JUNE 15, 2018
Today’s networked video surveillance systems face risks in many ways: from nefarious hackers focused on creating massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, but also from the more innocuous practice of poor password management. With Cybersecurity top of mind, exacqVision 9.4 offers additional protections to safeguard against threats to video management systems.
v9.4 Feature Highlights:
Keeping Security Teams Hyper-Aware
- Avoids lost video due to network outage by retrieving video recorded on Illustra IP cameras
- Event monitoring lockdown mode
Stricter Password Requirements for Stronger Cybersecurity
- Force admin password change on new exacqVision installations
- Prevent the use of common passwords
- Enhancements to secure password storage
Easier to Use, More Secure Enterprise System Manager
- Save time by automatically propagating privileges to ESM groups
- 64-bit release provides access to full hardware capabilities
- Stricter password settings and better protected user sessions enhance EMS security
- LDAP performance improvements
Additional 3rd Party Solution Support
- ONVIF Plug-in enhancements
Feature Details:
Keeping Security Teams Hyper-Aware
Avoids lost video due to network outage by retrieving video recorded on Illustra IP cameras
exacqVision supports innovative technology with Illustra IP cameras, to provide camera-NVR connectivity that protects against video loss. When connectivity between Illustra cameras and an exacqVision NVR fails, video records directly onto the camera’s SD card. Once connectivity is reestablished, recorded video trickles back to the exacqVision NVR and is automatically stored at the correct date and time.
Event Monitor lockdown mode keeps critical info front and center
Out of sight, out of mind. This is definitely not a phrase that has any place in a business focused on the safety and well-being of its people and critical assets. That’s why we’ve created a lockdown mode for the exacqVision Event Monitor which ensures important notifications can’t be missed by closing the event monitor and are immediately seen by system users so appropriate action can be taken.
Stricter Password Requirements for Stronger Cybersecurity
Requires admin password change on new exacqVision installations
Proper password management isn’t always intuitive, and sometimes password tools and policies are necessary to enforce best practices for creating and protecting passwords. Each exacqVision release includes stronger cyber protections to safeguard your video ecosystem. As of exacqVision 9.4, users will be required to change the admin password on all new software installations, eliminating default passwords for the admin account. This will help prevent unauthorized access to the VMS and keep data safe and your company’s reputation intact.
Prevents the use of common passwords
Analysts estimate that some 50% of people on the Internet are still using the same password or an easily guessed, common password for all of their logins. These are some of the riskiest things you can do online, and certainly perilous for anyone managing a video security system. Cyber-attackers routinely use brute force attack programs to rapidly try hundreds or even thousands of common passwords to gain access to a system.
To help protect the system from brute force attacks, exacqVision 9.4 introduces a mechanism that requires users to select a password that is harder for a computer algorithm to guess. Preventing users from choosing common passwords ensures the system is kept safe from unauthorized access.
Enhancements to secure password storage
Exacq has always prevented passwords from appearing as plain text in its configuration files, but exacqVision 9.4 introduces a more secure way to store passwords in these files. Passwords are now stored using a secure, machine-specific algorithm. This means that even if an attacker is able to break the algorithm and figure out a user’s password, he or she will only gain access to one set of credentials, as each file uses its own algorithm.
Easier to Use, More Secure Enterprise System Manager (ESM)
Save time by automatically propagating privileges to ESM groups
ESM has always allowed you to assign different privileges for a particular user to individual ESM groups. However, manually assigning these privileges to each of the groups available was often time-consuming and prone to error.
The latest release of ESM automatically propagates a user’s server privileges to all the child groups of a parent group. For example, if a user is assigned “Live Only” access in parent group B, those privileges can be automatically propagated to all child groups of that parent group. This saves a significant amount of admin time and greatly reduces the chance of data entry error.
64-bit release provides access to full hardware capabilities
Until now, the ESM installer has only been available in the 32-bit version, which limited the utilization of hardware capabilities. Today’s 5.8 release allows you to fully utilize the 64-bit processor and higher memory capacity of performance-built servers.
The release has been verified on a wide range of operating systems, including the latest Windows Server 2016 and newest Ubuntu 18.04. Existing users can easily upgrade from a 32-bit software with the installer doing all the heavy lifting in the background for a seamless transition.
Stricter password settings and better protected user sessions enhance ESM security
This latest release contains several security related enhancements and preventative safeguards designed to keep the software safe from external threats.
Starting with this release, the installer will not have a default password for the admin user and, instead, will require the password be set at install time. This step not only prevents an inadvertent open door to the system, but also averts brute force attacks by enforcing password complexity rules.
Other enhancements include better protection of user session information, and the prevention of unintended execution of programs and cross-site scripting attacks, all painstakingly designed to mitigate attacks and security vulnerabilities.
Better LDAP integration accelerates browsing of directories
ESM users frequently integrate with LDAP or Active Directory to simplify user management – importing users from existing directories and allowing centralized authorization in an Enterprise setting.
The latest release improves the integration by caching results and optimizing queries, resulting in accelerated browsing of huge LDAP directories and a vastly improved user experience.
Additional 3rd Party Camera Options
ONVIF Plugin enhancements
exacqVision 9.4 introduces enhancements to our ONVIF plugin which improves video quality and reduces camera jitter. These changes provide end users with enhanced and uniform time-stamping capabilities for video, audio, and metadata on both the server and camera, leading to a much smoother user experience.
