Although many believe that cloud services can benefit the physical security industry in challenging times, it is important to remember that cloud solutions are not always the best solution for every application out there. This is particularly true regarding customers’ privacy rights.
Today, most content is digital. Once video footage migrated from the legacy analogue systems into digital, it shaped the opportunity for off-premises, cloud storage. However, the cloud infrastructure and the exchange of information through data centres puts delicate data at risk of being hacked or lost.
Today, data is a commodity, and, in many cases, it’s also power. This information can be processed to provide direct value and refined to develop new products or services. But not all data should be readily available to all; the power to redact sensitive information on video and documents can be key for business today.
Richard Bester, Sales Manager at Facit Data
Richard Bester, Sales Manager at Facit Data, a video analytics and compliance software house, explains, “For years, the security market has been persuaded that the cloud is the sensible storage solution. However, many organisations, including the public sector, retail giants, education establishments and NHS, are at risk of hacking and cyber-attacks – leading to huge fines and damage to brand reputation. We have had many of these conversations in the past few years as many don’t know how to go about it.”
He continues, “We understand that in some instances, the Cloud is an asset, but processes like document and video redaction, because of its sensitive nature and the issues it could cause, need to be held and processed in a controlled environment. Protect your business – don’t allow your and your people’s data to be open to the world.”
Efforts by companies and organisations to have some sovereignty over the data they can capture and who and how they share it, can make the difference between demonstrating corporate integrity and genuine client privacy care. Data leaks reported by the press illustrate the difficulty in identifying and protecting sensitive information.
The ICO recommends that the best business practice is storing every sensitive information in-house. Form documents that need to be redacted to CCTV footage. Since GDPR was introduced, companies have needed help meeting strict deadlines for submitting Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs). This is because organisations are required to report breaches within 72 hours of discovery under Article 33 of the GDPR, and they have 30 days to produce the data. As people have become more aware of their data privacy rights, there has been a surge in DSARs, and in 2021, only 39% of DSAR was completed within 30 days.
Facit makes the processing of data and its redaction more agile by having a scalable solution that is kept on the premises.
Richard expands, “The difficulty of redacting data is you’re not quarantining or encrypting the entire document or video footage – you are selectively removing sensitive portions.
“For document redaction, I know of some companies that will sit and manually redact document after document, having to open each email and every attachment – this is extremely time-consuming and people-intensive. Having an automated process which you then need to review, dramatically speeds up the redaction process.
“And for video redaction, some companies just aren’t fulfilling their DSARs because they don’t have the people capacity and skills to do this – if they choose an on-premises software solution, they can very quickly respond to a DSAR with very little training in a totally secure environment.”
The idea that organisations with highly restrictive in-house data processing policies, such as Health Care organisations or Government departments, could upload their data and documents to Cloud solutions to redact sensitive data is not an option for them. As soon as data leaves the premises, everybody is at risk.
IBM Security’s “The Cost of a Data Breach Report,” said that the global average data breach cost was $4.35 million in 2022. In addition, the price of a breach in the healthcare industry has increased by 42% since 2020. The report noted that for the 12th year in a row, healthcare had the industry’s highest average data breach cost.
Facit automates the redaction of complex documents and video footage for organisations worldwide. It’s on-premises solution means Facit enables users to remove sensitive data in seconds in their own environment, which means there is a 0% risk of privacy breaches.
Save costs by staying in house
Using Cloud solutions comes with risks such as quality degradation, bandwidth limitations and storage costs. Facit’s Identity Cloak video redaction solution enables operators to scale video data processing and keep costs low.
Compared to a Cloud solution, manual processing or outsourcing redaction services, this video redaction solution can redact unlimited video files for a predictable low cost.
By combining auto-tracking and artificial intelligence, Identity Cloak enables users to quickly remove all but the subjects of interest from video footage.
Automated redaction processes run in the background without tying up valuable staff resources – enabling staff members to work on other business-critical projects.
Securing sensitive data
It is not uncommon for a considerable amount of information to be classified as confidential, including patient records, communications between lawyers and their clients, financial information, and trade secrets. The whole organisation needs to be aware and work towards respecting this confidentiality.
Richard concludes, “For best data privacy practices, your staff should be trained on your privacy protocols. Regularly remind your employees about the importance of data privacy. Most data officers argue that in-house data privacy processing constitutes the best practice. Anything that exits the premises can introduce unnecessary risks.”
Names, addresses, faces, number plates and any other personally identifiable information in documents or videos must remain confidential when people share information.
Facit software is an easy-to-use, scalable and fast-to-implement solution, and its video redaction solution, Identity Cloak, is emerging as the technology of choice for video DSARs.