All posts by DTS London

LOOKING AT THE BEST HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEMS IN THE MARKET

INTRODUCING CONTROL 4– PART TWO

The second part of our look at the best home automation systems in the market focuses on Control4.

Integrated technology is now the norm in a lot of home automation systems on the market. However, what really makes a home stand out from the crowd is an intelligent, intuitive system.

Say hello to Control4, which offers simplicity, elegance, and style to any home.  With the user-friendly interface of Control4, this is one of the best systems in the market to help integrate the different components throughout your property.

INTRODUCING CONTROL4 TO YOUR HOME

One of the biggest advantages of Control4 as a home automation system is its sleek component integration, user-friendly controls and fully customisable interfaces.

Control4 technology synchronizes all the technical devices in your home to work together. It’s simple, easy to use and wonderfully efficient.

In addition there are several different ways you can interact with your system, from a phone or tablet to a remote control.

WITH THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON

With the touch of a button you can select and control every aspect of your home from lighting, CCTV, temperature to music.

Features such as smart lighting also choose the setting for you, in accordance to a certain category like cooking.

The thermostat control of your house is accessible from anywhere using your mobile device, and that means you can set your preferences and curb your bills by monitoring your use and scheduling.

If you’re into music, the surround sound systems and background music options make it easy for you to listen to your favourites hands free.

The inbuilt security cameras will have various sensors to make sure you’re alerted if anything goes wrong. So wherever you are, your house will be safe.

SET THE SCENE

If you thought the above features were good, then they were only the basics.

A new feature of Control4 is the ‘Set the Scene’, which allows you to control all the devices of a certain room to create the ideal setting.

For example, picture how you can wake up each morning using the Control4 system.

Instead of blaring alarm clocks and blinding lights, you wake up to the sound of your favourite music, your room would then gradually bright and your shades slowly opening. How’s that for a perfect morning?  The Control4 system is stunning, seamless and puts you in full control.

If you’re interested in buying a Control4 home automation installers or simply want to know more, DTS are approved to fit and install to satisfy your security needs. Contact us on 0208 090 7485 or alternatively email us on info@dtslondon.co.uk

LOOKING AT THE SMART HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEMS IN THE MARKET

Security has never been more important. In fact, the protection of your house, property and business is becoming an increasing priority.

This growing trend for increased security has seen more and more individuals turning to the use of home automation systems.

The ease and versatility of home automation systems is one of the main reasons they are proving so popular.  Home automation systems not only integrate the controlling of your lights, heating and doors, they also allow you to view your place of choice on a 24/7 basis.

As one of the leading companies providing security and safety in London, DTS have the expertise and technical knowledge of working with some of the leading providers in the market including Crestron, Control 4, Savant and Lutron Lighting.

With so much choice available in the market today, we thought it would be a helpful to do a series on the best home automation systems currently on offer.

INTRODUCING CRESTRON – PART 1

Crestron is undoubtedly one of the leading manufacturers of integrated systems since 1968.

But is Crestron home automation the right for you? Let’s look closely at a few of the biggest advantages of the Crestron home automation system.

EASE OF CONVENIENCE

As one of the leading automation systems in the market, it allows you to control the brightness of your lights, the temperature of individual rooms and the opening and closing of windows and doors.  And all this can be done completely remotely.

This seamless system puts you in control of your house to such an extent that you can tailor the settings to a morning and evening so that when you get home from work your taken to a heated, brightly lit house.

EASY ACCESS

The control over your home is accessible through a series of elegant devices, from small mounted touch screens to keypads. These elegant devices can complement any type of decor and come with waterproofing in areas such as the bathroom and kitchen.

SECURE ALL THE TIME

With the ability to view your house or office from your phone you can check up several times a day. Users will also receive pop-up notifications and alerts if the system spots any issues.

If you’re interested in buying a smart home automation system or simply want to know more, DTS are approved to fit and install to satisfy your security needs. Contact us on 0208 090 7485 or alternatively you can email us on info@dtslondon.co.uk

6 Things to Consider When Installing a Physical Security Solution

A physical security system is likely to represent a significant investment, so it’s well worth taking the time to find the right one. This will depend upon your own unique situation, but there are a number of factors which should be taken into account regardless of your own requirements. Make sure you consider the following in order to avoid making the wrong decision.

  1. Appropriate Security

Security should clearly be your primary concern, but there’s no one-size-fits-all option for a superior system. Make sure you take the time to establish exactly what your needs are before you begin looking for your own physical security solution.

  1. Throughput

Throughput refers to the number of people who can pass through a system within a certain amount of time. Before you commit to an entrance system, take your peak requirements into account and gauge whether you need any special requirements.

  1. Appearance

Your security system should be effective first and attractive second, but it’s worth taking some time to take aesthetics into account. This system will reflect upon your organisation, so consider how it will look and how you can make it appear more attractive.

  1. Cost

You’ll clearly need to take the initial cost into consideration, but that should be weighed against other financial concerns. Consider product life, energy consumption, and whether you can use the system to replace costly manned security. This system should be with you for years, so ongoing costs should be as much of a concern as initial ones.

