Hikvision Introduces the Evolutionary eDVR Series with eSSD Technology

Hikvision Introduces Evolutionary eDVR Series with eSSD Technology

Hikvision recently added the eDVR Series into its expanding portfolio of security solutions for SMBs. Powered by embedded solid state drive (eSSD) technology, Hikvision’s eDVRs are compact, durable, easy-to-use, and energy-efficient. All this means they are ideal for small-to-medium-sized businesses and residential applications. “The eDVR Series is smarter, faster, more durable and more energy efficient than anything that’s gone before, not only helping to minimize negative environmental impacts, but also delivering major energy and cost savings for our customers,” said Wenson Zhou, Product Director at Hikvision.

New possibilities for efficiency and sustainability

Eco-friendliness and 45% energy saving

The ultra-low power consumption of chip-level eSSDs makes Hikvision eDVRs more sustainable. Since these devices don’t have spindle motor engines built in, their energy consumption is 45% lower than that of the conventional DVRs, not only helping users to make long-term savings on their electricity bills, but also enabling them to reduce carbon emissions. In addition, the use of eSSDs makes the prod-

ucts more durable than conventional DVRs that use HDD drives. This is because there are fewer moving parts, such as actuator arms. With longer product life cycles, the eDVR Series contributes to eco-efficiency and sustainability.

Endurable storage with a 25% improvement in efficiency

Being powered by ‘eSSD’ technology, with solid-state storage components down to chip level, the Hikvision eDVRs have exceptional storage efficiency and system stability. The storage efficiency of eDVR Series is further enhanced by ‘scene adaptive bitrate control technology,’ which automatically optimizes encoding for video footage, and improves the coding efficiency by 25%. Specifically, complex scenes with human or vehicle movements are allocated higher bitrates to ensure great video quality. At the same time, low-complexity scenes with little or no movement are assigned a lower bitrate to optimize storage efficiency.

Compact design for ease of use and simplicity of installation

As the eDVRs are embedded with SSDs and have a ‘screwless’ design, tool-free installation is made possible. Besides, without the traditional horizontal mounting requirements of conventional HDDs, the devices are also easier to assemble and set up. Thanks to this ease and flexibility of installation, both end-customers and installers can save time and reduce their maintenance and operating costs. Compared to conventional SSD DVRs, Hikvision’s eDVRs are highly compact, helping to save on space. They can fit anywhere – be it behind a monitor, under a table, on a bookshelf, or hidden inside a custom stand.

Smart motion detection

Embedded with Motion Detection 2.0 technology, the eDVR Series can distinguish human beings and vehicles from other objects in any given environment, enabling property owners to respond much more quickly and effectively to potential security breaches. The technology also enable property owners to search video footage based on the appearances of people or vehicles during a specific period of time, saving time and reducing their workloads and costs.

Effective for residential and SMB applications

The innovative features of the Hikvision eDVR Series make these solutions equally effective for residential, SMB, and commercial applications. In all cases, end-customers benefit from an easy and flexible installation process, low energy consumption, minimal maintenance requirements, and high performance video capture, storage, and processing. The compact format of Hikvision eDVRs also increases the solution’s versatility. For example, eDVRs can easily fit into residential homes. The devices’ storage drives also operate with virtually no noise or vibrations, and generate very little heat, which makes them ideal for residential applications. These advantages, along with the eDVRs’ affordability, functionality, and sustainability, also make the product range an ideal choice for SMBs such as convenience stores, grocery shops, restaurants, workshops, bars, and more.

feature Nexus Between terrorism and organised Crime

By colonel B. s. nagial (Retd.)

The nexus between transnational organised crime and terrorism epitomises a worldwide threat. The convergence of criminals and terrorists, tactics and resources empower them to gain more substantial capacities to threaten world peace, security and economic development. UNSC resolution 2482 (2019) is a vital resolution passed under the Chapter VI of the UN Charter and articulated in depth the nexus between terrorists and organised crimes.1 Expressing its concerns that terrorists could benefit from domestic or international organised crimes as a source of financing and logistic support. Elaborating further, it emphasised that there is a need to coordinate efforts at local, regional, national and international levels to respond adequately to these challenges in accordance with the law of the land. But overplaying the connexion between organised crime and terrorism might lead to actions that endorse the risk management tools of the domestic criminal justice system. Terrorists can benefit from organised crimes such as the trafficking of arms, drugs, artefacts, cultural property and trafficking in human beings, illicit trade etc. There is a general difference of opinion regarding understanding terms such as ‘terrorism’, ‘violent extremism’ or ‘organised crime.’ Different nations are dealing with these terms differently, thus leading to variance in protecting and promoting human rights.2

