Cisco Video Surveillance Manager

The video surveillance server with the corresponding software of Cisco Video Surveillance Manager (provides IP video surveillance system management, has modular structure and supports web monitoring, management, record and storage of an audio-and video information).

2019: Cisco paid $8.6 million for sale of software with vulnerabilities

On July 31, 2019 it became known that Cisco agreed to settle the legal claim which initiators accused the company of sale of the rejected software to the American government. This case can become a precedent for similar trials in the future.

Within this case of Cisco paid $8.6 million, and the most part — to government agencies. More than $1 million were received by the author of the claim James Glenn working in the NetDesign company cooperating with Cisco in Denmark.

Cisco punished for sale of the rejected software to the U.S. Government

Glenn filed a lawsuit against Cisco in May, 2011, having accused the company of sale of software of Cisco Video Surveillance Manager  with vulnerabilities. This software serves for control of surveillance cameras, storage of the finished shooting video records and allows operators to manage records from cameras.

According to the claimant, defects in work of this software allowed malefactors to get unauthorized access to data of the companies and control over corporate network through Cisco Video Surveillance Manager and also to remotely disconnect video surveillance systems, to delete videos and to crack other security systems with network access (for example, signallings or electronic locks). Glenn's lawyers on judicial listenings said that weak points in software could be found and used easily in criminal objectives.

It was similar at that time from movies about robberies when the person types on the notebook the text in 30 seconds and I speak "In case" — the lawyer Michael Ronickher representing Glenn's interests in court reported.

James Glenn claimed that he notified Cisco on a problem in October, 2008, however the company did not react to this notification and continued to sell the vulnerable software, including to the authorities of states of the USA.

Vulnerabilities about which the claimant spoke were eliminated in Cisco Video Surveillance Manager only in 2013, and a year later the product was removed from sale without explanation. The solution was used at the International airport of Los Angeles, police of Washington, a system public transport New York and also at numerous schools.

As notes Reuters, the case with Cisco became unique — the company for the first time paid for violation of the law about  false claims (False Claims Act) at non-compliance with standards of cyber security. This law allows to make  responsible individuals or the companies,  the misleading state bodies. And any person if he has proofs which were not known to the public earlier can file a lawsuit.

Respondents of Reuters experts consider that after settlement of this claim a great number of others of similar can follow. Cisco payment "obviously gives an opportunity to enterprising or potential claimants to look for new examples, similar to it", professor of the right of Georgetown University Gregory Klass considers.

Software interface Cisco Video Surveillance Manager

There is such culture when give preference of profit and reputation, but not to what is correct. I hope that my experience will set other participants of technology community thinking of the ethics of management — James Glenn after settlement of the claim to Cisco said.

The representative of Cisco Robyn Blum in a conversation with news agency told that the company is glad to the dispute resolution about architecture of a product for security of video surveillance systems.

No applications or the evidence that any unauthorized access to video by clients happened because of this architecture were produced — she emphasized.[1]

Virtualization of the software of Cisco Video Surveillance

Virtualization of the software of Cisco Video Surveillance allowed Cisco company to increase considerably performance, scalability, flexibility and controllability of the solutions.

The solutions Cisco for ensuring physical security (Cisco Physical Security) help the organizations to rebuild methods of protection of people, property and crucial infrastructure. Virtualization of these solutions using applications of Cisco for the unified data processing centers (Cisco Unified Data Center) is carried out within the strategy providing creation of completely modular architecture of all products of the Cisco Physical Security family. Such approach will allow to optimize IP networks and to create a solid technology basis for the systems of ensuring physical security.

The solution Video Surveillance Manager for the UCS environment is the first system module of video surveillance of Cisco Video Surveillance intended for fast deployment within the large-scale solutions ensuring safety on crucial infrastructure facilities in the large cities on transport, in medical institutions, on objects of the power industry and in other areas. This solution supports centralized operation, expands possibilities of specialists in assessment of the situation and allows to react to the developed circumstances in real time.

Unlike solutions based on dedicated servers, the new modular Cisco UCS platform is perfectly scaled, allowing building of resources to 1,000 percent. The new solution allows the customer to support tens of thousands of video cameras and to implement network systems of video surveillance in the commercial organizations, for the benefit of rescue services and when holding large-scale mass actions.

The solution UCS Express expands possibilities of providing access to a video surveillance system on network as to service, turning all system in idle time in installation the virtual solution consolidating applications on a blade servers and allowing to use the equipment which is already installed in branches of many large organizations.

The Cisco UCS platform allows to consolidate infrastructure of the complete solution in a data processing center using innovative functions of virtualization, data storage, selection of resources, input-output and management. Cisco UCS Express supports connection to a single computing platform of any user devices and facilitates use of the applications placed in DPC, different departments of the company.

The control functions implemented in the solutions Cisco Unified Data Center, Unified Management, Unified Fabric and Unified Computing System provide high flexibility of IT infrastructure of the organization, allow to select quickly resources and reduce operating costs.

Means of reliable differentiation of data and applications of different users in the multi-user environment increase the level of security of logical partitions and expand abilities to manage with access.

After the virtualized Cisco Video Surveillance system is ported on the UCS platforms of the B and C series, together with this solution it will be possible to use the modular, scalable, energy efficient Cisco Physical Security Storage platforms and also the solutions for data storage, best in the industry, differing in high density from EMC and Netapp companies.

The flexible options of financing provided by financial institution of Cisco Capital® do acquisition of products and services of Cisco simpler and available.

Availability

2014: Cisco VSM 7.5

On February 24, 2014 Cisco announced the beginning of sales in the market of Russia of a new software version Cisco Video Surveillance Manager - Cisco VSM 7.5.

Description

According to developers, in comparison with the previous version, Cisco VSM 7.5 has several advantages among which:

• the improved scalability by means of the Cisco VSM Federator function. She helps to create a single system of video surveillance, having turned on in it up to one million cameras and to create a hierarchical management system.

• effective use of bandwidth of trunk communication channels when viewing the image from one set of cameras (or from one camera) several operators. This convenience is provided by the Dynamic Proxy function - to get access to video flows from the remote branches having channels with limited bandwidth. Video is delivered without creation of additional loading in remote branch.

• the improved cartographic opportunities are implemented by the GIS Maps function. Now users can tie video surveillance systems to geographical coordinates using Google maps of Maps, Bing, OpenStreetMap and others.

• the VSM platform is open for development of proprietary applications in the field of video analytics. In cameras of families 3000/6000/7000 support function of mini-applications is added (are loaded into cameras, using their hardware resources). Similar applications help to implement the specific algorithms of analytics applying video or information arriving on "dry" contacts of video cameras as sources. The signals of alarms and events received as a result of work of analytics are transferred to the VSM server, remain in a videoarchive, cause operation of triggers in VSM and external applications integrated by means of VSM API and can be used for search of the necessary video fragment in archive.

• the improved Medianet feature set, for simplification of adding of cameras in a system, setup of switches and guaranteeing high-quality delivery of video signal against the camera to the server and the operator. Cisco VSM 7.5 supports the Medianet Mediatrace and Flow Visualization functions giving to the operator of a possibility of monitoring of performance, search of the bottlenecks in network affecting quality of the transferred video flow notifications of the system administrator by means of the graphical interface thereby considerably increasing quality of the received video information.