  1. Training and Installation

Most manufacturers don’t install their own products, so technical training can be important to ensure that the system works well for years to come. Check whether certification programs are available for installers in order to keep them trained, as well as whether planned maintenance is available.

  1. Safety

Safety will rarely be a driving force when you’re choosing a system, but it’s one issue which could completely undermine your decision. Make sure the system is code compliant; it should meet all fire egress codes, provide visual and audible communication, protect users from moving components by using sensors, and come with instructional materials with which to train new users.

 

Physical security systems are becoming ever more advanced, but this often means that it’s trickier to find the right one to meet your needs. Use this guide to ensure that you can do so.

Cisco security appliances open to attack

The security device industry leader Cisco recently shocked many enterprises by admitting to a vulnerability in many of its products that could allow an attacker to take complete control over an appliance. The company said that this was traceable to default, authorised SSH keys in all of its virtual appliances for web security, email security and content security management.

There could be few more serious bugs for any enterprise to deal with, given the scope for an attacker who discovers the default SSH key to do almost anything they wish with vulnerable boxes, as are installed in great number around the world by virtue of Cisco’s prominent market-leading position. It was apparently support reasons that motivated the incorporation of the default key into the software.

Cisco’s advisory said: “A vulnerability in the remote support functionality of Cisco WSAv, Cisco ESAv, and Cisco SMAv Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to connect to the affected system with the privileges of the root user.”

Such a vulnerability is unfortunately by no means unique to Cisco’s software, with one security engineering manager, Tod Beardsley, commenting that most providers of firmware now realised how much of a “Bad Idea” telenet-based remote administration was, resulting in a greater tendency towards secure shell (SSH) based administration consoles.

However, Beardsley said that vendors occasionally mistakenly shipped a single default SSH key across an entire product line. “While it’s better than telnet, all it takes for an attacker to compromise these devices is to get a hold of one of them (or an Internet mirror of the firmware), extract the key, and then go to town.

“As we come across devices like this, we recommend that vendors instead have a ‘first boot’ procedure that dynamically generates a unique SSH key for that device. That way, the keys are distinct per customer, and not shared among all customers and whomever else gets a hold of the key.”

An attacker exploiting the Cisco vulnerability would enjoy essentially undetected access to a target system, with the firm admitting that this would be especially simple to do if the attacker had a man-in-the-middle position in a target network.

Cisco said that although no workaround for the vulnerability existed, it had released patches for all affected versions of the software. With the company stating that it had discovered the bug during internal security testing, such a story seems to confirm – once again – just how crucial it is for all kinds of organisations to keep a close eye on their security arrangements and take appropriate action if any of their systems turn out to be susceptible.

Smart city applications: the future?

It seems that almost anything and everything is getting incorporated into the Internet of Things (IoT) in recent times – and street lights are no exception. That’s at least if plans by the city of Los Angeles are anything to go by, with workers in the City of Angels set to be given the ability to remotely control local street lights.

The proposals involve the attachment of GPS-enabled mobile chips to the street lights already around the city, allowing a city worker to turn individual lights on or off, or even visibly brighten or dim them. The introduction of such technology could bring various benefits, not least reduced costs, given how it would allow energy usage to be restricted to the places and times for which it is actually required.

As Ed Ebrahimian, director of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting, explained to CNN: “We’ll be able to find out if a light goes out right away, as opposed to waiting for someone to call. It’s really about customer service.” Also exciting for authorities is the scope for coordination with the LA 911 system that would enable lights to be automatically switched on in an emergency, Ebrahimian saying that it “opens the door to all sorts of smart city applications.”

However, not every observer has been convinced of the wisdom of the plan, security analyst Ken Westin telling Infosecurity that the potential for just one human being to control neighbourhood lighting raised the question of how security would be ensured.

Westin commented: “Although they plan to use encryption and secure networks, there are additional considerations that should be taken into account, such as how the firmware in these lights will be updated. Although the system may be ‘secure’ now, as the lights and network become more distributed they become a target for hackers who will identify vulnerabilities in the system and the lights themselves.”

The supplier of the mobile chips, Philips, has provided assurance of “banking-level” encryption technology, adding that the system used cell networks from mobile operators that were more secure than local networks in an effort to ward off potential hackers.

However, Westin deemed these arrangements insufficient, claiming that while using a cellular network was “convenient as they do not need to lay cable”, it nonetheless brought “additional vulnerabilities to the system”. He explained: “A cell jammer can block communication to the devices, and if networks are otherwise unavailable, can make these devices inoperable.”

Westin also warned the LA authorities that this would not be a system that they could “set and forget”, given the “number of moving parts in this system, and given the high profile of the system it makes it an appealing target for thieves.”

Clearly, then, the city will have its work cut out as far as the monitoring and maintenance of such a system is concerned, not merely the installation process. Still, we can’t deny that we’re excited to see how such plans pan out, not least the indication that the results could give of the way the world’s cities function in the future.