1 OrganizedCrimeSGReport.docx – ohchr https://www.ohchr.org ‘ files ‘ Issues ‘

Terrorism. Accessed on 11 Dec 2022. 2 IBID Numerous UN agencies and related world enforcement bodies are the programme of action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, the International Tracing Instrument, UNODC, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNCTED. Other regulating agencies are the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its Global Network of FATF-style regional bodies and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), INTERPOL etc. Organised crime could be designated as the actions of any group or a composite of groups operative as an organised grid, linking numerous players, organisations and activities at various echelons to bend, manipulate or violate the laws of the land, to create money and survive on fear and corruption. Organised crime systems can be as small as inside a locality indulging in extortion. They could become as large as involving transnational crime groups and carrying out numerous activities such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism, money laundering etc. It employs illicit methods such as monopolisation, terror, violence, extortion and tax evasion to drive out or control lawful ownership and leadership and to extract illegal profits from the public. It also corrupts public officials to prevent the interference of the government and thus becomes all the time more erudite. In India, along with its original domains of actions like extortion, seeking protection money, contract killing, boot-

legging, making a bet, prostitution and trafficking, now indulge in drug trafficking, illicit arms trading, money laundering, terror and acts of violence.

The linkage between terrorism and organised crime

Terrorism is a grave problem which India is facing. Theoretically, terrorism does not come in the category of organised crime, as the overriding motive for terrorism is political or ideological and not gaining of money-power. Nevertheless, the Indian experience exhibits a very minute variance between criminals and terrorists. There is an indication to show that, be the terrorists of J&K, insurgents of the North East States or, for that matter, the Left Wing Extremists, all of them indulge in the methods and tactics of organised crime to mobilise funds for their organisations. They have been indulging in activities like drug trafficking, gun running, extortion, kidnapping or, for that matter, even contract killing in some instances to raise money for their organisations and themselves. Further, in some instances, the existing criminal networks of organised crime are being utilised by the terrorist leaders to complete their operations, as was the case of the Dawood Ibrahim gang being used by the Jihadis to conduct a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993. Terrorist groups share relations with organised criminals at several levels, including conducting operations to raise money and seek assistance from organised crime networks. This is done to fulfil their requirements of money and ammunition and oblige the organised crime gangs to return to conduct their operations in the regions that these terrorists control.

Various aspects in which both terrorists and criminals are related include

● The terrorists themselves indulge in drug trafficking to support their movement. ● Sympathisers of terrorists living abroad indulge in drug trafficking and send part of their illegal profits to fund the terrorist movements. ● Terrorists join with drug lords to gain access to those in power in other countries and sympathise to their cause. ● Terrorists give protection and support to drug traffickers with firearms, and the drug traffickers, being acquainted with the routes, assist the terrorists in border crossings to bring arms, counterfeit currency and drugs in the target country. Organised crime gangs and terrorists directly utilise the proceeds from these operations and the counterfeit currency to fund their operations and allied activities in the region. ● The areas primarily affected by terrorism in

India are the border states which also happen to be transit routes for narcotics to their destinations elsewhere in the world. It is not a coincidence that the growth of the terrorist movement in Punjab synchronised with the emergence of the Golden Crescent as a central drug-producing area in the early 1980s. The emergence of drug mafias in the Golden Crescent countries and their linkages with smugglers in the border States of India have given impetus to gun running. ● There is also evidence that the money generated abroad by the smugglers was used to purchase weapons smuggled into the country for terrorist activities. To illustrate, Dawood Ibrahim utilised the existing smuggling network in landing consignments of arms and explosives on the west coast in early 1993, used for causing serial blasts in Bombay.

Preventing the formation of the nexus between terrorism & crimes

In India, like many parts of the world, discontentment, alienation, and perceived victimhood

among the populace could be exploited by terrorists and criminals to achieve their clandestine aims and objectives. There is a large influx of migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan with the expectations of building a better future. Often such prospects are met with discontent and helplessness to integrate into local communities. At the same time, domestic expectations and the rise of fundamentalism have fueled an environment of intolerance.

The lack of government actions to address these issues may lead disgruntled and susceptible individuals to seek inclusion, status and capital through criminal and terrorist means. As criminals, these groups are already outlaws in society, making them easier to identify, radicalise, and recruit as terrorists. Furthermore, such individuals already have the means to fund terrorist activities by committing crimes. To tackle this problem, policymakers must move beyond traditional law enforcement methods to adopt a more nuanced, phased, multi-sector approach. Firstly by scrutinising and countering the similarities and distinctions between factors which enable criminality and terrorism. Then by recognising, managing and mitigating the dynamics that make these vulnerabilities worse and create prevailing winds. Finally, recognising the types of catalytic triggers or conditions may prove the helping factor in an individual’s decision-making process and follow-on actions.3

Addressing these challenges requires increased sophistication and a coordinated international response, with real-time intelligence sharing, capacity building and technology assistance. There also needs to be much greater rigour and transparency in implementing instruments already at the disposal of the UNO.

