Genetec to release cyber hardening guide

MONTREAL—In its latest cybersecurity initiative, Genetec, a provider of unified IP security solutions based here, is releasing a cybersecurity hardening guide for its integrator partners at the end of February.

“Cybersecurity is everybody's business, including us,” Pierre Racz, CEO of Genetec, told Security Systems News.

Last week, Genetec had its internal software development conference with 200 developers. One of the speakers the company brought in was noted cybersecurity expert Gary McGraw. “That shows how seriously we take this issue,” Racz said.

Lack of cybersecurity smarts and best practices “is not currently an issue with our integrators,” Racz said. But, in the future, “we will have to raise the bar,” he said.

"As we get [various certifications including] 2701, CJIS and HIPPA we're going to have to insist that our integrators are compliant as well,” he said.

Genetec's integrators “tend to be higher end integrators” who use cybersecurity best practices, Racz said. “They think about [cybersecurity] and they do ask questions about cyber,” he said.

Genetec has looked at cybersecurity on many levels. Six years ago, Genetec went through Microsoft penetration testing. Genetec's “major vulnerability was the equipment we integrated with,” Racz said.

Genetec then worked with its best of breed partners to remove vulnerabilities from their equipment.

To focus attention on this issue, Genetec instituted a Microsoft process called Security Development Life Cycle. Genetec is in the certification process for ISO 27001.

Its products “fail secure,” Racz said, which basically means that if they're not installed correctly they won't work.