Why is Audiovisual Cybersecurity so important? Let us explore the subject in greater detail to formulate an answer to the question.
While IT teams can successfully protect standard IT devices using traditional cybersecurity monitoring tools, audiovisual components are not as well understood so securing them is often neglected. The reason for the de-emphasis is not necessarily due to less risk, arguably they represent the same risk, but often because they are different and managing them is difficult.
What makes audiovisual devices so unique from standard IT appliances? Audiovisual (AV for short) devices must solve a variety of challenges for a myriad of applications and markets, therefore audiovisual products come in many shapes and sizes. This diversity also means that from product to product and vendor to vendor the hardware, CPU, operating system, and security features vary and are rarely the same. From the IT perspective these devices can generate a lot of false-positive results due to their unique profiles, less hardened operating systems, and less sophisticated security posture. Remediation therefore becomes challenging for the teams responsible as there is a gap in understanding if the product is in fact operating as the vendor intended. This can also create a challenge when discussing security with vendors, as often AV vendors themselves have de-emphasized security due to a lack of understanding and expertise on the subject.
It should also be acknowledged that audiovisual systems have a higher risk of exposure to bad actors (adversaries to an organization) due to their prolific use throughout so many spaces which encounter internal and external parties almost daily, unlike their IT counterparts which can more easily be physically protected as access is rarely required. The combination of accessibility and vulnerability is what bad actors are looking for. As cyber threats (e.g. malware and ransomware) continue to increase and become more sophisticated, the cybersecurity of an organization is under threat from all angels, therefore it is risky to neglect the audiovisual systems utilized throughout the enterprise.
HiCLIFF specializes in bringing a new level of understanding and an emphasis on providing practical cybersecurity measures to the audiovisual market. By working with AV vendors and capturing their product’s security posture, HiCLIFF vulnerability scanning generates less false positives. By detecting missing or incorrect product configuration, HiCLIFF can aid in a constructive process to provide the best security possible for the audiovisual environment. By adding an additional layer of cybersecurity monitoring, customer’s can increase their DiD (Defence in Depth) to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the organization.
Click to follow us on LinkedIn