Rebecca Spayne of Security Buyer sits down with Brandon Salzberg, VP of Engineering, Rhombus to discover how the industry is navigating cloud technology
Please introduce yourself and give us a brief insight into Rhombus?
Founded in 2016, Rhombus was one of the first companies in the world to develop cloud-based physical security at the enterprise level. Since pioneering cloud security cameras, we’ve continued to create new, innovative ways to serve our customers. Rhombus offers cameras, sensors, access control solutions, and alarm monitoring, available with dynamic integrations and robust AI analytics that streamline physical security initiatives. We’re proud to pave the way for modernised physical security.
My own background has always been in security, albeit cybersecurity as the Head of Engineering at Mojave Networks, which was then acquired by Sophos. As the VP of Engineering at Rhombus, my passion is really with how to move the physical security space forward by applying a pragmatic scrutiny to the space and turning innovation-driven development practices into a competitive advantage.
The security industry has seen a rapid shift from on-premises solutions to hybrid and fully cloud-based systems. What do you see as the main drivers of this transition?
Most legacy, on-premises solutions have significant gaps that simply aren’t sustainable and aren’t built for scale. They’re too cumbersome to operate and too risky from an audit and compliance standpoint.
Many legacy systems lack modern encryption methods for communication between devices, making them vulnerable to interception and manipulations. Frequently, systems are siloed, lacking integration with IT and cybersecurity frameworks, resulting in gaps in overall cyber threat detection and responses. Firmware patches for legacy and on-premises systems present multiple issues—from time-consuming on-site manual updates to the exposure to unknown vulnerabilities once a manufacturer stops providing firmware updates.
Businesses across industries—education, food & beverage, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, storage & warehouse—recognise and embrace cloud-based systems because of the efficiencies and safety that the cloud provides for physical security initiatives. Unified platforms with cloud-based physical security solutions, with end-to-end encryption and automatic security updates, are today’s best options for speeding integrations and delivering the scalable functionality that businesses need.
How are businesses navigating this change to modernise their physical security infrastructure?
Businesses can deploy and manage comprehensive physical security infrastructure more easily than was the case with traditional, on-premises solutions. As you might expect, AI plays an increasingly important role: it’s democratising a higher standard of physical security, offering the same level of security that’s existed for a long time for those who could afford it (airports, casinos, etc.) to everyone.
Large organisations, especially, are thinking about how they can do more with their data and existing tech stack by overlaying AI or adding more advanced cameras and sensors to the mix.
Security-wise, much of what’s being done today could also be done by an efficient human watching a 24×7 feed. What’s revolutionary is the fact that it can be done without a human now. It’s not just about making things safer but making safety accessible to everyone.
Open APIs and interoperability are becoming critical in creating seamless integrations across security ecosystems. How do you see this trend influencing the industry’s approach to unifying systems?
This is near and dear to the heart of Rhombus. We’ve had a fully open API from day one.
Open and interoperable solutions make it easier for organisations to realise the promise of all this modern tech, given the realities of change management, budgets, operational disruptions, etc.
An open platform facilitates flexibility, making advanced technologies simple to use. Users can optimise solutions to best meet their needs—whether customising a dashboard or embedding camera feeds and data into an existing management portal as a single source of truth.
Cloud-based solutions are often lauded for their scalability. How is this influencing their adoption across different regions, and are there unique challenges or opportunities that come in markets with varying security or infrastructure standards?
Cybersecurity and data privacy regulations are evolving rapidly. This is true both regionally (GDPR in the EU, National Defense Authorization Act/NDAA in the US, for example) and on an industry-by-industry basis (such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act/HIPAA and the Biometric Information Piracy Act/BIPA in healthcare, or the Payment Card Industry Compliance/PCI standards for payment transactions).
Cloud-based systems that adhere to these regulations can protect users’ systems to the fullest extent of modern technology and best practices. This is an opportunity to adhere to standards in a much more manageable way than is the case with legacy or on-premises systems….
To read the full interview, see our latest issue here.
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Rebecca Morpeth Spayne,
Editor, Security Portfolio
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