SIA Standards Update From ISC West 2023

By Edison Shen, Director of Standards and Technology, SIA on April 4, 2023 | , , |
standards concept

This article was originally published on LinkedIn Pulse on April 3, 2023.

It was an incredible week March 28-31 in Las Vegas! With the ISC West hangover still fresh, I wanted to highlight a few concepts that were discussed in and out of the slew of standards-related meetings. If any of these concepts resonate with you, then please reach out and get involved.

  1. Security Design Standard: It was a privilege to share the speaker’s stage with Steve Van Till, Art Hushen, and Lee Odess at The Lounge to reveal our vision to increase the professionalism of our industry through developing a security design standard. The standard will set out to develop prescribed security requirements to be adopted and supported by the security manufacturers, integrators, architects and engineers, building owners and operators, insurers and regulators. Paula Balmori Beltrán has been instrumental in recruiting and kickstarting a group and will continue to steer the initiative.
  2. AG-01: The Architectural Graphics Working Group chaired by Larry Fosnight has set its goals to review and overhaul the AG-01 standard. The next milestones include recruiting targeted stakeholders, reviewing and revising the standard scope, and drafting a list of security devices. They are specifically seeking an architect or designer with experience utilizing Revit and an integrator knowledgeable on various solutions and vendors. Please contact Cameron Walker-Miller (cmiller@securityindustry.org) or Larry Fosnight if you are willing to lend us your expertise and can commit to the deadlines.
  3. Blockchain Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI): I had a crash course with Kabir Maiga on decentralized credentials. It may become the path of compliance with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, CDPA and future data privacy laws. Our industry should consider driving the discussion and action in the race (or convergence) between physical access control and logical access control. Appreciate seeing a proof of concept by Manish Dalal.
  4. Counter-Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (C-UAS): The SIA C-UAS Working Group was approved to support the White House’s Domestic Counter-UAS National Plan. Bill Edwards, who chairs this group, comes with a wealth of experience from his military service and, along with group members, will work to identify opportunities to engage with the 118th Congress and continue to strategize on mitigation techniques for the potential risks of UAS to civilians.
  5. SIA Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP): The SIA OSDP Technical Subcommittee co-led by Steve Rogers and Tony Diodato celebrated the completion of the draft OSDP v2.2.1. Once the draft has been reviewed and approved, the subcommittee will get right back to work reviewing proposals for new enhancements and features for OSDP such as increased cybersecurity (AES 256, AES 512, ECC?), peripheral device autodiscovery, file retrieval and PIV implementation.
  6. Metadata: Following the success of the joint ONVIF and SIA joint State of the Standard Webinar, Leo Levit, and Peter Boriskin reunited the SIA Standards Committee and proposed the concept of developing metadata for access control and other security solutions. A working group was formed to spearhead researching metadata within security solutions to communicate between device controllers to any other device or platform.
  7. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Richard Burns, chair of ISS – Intelligent Security Systems, hosted a prestigious panel, including Bill Bozeman, Pierre Trapanese, John Mack and James Rothstein to explore the progress of AI in the security sector. After an informative discussion, a smaller group collaborated and concluded there exists market confusion on an industry-accepted assessment for video analytics and SIA could help fill this gap by forming an AI advisory board tasked with developing and disseminating industry consensus framework on AI solutions. The next step will be to present this proposal before the SIA Board of Directors for consideration and approval.
  8. Cloud: There has been growing adoption of cloud integration in the security industry, but opportunities still exist. The benefits of shifting to the cloud include decreased costs and increased reliability, and scalability; however, concerns still remain on pricing structures and lack of training. I’ve already had some initial discussions with Scott Schafer and Maureen Carlo, and the next step will be to request the formation of a working group to collaborate among stakeholders to develop resources for cloud adoption.
  9. Perimeter Security: The SIA Perimeter Security Roundtable hosted by SIA Perimeter Security Subcommittee Chair Robert Reiter identified two main topics for engagement supported by Jake Parker and Colby Williams. The first is to form a coalition of bollard manufacturers to strategize on how to engage with the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel on ways our industry can assist the Protective Design Center in maintaining an up-to-date and accurate U.S. Department of Defense antiram vehicle barrier list. The industry understands the value the list has on military installations and wishes to support all stakeholders of this critical resource. And second is regarding the multiple grants approved for the installation of gates, fences and bollards solutions such as the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and Stopping Threats on Pedestrians Act. SIA has resources aimed at guiding customers on the process of identifying and submitting federal grants. SIA’s government relations team will work with members to identify additional opportunities and establish policy positions.
  10. Intrusion and Alarm: The SIA Intrusion Subcommittee chaired by Boris Stern held its annual in-person meeting to address issues for the alarm industry. One topic of note was the concept of developing a classification for alarm systems which could help differentiate the services and solutions end-users are looking for in their coverage. Thanks to Thomas Nakatani and Mark Hillenburg for laying out some background and recommending the next action to review the current state of the industry.

I appreciated the opportunity to connect in person with everyone who attended ISC West and look forward to working with the members of this passionate community in SIA’s vision to be a catalyst for success within the global security industry. Until next year!

…now back to minutes writing.