Hikvision Cybersecurity Director Offer End-Users Tips to Promote Cybersecurity Best Practices
Hikvision’s director of cybersecurity, Chuck Davis, together with the Hikvision Security Lab at Hikvision headquarters, is leading the cybersecurity program for Hikvision North America, overseeing all internal and external cybersecurity initiatives and programs in the region. As part of these efforts, Davis is offering tips and best practices that Hikvision partners and end users can implement to reduce vulnerabilities and security concerns.
“Cybersecurity needs to be a concern for everyone in this industry,” Davis told Security Systems News in an email interview. “So our challenge here at Hikvision is the same as other video surveillance providers. The difference is that we are the leading video surveillance provider in the world, so we believe it is our responsibility to be the best in terms of cybersecurity defense. It’s a huge challenge, but everyone here at Hikvision is onboard.”
The following are a few steps that end-users can take to better manage cybersecurity risks:
- Inventory infrastructure routinely to determine what you have and where it is.
- Regularly check with vendors for security alerts, patches, upgrades, etc.
- Create and follow processes to regularly ensure software and hardware is updated in a timely manner.
- Notify integrators and distributors if any issues are discovered or even suspected so that security concerns can be addressed.
- Ensure your network architecture follows manufacturer recommendations and cybersecurity best practices.
- Do not use default accounts, passwords or SSIDs. Hackers attack default values because many people do not change the defaults.
- Use good, complex passwords that include uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters. This can be a passphrase too such as: “My dog ate 10 shoes!” This is much easier to remember than something like this: “n&dgw9zfh8oRMM.”
As an added protective measure, Hikvision encourages its partners and end-users to update all equipment to the latest available firmware. “Updating firmware is an effective way to safeguard equipment from cyberattacks and eliminate known vulnerabilities. Firmware updates are available on the Hikvision website,” said Davis.