On Vancouver Island’s sidewalks and roadways, in its buildings and at regional events, our physical guarding and mobile fleet are highly visible. Local residents recognize our uniforms and branded patrol vehicles. By contrast, our technological security services fly under the radar. Security cameras and alarm panels that we install and monitor do not have our logo on them, and data feeds or network signals that pass through the airwaves go unnoticed overhead.
This Spring, we have taken steps to solidify our tech-driven offerings: both for internal capacity and in terms of expanding public understanding around the ways we keep homes and businesses safe and secure. Enter from stage left Mr. Brandon Tanner, pictured above.
Our newest team member, Brandon has taken on the role of Security Technology Specialist at Western Canada Security. Most recently, he worked as a white-hat hacker who performed cybersecurity and vulnerability testing for clients ranging from residential households to enterprise environments. He holds his Security license in British Columbia as well as a Low-Voltage Telecommunications certification from Cornell University. Brandon has hit the ground running this quarter, and our clients are already benefitting from his technical expertise, bold vision, and jovial personality.
A Technologist on Tech
Brandon makes a good fit with our team because of his skillsets as well as his beliefs around the spirit with which security services should be delivered. He identifies his technical specializations as “data analytics, system-exploitation threats, pattern recognition, computer programming, electrical wiring, and electronic devices.” Some of our readers’ eyes may have just glazed over, but Brandon also sounds like this: “I love the caring approach to business that Western Canada Security takes. Because we provide a basic, human need and peace of mind, customers should feel like we are a meaningful part of their lives and not just another vendor.” And so, Brandon has the hardskills and softskills needed to make a great complement to our team. He has a mandate to ensure that we continually renew our ambition to provide robust, full-scope security (even as technology evolves at a rapid pace) while also maintaining personal rapport with local clients. When full-scope and full-service come together, that’s win-win for our community.
It Takes a Global Village
Brandon and Western Canada Security also started off on the same page regarding our approach to building out a security supply chain. Moving security forward on Vancouver Island and keeping up with the latest trends means working with international vendors that give us access to best-in-class hardware and software. We know that partnering with major players on the global stage is the only way to provide the level of excellence that local residents deserve.
Hanwha manufactures the security cameras we install and monitor. The company’s hardware surpasses products made by other vendors because of the high-level of security that protects our feeds, whereas other suppliers fall short or barely meet requirements for NDAA legal compliance. When signals from Hanwha cameras pass through our cyber-secure network to our data-monitoring department, there is only ever a vanishingly small risk of data loss or compromise.
In the data centre, Milestones’ XProtect software lets us monitor hundreds or thousands of locations simultaneously. This top-shelf, ultra-secure software is designed to be interoperable with more than 14 000 security products, which gives us great flexibility for overtaking existing systems without having to wipe the slate clean first. Other vendors gain market share by providing closed platforms that can only incorporate a narrow band of devices.
When it comes to alarm panels, we rely on Bosch products for securing large-scale systems and Digital Security Controls for relatively small ones. Like XProtect, Bosch’s panels operate securely on an open platform, making them highly integrateable with other systems. Digital Security Controls runs a closed system, strictly speaking, but their platform is flexible enough to overtake legacy systems without interruptions. Within its vast product line, Bosch makes military-grade technology suitable for housing sensitive government data. Both vendors were selected because of the assurance they give us that our client’s systems are practically invulnerable to hacks, as Brandon has verified through many attempts to “break in” to our alarm systems.
Clients can use our alarm panels for intrusion alerts as well as monitoring temperature changes, air-quality levels, water leaks, humidity percentages, or pretty much any scenario you can dream up. Whenever a system gets triggered, our data centre receives an instant alert for local response. Clients can help us define protocols for what comes next, but in any situation our rapid-response team is poised for action at any hour of the day or night.
Motion detection sits side-by-side with access control, which we provide via panels, readers, boards, and sensors supplied by Acre Security. Zooming in on just one product for a moment, their integrated panic buttons are popular for use by seniors and for retail-level bank employees. These buttons can open up microphone channels for live communication with our team and to record events as soon as the button is pushed. Acre products work seamlessly with our Milestones dashboards, which help us to watch over many locations at once, to assess evolving situations remotely, and to guide people through a crisis until help arrives. That’s just one among myriad examples of how, today, technology and people work together in a symbiotic way.
They Call It Convergence
Brandon, like everyone on our team, understands that technology is here to support our people in their duties. It is not a replacement for human presence or intelligence. That said, technological systems have clear advantages. Whereas a Security Officer standing watch for a full shift will sometimes have to turn their head, engage in a friendly conversation with a passerby, or take down a few notes toward an incident report, our cameras “never even blink,” as Brandon puts it. The footage that cameras capture preserve an objective, second-by-second account of an incident. And in the world of security, every second counts. But a camera without real people on the other end of the feed (who dispatch the right resources or intervene with a remote “excuse me, sir”) is a rather crude instrument.
In our industry, “convergence” is a blazingly hot topic. The term refers to unification of physical and technological security systems, whereby each makes the other better. When strong tech and skilled practitioners work together, the public benefits from faster, smarter protection. Brandon likes to use the term “hybridization” for the approach that uses technology to empower people rather than replace them. That’s the ethos he will impart to other security specialists that join the team in the years ahead.
When he trains our guards in advanced security-camera techniques and protocols, they gain real-time security skills that go beyond basic guarding duties. They can then step up with remote “aerial support” that secures situations out in the world. “This is how the military does things,” Brandon explains. “You have people in the background constantly monitoring feeds remotely, watching for possible threats, and intelligently dispatching resources on-the-ground for physical investigation and action.” This level of support does not remove the human element. Instead, technology empowers people to do their jobs safely and effectively.
Going forward, the horizon will always be pushed further back when we look at future potential for hybrid security solutions. Brandon is now at work on a process for integrating guard’s body cameras with our remote-monitoring system, so that no guard is ever left working alone. He also has plans in place for a custom filter and feedback mechanism that will assess and refine AI recommendations, so that smart systems can learn how we like to see things done. “AI has to be our assistant, not our boss,” he says, “so its recommendations must be actively managed through tweaks and refusals and approvals that inform future responses.” With these big ideas now in play, it looks like we will have our hands busy (and soldering irons smoking) for quite some time.
If you would like to talk about technological security solutions that fit with your needs and your budget, please reach out to arrange a meeting with Brandon. He’d be happy to hear from you!