Mint Security Solutions launches £30,000 CCTV Demonstration Suite in Worksop. 

Letting customers get hands on with state-of-the-art security solutions.

Choosing the best security system for your home or business can be daunting. Mint Security Solutions can now offer customers the chance to get hands on with the latest security equipment in a new state-of-the-art demonstration suite.

With so many CCTV cameras and other types of security equipment available, how do you know which is the right choice for you?

In most cases, you rely on a specialist security company like Mint to suggest the best home or business security solution for your situation. But without seeing the equipment in action, it can be hard to appreciate why we recommend particular CCTV cameras or security equipment, and quite often, the first time a customer gets to see how good the products are, is when they’re fully installed and the CCTV images appear on your smartphone or on a Digital Video Recorder (DVR).

At Mint, we’re always looking for ways to make things better for our customers, and we thought it would be a great help if they were able to see the quality and capabilities of the CCTV solutions we provide, before making the final decision for their home or business.

After discussions with Mast Digital (the authorised, tier-1 Dahua distributor), Dahua UK offered to provide us with over £25,000 of security equipment for use in a new demonstration suite, that we would build at our offices in Worksop.

Included in the suite are….

• Four Dahua 49” Full HD Monitors
• One Dahua video matrix
• A 16 channel Dahua NVR (Network Video Recorder)
• TIOC Active Deterrent Cameras
• Dahua Hubble PTZ Camera (Pan Tilt Zoom)

As one of only a handful of Dahua demonstration suites across the whole of the UK, we’re extremely proud that Dahua UK and Mast Digital chose to support Mint in the creation of our new suite and we’re extremely grateful for their huge investment in the security equipment on display.

Our central location means customers across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire can now get up close to the latest security equipment and see how it could benefit their business or improve their home security.

To get a glimpse of how we went about building it, take a look at the time-lapse video below and if you’re considering upgrading the security of your business or home, we’d love you to come and see it for yourself.

To book an appointment, get in touch on 01246 888 444 or email
[email protected]

Find out how you can keep your CCTV system safe

Installing a CCTV system is a great idea for making your home more secure. But with many CCTV systems offering access via the internet or through your smartphone, they can be a target for hackers.

A hacker is someone who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data. In the case of your CCTV system, this data would be the images your CCTV cameras capture.

So how do they gain access? Every device that’s connected to the internet has an address called an IP address (IP stands for Internet Protocol in this context). It’s these IP addresses that allow your smartphone or computer to connect to your CCTV cameras wherever you are in the world.

What the hacker does is use software or websites to trawl the internet looking for the IP addresses of CCTV cameras. Once they find one, there are a number of ways they can then try and gain access. The easiest is when the default username and password used to log in to the camera hasn’t been changed.

All the hacker has to do is use software to determine the model of your CCTV camera, type in that model’s default username and password and they will then have full access to your camera.

So the first step to securing your CCTV system is ALWAYS change the username and password.

The next thing a hacker could try is to exploit a vulnerability in a CCTV camera’s firmware. Firmware is the computer code that is stored in the camera’s memory and tells it how to operate. If hackers discover there is a flaw in this coding, they can use it to gain access to your system.

Because of this, CCTV camera manufacturers work constantly to make sure their camera’s firmware is as secure as possible. As soon as they become aware of a situation like this, they will produce a ‘patch’ to seal off the vulnerability. They will then instruct users to update their firmware to the new ‘patched’ version.

The problem with this is lots of CCTV owners don’t update their camera firmware regularly. If a camera is still using old firmware that has a vulnerability, hackers can continue using it to access the camera.

So the second step to securing your CCTV system is ALWAYS keep your CCTV camera’s firmware up to date.

So you’ve changed your username and passwords and your CCTV camera firmware is up to date. All sorted right? Not quite.

Another way a hacker can gain access is to use a Brute Force attack. This is where a hacker guesses different combinations of username and password to try to find the right one. Now, if the password is 8 characters long and you were to do this manually, it would take thousands of years to find the right one. However, using computers to make millions of guesses per second, a hacker could crack an 8 character password in a matter of minutes.

The moral of this story is to use longer passwords. If you avoid common words and use a combination of upper and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols, a 12 character password would take a computer many years to crack, rather than minutes.

