The National Security Inspectorate (NSI) is supporting the inaugural Surveillance Camera Day on Thursday, June 20. The NSI urges all those with an interest in surveillance cameras to join this nationwide conversation about all aspects of video surveillance.
Organised by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner (SCC) with the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP), the day is a way of raising awareness and debate about the use of surveillance cameras in society. Whether you install cameras, operate them, use them, manufacture them or are captured by them.
NSI’s longstanding and close working relationship with the Commissioner, having been appointed at the scheme launch in 2015 to provide a third party certification service, enables those operating public space camera surveillance to verify and provide evidence of their compliance with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice. The Code aims to balance the need for cameras in public places with individuals’ rights to privacy – to keep communities safe and secure.
Since then, NSI has helped to develop the SCC Buyers’ Toolkit and promoted the SCC Code of Practice, attending SCC roadshows and speaking about its benefits at IFSEC and the NSI Summit. A ‘Doors Open’ initiative encourages video surveillance camera control rooms to open their doors to members of the public and publish information about how and why they use surveillance cameras.
Richard Jenkins, Chief Executive, NSI said: “NSI is proud to be an approved Certification Body appointed by the SCC. We whole-heartedly welcome this new initiative emphasising the benefits of SCC Code of Practice certification and the wider message it represents about the value of independent auditing. This Code complements NSI’s own Code of Practice for the Design, Installation and Commissioning of CCTV Surveillance Systems, NCP 104, which our NSI NACOSS Gold and Systems Silver approved companies apply to all their CCTV systems.”
“I urge all those with an interest in surveillance cameras to get involved and join the debate in what is another bold step by the Commissioner to increase understanding of good governance for public space surveillance. Such initiatives synergise with our commitment to raising standards within the security sector, in partnership with our stakeholders.”
On the day, the third and final day of IFSEC, Surveillance Camera Commissioner Tony Porter will deliver a keynote address on ‘Secure by Default’, new minimum requirements for manufacturers of Video Surveillance Systems (VSSs) ensuring the default configuration settings of a product are the most secure settings possible, at the IFSEC 2019 Keynote Arena. He will then join a panel debate.
These new requirements are designed to ensure that when VSSs are manufactured they are built to a minimum cyber security standard, and are therefore “secure by default”.
NSI are exhibiting at IFSEC International, on June 18 to 20 at ExCeL London, on stand IF2940.
Picture by Mark Rowe; public space cameras, Edinburgh.
