Five key security themes have come to the forefront according to the HID Global 2023 State of Security and Identity report [PDF]. The company has surveyed more than 2,700 security experts to determine the most pressing issues in security. Understanding these themes will help people responsible for security to create a safer and more secure environment for their organizations and their people.
Here’s a look at the five themes from HID’s security study. It’s important to know about these and their impacts on technology and innovation. It gives facility leaders the tools to help them get more value for their organization and people.
The Supply Chain Still Affects Everyone
It’s not an exaggeration to say the pandemic has majorly disrupted the supply chain. Most companies have not returned to the production they had prior to the crisis. While there is some improvement, the supply chain mess is still far from over. Almost three-fourths of the respondents to the survey reported dealing with supply chain issues in 2022. Almost the same number selected “supply chain issues” as the top trend in the security and identity industry for 2023.
When asked whether the supply chain problems will resolve themselves in 2023, the respondents were evenly split. The more optimistic respondents represent organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees.
The consensus is that supply chain improvements will continue. However, the problems will persist as other factors add stress to the supply chain. These factors include labor shortages and high demand for semiconductors also known as integrated circuit chips or IC chips. Because they’re used in so many things like control panels, sensors, vehicles, computers, and even passports, it’s one area that will not likely recover soon.
Few industries are safe from the supply chain woes, but some are affected more than others. Almost 80% of manufacturing companies pointed to the supply chain as the biggest problem with very few believing it will be resolved per HID’s report in which it references the National Association of Manufacturers Q3 2022 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey.
The real estate industry also blames the supply chain as the problem with 78% confirming this. Healthcare, on the other hand, isn’t affected as much as real estate but they do have concerns if the challenges continue.
Sustainability Gains Traction
Almost 90% of the companies responding to the HID survey rank sustainability as “important to extremely important” to their customers. Three-quarters of the respondents say sustainability plays an important part in purchasing decisions. Organizations are responding to the growing emphasis on sustainability due to government organizations and customers prioritizing environmental concerns.
What does sustainability have to do with security? It means suppliers and manufacturers of security-related products need to find ways to reduce energy use and waste while optimizing their resources. Moreover, end users demanding more sustainability are driving suppliers, installers, and integrators to take sustainability into consideration when making purchasing decisions.
Previously, it was large corporations that invested the most in sustainability. Now, customers require it. Companies that weren’t thinking about it before do now in order to meet customer demand.
Hybrid Work Settings Affect Cloud-Based Access
Prior to the pandemic, many organizations had already been undergoing digital transformation by moving many business resources into the cloud. The cloud’s importance has multiplied thanks to remote working’s rise during the pandemic.
Now, companies are switching to a hybrid model with 81% indicating this in the HID survey. The move toward a hybrid work environment leads to the following five things:
- Multifactor or password-less authentication
- Data strategy
- Digital or mobile identities
- Zero trust security approach
- Contactless or touchless solutions
A hybrid setting means employees need to have anytime, anywhere access to business essential resources. One of those is password-less or multi-factor authentication with almost 70% citing this.
These factors propel the growth in Identity as a Service (IDaaS), which is the building, hosting, and managing of the authentication infrastructure by a third-party service provider. Government agencies, financial services companies, commercial real estate, and healthcare plan to invest in IDaaS in the near future. HID references a report that reveals the identity access management market will reach almost $42 billion by the end of 2031.
Artificial intelligence like video analytics is a growing factor in security. An example is the use of video analytics in remote video surveillance. Humans alone can overlook potential problems while monitoring many cameras for many hours.
Video surveillance with remote monitoring done by technology like video analytics and humans is more robust than one that relies on humans or AI alone. The pairing of humans and technology greatly reduces false positives while increasing the possibility of catching a problem before it happens.
The Rapid Acceleration of Digital ID Adoption
The old way of confirming identities by checking a state-issued ID is less secure and more prone to identity theft. Now, digital ID has grown to include digital wallets and mobile IDs, which allow users to authenticate who they are through their mobile devices. Almost half of the integrators and adopters say their customers already use mobile identities for authentication.
Digital wallets can be used for payments, employee badging, digital documents, hotel room keys, and tenant experience applications. Smartphone owners can add dorm and hotel room keys, verifiable vaccination information, passports, and employee badges. One of the biggest adopters of mobile IDs is commercial real estate with 40% citing they have adopted it.
Some commercial real estate companies allow tenants to enter office buildings with employee badges saved in their digital wallets. HID’s 2022 State of Physical Access Control Report discloses that 66% of users have upgraded their mobile readers or have plans to do it. About one-third of mobile wallet users have three or more mobile wallets on their smartphones per PACE FIS data as reported by Forbes.
One draw to digital wallets is that merchants never see the credit card or financial information. It also helps retailers comply with credit card data security, compliance, and reporting requirements. By all counts, digital wallets are here to stay for their security and convenience.
Contactless Security
This one does not surprise anyone as the COVID-19 crisis propelled the creation and adoption of contactless technologies. Though the pandemic has ended, limiting touch-based technologies helps people stay healthier.
There are many different contactless modalities, such as biometrics, badges, voice recognition, and mobile identification. Biometrics use a person’s physical identity for authorization access. These include facial, fingerprint, and retinal recognition.
The advantage of these types of recognitions is they eliminate the need to remember and track passwords while reducing human error from entering wrong information. They can also be mobile-enabled and cloud-based.
Approximately 60% responding to the HID survey indicate they currently have or plan to test biometric technologies. That’s because multifactor authentication with biometrics helps companies reduce fraud and unauthorized access.
These five themes show how the security industry is changing. The benefits are many as they speed processes, increase security, and take advantage of contactless technologies while supporting sustainability goals.
Transform Facility Security with Remote Video Surveillance
One security technology that can support these five themes is video surveillance with remote monitoring. This is a proactive security system that relies on both people and technology for higher accuracy, performance, and security.
The best way to explain it is the technology scans all the surveillance cameras for a match to any one of pre-programmed scenarios. As soon as it finds a match, the system notifies a trained monitoring operator. The operator reviews the situation and reacts by issuing a verbal warning over an onsite speaker, calling the police, or both.
Adding an access control system as part of an integrated security system helps bolster security and safety. An integrated system doesn’t need as many people to manage without sacrificing security. Fewer people mean cost savings and getting a faster return on the security investment.
This integrated security system is contactless and managed remotely as the monitoring operators are not located at the facility. Since they’re safe, the trained monitoring operators can resolve situations calmly without breaking protocols out of fear for their own safety.
Security cameras with monitoring support hybrid workplaces. It helps protect your assets from theft, which is crucial because it will be harder and more expensive to replace stolen items due to the supply chain problems.
If anything happens, then the security team can review all relevant footage to piece together what actually happened. Law enforcement, attorneys, and insurance companies can use the videos as proof.
Video cameras with remote monitoring done by technology and humans is affordable. Many ECAM clients get an ROI within months. Moreover, ECAM has partnerships with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada. When you partner with us, you benefit from those partnerships.
Check out the industries ECAM has worked with across North America. You can view videos of video surveillance with remote monitoring for your industry. If you’d like to learn more about remote video surveillance, review the guide to Remote Video Surveillance: More Than Just Catching Criminals. For a customized contactless security technology that fits your requirements and budget while maximizing your ROI, contact us.
