Blogs

When we say ISC West remains the best and most important trade show in the security industry, that’s not a punchline. No fooling. April Fool’s Day is usually reserved for fake announcements, prank press releases and “breaking news” that makes you do a double take. New products that don’t exist. Acquisitions that clearly didn’t happen. Claims that are… let’s call them wishful. So let’s be clear right up front: This isn’t one of those. Every...

If you’re looking for me at ISC West, I’m not there! But the good news is that Security Systems News (SSN) is on the floor and if you take a good look, you can probably find us and flag us down for a good chat. In truth I may have dodged a bullet in that respect this year. Yes, it’s true I’m missing out on some amazing content, and even better people and projects, buts it’s also an opportunity to support the team. I can also get some work done without having...

ISC West is just days away, and tens of thousands of security professionals are preparing to descend on Las Vegas for the biggest industry event of the year. I’m one of them - or at least I’m supposed to be. But as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers across the country work without pay and staffing shortages worsen, the reliability of air travel itself is suddenly in question. When airport security becomes unpredictable, even a routine cross‑country trip feels...

There are a few new hubs that will be gracing the floor at ISC West this year, and while the tech and some of the faces might be new, I think the mission remains the same. I won’t actually be in attendance this year, so I’ll have to get a firsthand accounting from Editor Cory Harris about how the new floor additions fit into the vibe of a big show like ISC West. Specifically, the new hubs are Digital Trust & Identity, ISC StartUps, and a Security Experience Center. Maybe nothing is...

As the conflict escalates between the United States, Israel, and Iran, the security industry is bracing for a wave of new demand. Early strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered retaliatory attacks across multiple countries have pushed organizations worldwide to reassess their readiness - accelerating the need for stronger physical security, tighter cyber defenses, and converged operations at a scale not seen in years. With civilian and military...

We’re back to talking about artificial intelligence (AI) this week, and unfortunately the topic hasn’t changed much from my last blog, either, as we reckon with the fallout of the Ring/Flock Safety scandal. I think scandal is the right word given the situation, because calling it an “issue” doesn’t quite convey the severity of the problem, and calling it a “debacle” makes it a footnote in a history book - and it is very much still a current event. In...

The suspected abduction of Nancy Guthrie has turned into more than a heartbreaking national story. It has become a blunt warning for the home security industry. In the early hours of the investigation, authorities believed Guthrie’s disconnected, non‑subscribed Google Nest camera held no useful video. Days later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released clear footage of a masked individual at her front door. The surprising recovery came only after a multi‑day forensic effort...

This week in the security sphere, we have a rare opportunity to talk about something unrelated to AI. Unfortunately, the circumstances are anything but fortunate. You may have already guessed that I’m referring to the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, a crime so brazen and so publicly visible that updates occasionally interrupted Olympic coverage on NBC. I’m not ready to call it our generation’s Lindbergh baby, but it’s shocking how little apparent progress has been made so...

Corporate executive protection is being rewritten in real time. When Starbucks disclosed in late January that it is now requiring CEO Brian Niccol to use company aircraft for all travel following a security review that identified “credible” risks, the decision underscored how boards are responding to a more volatile threat landscape. What might once have been dismissed as an executive perk is now increasingly framed as a duty‑of‑care decision, rooted in threat assessments, exposure...

Two topics are swirling around my brain tonight, cloud and data privacy, and they both meet at the intersection of money. Obviously, this is Data Privacy Week and depending on when you read this it might be Data Protection Day, so the theme is both timely and important. On the other side, while the Brivo/Eagle Eye/merger is still fresh in my mind, I am looking at the importance of that data protection viewed through the lens of physical security integrated with cloud services. Unified cloud...