
IoT devices have long struggled with consistent firmware updates to address constantly evolving threats. As a result, they can quickly become major risks to your organization. Ensure that you regularly monitor the official website of your camera vendor to download and apply the latest firmware updates as soon as they become available.