AI Command Centers for Critical Infrastructure Surveillance

Whether it be Banks, ATMs, other financial institutions, mobile towers, unmanned generator rooms, or large enterprises which comprise the critical infrastructure for the functioning of an economy they are prone to security threats, fire hazards, and intrusions.

For instance, in 2020, the state of Bihar in India had the highest number of ATM fraud offenses reported, with more than 642 cases registered with the authorities. The country recorded over 2000 cases related to ATM frauds that year. With an estimated INR 9450 Cr on average at any given point of time residing within ATMs across India, this is a huge passive security threat.

Why did we have such high levels of security lapses in our financial infra?

Firstly, India’s banking infrastructure is huge – there are 2,52,000 ATMs under the National Financial Switch alone where 300 million+ transactions happen annually and 14.58 commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults.

Secondly, the current state of our e-surveillance systems for such a large financial infrastructure is riddled with inefficiencies in the form of –

• Central command centers that are understaffed with a high chance of events going undetected
• Alarm systems are not connected centrally and work as independent siloed systems.
• Manual intervention is required for regular sensor health checks with no way to trace breakdown and analyze the root cause
• Certain systems such as 2-way audio inside ATMs are not connected to the command center
• In case of theft, systems themself are stolen (CCTVs/NVR) and hence evidence/proof is unavailable

There is a lot of uncertainty with the current systems as we are not sure if the system is live or a recording is available after a theft, due to the probability of the CCTVs/NVR itself being stolen. And this is the case of e-surveillance systems whereas a large part of India is still dependent on human security guards & panic buttons at financial institutions.

And also more people cannot be hired at scale in a timely manner, for financial institution security because of the extent of background verification and criminal checks needed to employ anyone who deals with ATMs or banks. Importantly, banks and independent ATM operators use the interchange fee to make their operations viable and they have a limit to their spending on security to be operationally profitable.

The curious case of other critical infrastructure

When we look at mobile cell towers (especially where the towers are not connected to the electrical grid and powered by diesel generators) and unmanned generator rooms they have a constant threat of diesel theft. And owing to the nature of these infrastructures, they are also at risk of fire hazards, natural disasters, and various equipment failures which can disrupt their service.

Mobile towers and generator rooms are as well appealing targets to thieves and vandals due to the predominant lack of security measures to protect them. There have been many reported instances of diesel pilferage, vandalism, copper wire theft, and battery larceny.

The nature of this physical security risk is as well applicable to warehouses, industries and companies both big and small dealing with high volumes of people, vehicles, and material movements; these enterprises are prone to thefts, intrusions, fire hazards, flooding, or burglary.

It might be unsurprising that India is at the No. 1 spot globally for loss due to shrinkage (reduction in inventory due to employee theft, shoplifting, or accounting error), mainly due to employee theft, according to a study conducted by the Centre for Retail Research in Nottingham, UK and supported by Checkpoint Systems, a global major in shrink management. As per the study, the estimated shrinkage cost of the global retail industry alone was a whopping $119 billion in 2011.

The existing surveillance solutions are effective against customer thefts as they can be handled easily, but when it comes to internal shrinkage which is a bigger challenge current solutions have proven to be of low accuracy due to human-dependent errors.

When most critical infrastructures such as Banks, ATMs, Financial Institutions, Mobile towers, and Secure Commercial zones have such inefficient surveillance systems, imagine the state of other critical infra of lesser significance?

We are at a point in time where times are uncertain and it calls for a modern command center that is enabled with smart analytics using Artificial Intelligence for surveillance of these critical infrastructures with intelligent detection.

What does it mean when we say – Modern AI-enabled Command Center for Surveillance?

A single point control system with AI video analytics and AIoT hub that provides real-time detection of events on a pro-active basis. Such a system will also result in –

• Increased manpower productivity
• Complete reduction in manual dependency
• Enablement in adherence of SLAs for security departments & agencies
• Reduction in financial loss due to shrinkage and uncertainties

At Pixuate, the pioneer in the field of advanced video analytics we have built a complete unified platform catering to the surveillance needs of critical infrastructure.

The Pixuate platform defines the Modern AI-enabled Command Center with its expansive AIoT Hub integration capabilities –

• Door sensors
• Fire sensors
• Panic/Help alarm buttons
• IP & Analog network connection
• CCTV camera health check
• Network connection integration
• DVR/NVR health check

For financial institutions – banks, ATMs, etc we bring 24*7 analytics capabilities that cover every possible security threat –

• Multi-Person detection
• Helmet detection
• Camera Movement
• Camera Obstruction
• Loitering Face Mask/Helmet
• Unattended baggage
• Animal detection
• Fire/Smoke alarm
• Intruder detection

Pixuates’ modern AI-enabled command center is actively used in the monitoring of several unmanned critical zones such as generator rooms and warehouses and high-security premises in large enterprises. Pixuate has brought to the global market an intelligent e-surveillance system with the combined power of AI video analytics and AIoT that enable the 24*7 operation of critical infrastructure with zero threats and mishaps.

We have seen security leaders commend the Pixuate platform as they are enabled on a real-time basis to match the rate of data gathering and intelligence with the rate at which events happen on the ground to take proactive measures.

We would love to chat with security leaders and operators in the critical infrastructure space to understand their problems deeply and see how we can add value by solving their problems. Do hit us up if you would like to discuss your challenges.

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