It’s also worth saying that hackers probably aren’t going to devote huge amounts of resources to crack a long complex password, just so they can get a view of your driveway. In most situations, a hacker is looking for low-hanging fruit – insecure systems that use old firmware or the default username and password. However, if you want to make your system as a secure as possible, long passwords are the way to go.

The final step is to secure your WiFi. If your CCTV cameras are connected via WiFi and a hacker gains access to your wireless internet network, they could also access your camera feed. To avoid this possibility, make sure your wifi password is as strong as possible (see previously).

At Mint Security, we install CCTV cameras that are the latest models from reputable manufacturers. We will make sure your system is using the most up to date firmware and go through the setup procedure with you to make sure you can choose a username and password that’s extremely difficult for a hacker to crack. As an NSI Silver accredited company, we are assessed every year to make sure our work meets the highest standard. To see the difference Mint can make to your home security, get in touch today on 01246 888 444 or email [email protected]

How UK data protection laws affect you and your security system.

Deciding what is the best CCTV system for your home can involve all sorts of considerations, but would you give any thought to data protection?

Most people think about the number of cameras they need, where they’ll be positioned for maximum coverage and details like system
specifications for example ultra-HD cameras, night vision, and
smartphone app control. It’s fair to say, most people don’t think about data protection.

The UK Data Protection Act 2018 specifies how businesses and individuals process and manage any data they gather – and you might not realise it but a domestic CCTV system regularly captures people’s personal data.

Images of visitors to your home, delivery drivers, family members coming and going, and many other people will be captured by your CCTV cameras. These are all examples of personal data that could fall within the Data Protection Act.

Fortunately, data protection laws do not apply to home CCTV systems that only capture images within the boundaries of your property.
But if your CCTV cameras cover public spaces such as roads and
pavements, or spaces shared with others, for example driveways, gardens and parking areas, the issue becomes more complicated.

Although you may see it as a benefit to have a security camera capturing the comings and goings on your street, this could be considered an invasion of privacy for other users of this space and as such, fall within the Data Protection Act.

If you fail to comply with regulations set out in the Data Protection Act, you could be fined by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). An individuals whose privacy has been infringed, could also take legal action against you and claim compensation.

So what’s the easiest way to avoid these risks?

Position your CCTV cameras so they only capture images within the
boundaries of your property. In most cases, this will provide the security needed to protect your home from intruders or unwanted visitors, steering clear of any privacy issues.

In some situations, CCTV will need to capture public or shared spaces in order to secure your home. If that’s the case, the following tips will help reduce the risk of enforcement action being taken:

– Do you have clear and justifiable reasons for capturing images outside your property boundary? If asked, you need to be able to explain these reasons to the ICO or an individual, so write them down now.

– Make sure people know they are being recorded. Put up clear signage explaining that CCTV recording is taking place.

– Make sure any CCTV recordings are saved securely so that no one can watch it without good reason.

– Only keep footage for as long as needed and delete older CCTV
recordings regularly. Maintain a record of how long images are kept and why.

– Ensure the CCTV system is only used for the clear and justifiable reasons you initially outlined. Explain to family members and others who could have access to the system that it shouldn’t be misused.

– Do not release any footage to third parties, except the Police and other authorities when using the footage for investigation following a crime.

Alongside this, you must also maintain data protection for any people
recorded by your CCTV cameras. These people have a right to access any images of them that you hold. If they make a subject access request, either verbally or in writing, you must give them a copy of any footage within one month.

You must also delete any footage of people who request it, unless the
footage is needed for an ongoing legal dispute. In this case, you must
explain why it can’t be deleted and that they can challenge this decision in court or complain to the ICO.

If an individual objects to you capturing any more images of them on your CCTV system, you should consider very carefully why it is necessary to record images outside your property’s boundary, especially if it captures images of a neighbour’s home or garden.

To reduce the risk of these kind of situations occurring, it’s a good idea to speak to your neighbours before installing CCTV that captures images outside your property’s boundary. You could also show your neighbours the kind of footage you are capturing to allay any fears or concerns they may have.

Remember, this guidance also applies to devices such as video cameras fitted to doorbells.

If you need any support with CCTV for your home, get in touch. We’re
experts in CCTV system design, installation and maintenance. Call on
01246 888 444 or email [email protected]

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