3 Examining the Nexus between Organised Crime and https://icct.nl ‘ 2017/04 ‘

OC-Terror-Nexus-Final Aceesed on 12 Dec, 2022.

Conclusion

The twin nuisances of terror and organised crime cater to the same lifelines. Their relationship may differ, but they are sustained by the same malicious forces that seek to undermine governance, development and social cohesion through the illegitimate use of violence. The terror-crime connexion is a worldwide empirical threat, the outlines of which are changing daily.

The global community must keep ahead of the new trends and technologies to combat this threat. This can only be achieved if we work together with a zero-tolerance approach, without double standards.

The other challenge in the nexus between terror and organised crime is the role of new and emerging technologies, including virtual currencies, encrypted communications and artificial intelligence. Such technologies are making networks loosely associated on the ground, closely intertwined in cyber-space. In modern time, managing a terrorist organisation require considerable funds to maintain its administrative and command network. Funding is the lifeline of terrorism. The nexus between terrorism and crime foster this funding. Therefore one of the most effective ways of dealing with terrorist organisations is to obstruct the flow of money to the organisation. At least some obstacles must be placed to stop this funding. But these activities require national as well as international levels specific legislation and cooperation. Recently, two important international conferences, i.e., UNCTED and No Money For Terror, were held in India. They stressed coping with emerging and new technology and funding terrorism as tools for countering terrorism worldwide.

A Focus on Emerging Threats: Cybersecurity Awareness Month

In 2022, cybercrime is ever-increasing, and the number of attacks and bad actors continues to increase exponentially. As soon as we’ve learned to eliminate a threat, perpetrators are creating new ways to breach networks. It can feel like a never-ending cycle.

And it is no surprise because successful attacks on Medibank, the Colonial Pipeline, and SolarWinds demonstrate the significant need for cybersecurity efforts that act differently than traditional practices. A holistic approach must be defined and expanded to cover applications and workloads during runtime wherever they may reside to protect our enterprise systems better. This is the only way to ensure that the correct code and processes can execute and nothing else, regardless of the threat environment.

Cybercrime’s threat to individuals and organizations leaves them feeling anxious, thinking about the possibilities that can take place without appropriate security practices or solutions. In response to this increasing threat, we as an industry must commit to being as proactive as possible by educating, training, and staying updated on security-leading practices.

As you can imagine, our cybersecurity strategies have undergone immense changes over the years, and significant strides have been made by security teams across the globe. Since its introduction in October 2003, Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM) has brought greater awareness to this global issue. Leaders and employees have been more aware of their role in mitigating threats, while ISOs and CISOs worldwide are now developing greater Security Education Training and Awareness (SETA) programs. The bottom line is that security knowledge should be focused on awareness for all, training employees with key roles, and educating cybersecurity specialists. SETA programs are not a one size fits all, and many now include phishing exercises, tabletop security incidents rehearsal, and simulated attacks with Red and Blue teams.

The theme of this year’s CSAM campaign is ‘See Yourself in Cyber,’ demonstrating that while cybersecurity might seem complex, it is all about teamwork. ACRE recognizes that all members of an organization play a role in defending our organization’s data, assets, and employees. We also all play a part in protecting personal data in our day-to-day life. Currently, employees need to keep a mindset of security in all tasks that they complete, whether cyber or physical. Supporting this initiative is our SETA program, which is designed to promote cybersecurity awareness. Additionally, our team has developed other campaigns to enhance our employee’s overall security knowledge through workshops, assessments, and security incident scenario rehearsal to help reduce our security risks.

Regarding our security solutions, ACRE strives to balance our security strategy with our core product pillars of identifying, protecting, detecting, responding, and recovering. Adhering to cybersecurity best practices, we actively train our specialists to be conscious of security and data protection in every step of the product lifecycle from the initial concept through retirement.

In a world where ever-evolving technology produces incredible innovations, it raises threats more than ever before. We believe that one factor contributing to this is the risk of complacency. Any organization that believes it is doing enough or becomes too negligent in security strategies could be heading down a dangerous path. Organizations must stay engaged and vigilant and remain dedicated to keeping their employees, suppliers, and customers informed. After all, security is and will always be a team effort.