How AI Is Making Cyber‑Physical Security Operations More Efficient

The adoption and deployment of digitally-enabled physical security puts this technology firmly in the crosshairs of AI and cybersecurity assistance.

AI, depending on the use case, delivers greater productivity value to security teams, opportunities for improved efficiency and deeper understanding of security needs.  

Cybersecurity takes over to support the network side of physical security.

It ensures that those networks remain private, video and other content are suitably encrypted and protected, and stored in a way that complies with market and national or international compliance requirements.

And when criminals try to breach physical security systems using digital methods, their attacks are blocked and security is notified.   

The Rise of AI and Cybersecurity in Defending Physical Security

Software and security system vendors add AI features to their products both to keep up with their competition and to appeal to buyers who expect AI in the feature list, or seek a compelling upgrade reason for their older systems to justify the investment.  

Whatever the approach, AI is not a fleeting trend and, if not already, will soon feature in every type of software from the OS on company laptops to every SaaS product, and is already deeply integrated into security applications.  

For the customer, AI-enabled physical security applications appeal thanks to the reduction in manual workload, saving time, and providing cost savings while addressing potential talent shortages or the need to reduce staff and analysts.  

The New Landscape Facing Physical Security and Public Safety

Security has evolved from sensors and cameras at key points to smart technology everywhere within and around offices, warehouses, factories and public locations.  

There are only so many screens a human agent, whether on-site or in a central location, can track at any one time. Having AI monitor all camera feeds searching for the unusual, suspicious activity, known troublemakers and other triggers relieves much of that pressure and workload.  

As well as reducing the manual workload, integrated AI physical security applications can correlate events from multiple sources.

One potential example would be the system reporting a “car with ‘y’ license plate dropped off three people at site ‘x’, cameras followed them to retail store ‘c’, where a theft has just been reported.

That car is now located at the back of building ‘z’, no sign of weapons or violence.” 

Automatically saving the trail of evidence speeds up security resolutions, litigation results, and the likelihood of reductions in crime as security’s stronger operational results become apparent.  

Protecting Physical Security with Cybersecurity

One of the side-effects of the success of stronger physical security is that criminals will head down the digital path to try and access security systems, to disable or corrupt them.

Doing so, would enable them access to high-value targets and to workaround physical security systems.

While this typically required expertise in the past, the array of criminal hacking tools easily available on the dark web makes any security system a potential target.  

Typically, cybersecurity can prevent criminals aiming to disable physical systems to cause a distraction or outright stop the hackers from accessing live feeds, as they try to spy on “what security sees.” 

To prevent these attacks, modern cybersecurity deploys features like zero-trust where no user, device or application is trusted until proven to be legitimate.

Continuous threat exposure management sees the system always scanning for threats or weaknesses, rather than the periodic scanning that traditional threat software performs.  

AI also supports new cybersecurity features, delivering instant analysis of unknown, anomalous or unusual activity or triggering alerts.

The latest AI features in cybersecurity provide specific AI agents to monitor classes of systems with physical security, one of those covered, depending on the product.

These transform physical security from passive monitoring into responsive and proactive toolsets that see suspicious trends long before a security operator would.  

How AI Monitors Public Safety and Physical Security

In the corporate world of closed office spaces, regulated access and tried-and-tested gate-keeping systems, both AI and human security operatives will typically find it easy to spot unusual activity. But in the world of public safety, there are many more variables at play.  

The power of AI in public safety supports retail mall or open space security, those at sports events, music festivals and other activities through several innovative methods.

For security teams, voice and video streams are unified in the command center to provide a joined-up view of what is happening out in the real world.  

From finding lost children to vulnerable adults, or spotting familiar gangs who haunt their local malls, AI can deliver a positive resolution, faster than traditional systems.  

AI can also monitor individuals among hundreds or thousands of people, using machine learning to see small patterns among the crowds that could suggest unusual or anti-social behavior.

Behavioral analysis can also detect aggressive body language, calling in support before an altercation.

And if high-quality audio feeds are monitored, AI can also detect key phrases suggesting crime or a person in need of help among the background noise.  

The Bonus Benefits of AI and Cyber Security

Cybersecurity solutions with a zero-trust approach can identify malicious activities by insiders or criminals who have gained access to stolen or lost credentials or hardware.

Many criminal gangs rely on an insider to breach standard security efforts, but a zero-trust and segmented approach to data security will keep anyone locked out of data they might try to access, minimizing the impact of any breach.  

If someone from a different department starts to attempt to access physical security systems, an alert will be triggered and an investigation can uncover their motivations.  

AI also supports the increasingly labor-heavy compliance efforts of businesses. The use of AI ensures that the large and small print in e.g. 

shipping notifications or terms and conditions for workers, users and the public are up-to-date with the latest privacy and access legislation.  

These tasks are ideal for AI, which can trace and understand where every aspect of the legalese exists. AI knows when to update them as and when fresh or updated privacy and storage regulations are applied.

Contracts for temporary security workers can be automatically updated to ensure the business is protected should there be an issue later on, and anything related to insurance, safety and similar areas can be regularly run through the AI to check for currency.  

The Twin Powers of Cyber and Physical Security

Modern physical security systems from smart cameras to tracking tags and environmental sensors provide a smart environment for businesses and staff to work safely in.

But without the backup of cybersecurity those systems are prime targets for hackers or criminals looking to commit a digital or physical crime.  

With automated attacks scanning millions of businesses every day, it is the cutting-edge, always up-to-date and proactive scanning systems that keep companies secure, reacting to threats before they become a costly problem to the organization, while protecting the physical security systems.  

As workforces grow, or rely more on hybrid or contract workers, monitoring them, or the public in open spaces, requires smarter skills than even expert security operators can manage.

When faced with banks of screens from a growing security footprint, only AI can monitor them all 24/7 without fail to identify and react to, providing key information to security teams to deliver the most appropriate response to the situation.  

Finally, as security databases link up in groups for improved local or national security, only AI will be able to scan the footage and data from huge numbers of sources to find matches for suspicious or vulnerable people, vehicles or other evidence as security becomes everyone’s business.