Honeywell K14392V1 Compromising response to an alarm, Compromising and locking-out a Multi SA

Security for a Multi-Media System

supplement tracing of events, as explained in Tracing Events, below. Boosted recording can override a unit to record a video feed from a camera with recording turned OFF. See figure 10–12.

Fig. 10–12. Overriding a Camera that is not Recording, Using Event Recording.

Destruction of recorded video and denial of service: clearing storage

Clearing a unit’s storage or one of its streams destroys all recorded video and, during the time that a unit is emptied (up to a few hours; see Clearing Storage, on p. 129), a Multi-Media unit cannot show live video, record video, nor send alarms, and so on. To do so requires use of the password to the Administrator account.

Please train operators of accounts that include the right to use “Clear Storage” or “Clear Stream” buttons.

Compromising response to an alarm

Scheduling alarms to not trigger. See Alarms and Scheduling, p. 109. This feature is designed to control some obvious false alarms. It can be abused to defeat security.

Using more than one Multi db. Using a database “A” set to “system password A” with the LVP utility, to create a site definition for units protected by “system password B”, can lead to much confusion if that user were to update security on the unit. The LVP utility does not change the system password on the unit; updating security does. Updating security with another "A" system password locks out all other View Operators who attempt to log on (using their usual “B” database), thus jeopardizing their ability to respond to alarms and to requests for video clips/stills.

Honeywell does not recommend using many databases even if they are set to the same system passwords.

Compromising and locking-out a Multi SA

The locking out of authorized, legitimate users from the Multi-Media units on your Rapid Eye system, including the Multi SA, is a worst-case scenario for high-security organizations. Many steps are needed by an instigator: obtaining copies of Admin and View software, creating another database, having knowledge of your system password. Even access to your Multi Central database, knowledge of Admin and of the Administrator account’s password could allow a malevolent user to change passwords to the Administrator’s account, to the system; then update security on units, locking everyone out. “Need to know” and access control are your best assets.

Countermeasures. If ever such a breach of trust occurs, contact Multi technical support for help, as explained in For Questions on p. 22.

LocalView

Another case of breach-of-trust can occur through LocalView, which can be used to change a unit’s LAN communication settings.

186