Protecting Ports

Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Mariann McDonagh

The United States is home to 361 ports that process about 6 million cargo containers every year across some 95,000 miles of shoreline. Protecting those locations is one of the most crucial, and demanding, charters of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

To date, the DHS has provided more than $1.5 million in grants, through its Infrastructure Protection Program (IPP), to secure U.S. critical infrastructure, including mass transit facilities, chemical plants and seaports. According to the DHS Web site, about $445 million was earmarked in 2007 for state, local and private industry infrastructure protection initiatives — $46 million more than in 2006. Almost half ($201.2 million) was set aside for the Port Security Grant Program (PSGP), and of that, about 60 percent was dedicated to securing Tier I, or highest-risk, port areas, including New York-New Jersey, New Orleans, Houston-Galveston and Los Angeles-Long Beach.

PSGP money goes toward a wide range of preparedness activities, including equipment purchases, training and security management and administration.

But what makes the country's seaports so vulnerable? And what kinds of security initiatives can one put in place to keep them safe?

Seaports: No safe havens

Multi-use facilities with highly complex infrastructures, ports require sophisticated security solutions. The vast water perimeter poses only one concern; other transportation networks, including railway lines and truck fleets, need to be safeguarded as well. Combine that with heavy equipment, storage facilities, parking lots and elevators, and the challenge becomes more daunting still.

And while commerce — the movement of cargo — is a key activity at our nation's seaports, it's not the only one. Cruise ships with thousands of passengers come and go on a regular basis.

Because of such diverse activity, a port becomes a sort of technological melting pot as well. Legacy CCTV video systems co-exist with access control solutions and enterprise applications, all in disparate silos that don't typically “talk” to each other. The unfortunate result is that there's no unified view of events for port personnel to share. Neither is there a single law-enforcement body to oversee port security. While the Coast Guard mans the waters, Customs and Border Protection officials concern themselves with cargo containers. Port operators, local police and the Department of Transportation assume gate-keeping roles, too, and in the event of an emergency, all of these groups need to be in lockstep if the response is to be a cohesive and effective one.

The key ingredients

While only one piece of the security puzzle, an enterprise-class networked video solution can mitigate risk in a port environment, helping to combat terrorism, enhance container security, prevent theft, protect cruise ships, identify threats and improve the overall flow of trade. Important components of such a video system include an open architecture, which allows disparate solutions to be tied together; an intuitive interface, so that users can learn easily how to navigate and manage the system; integrated analytics, to help proactively detect threats; intelligent video distribution and alerts; and wireless capabilities, for port areas that are difficult or impossible to wire.

An ounce of prevention…

Recognizing and proactively responding to potential threats before they escalate can preclude a disaster from occurring in the first place. That's where analytics come in.

By analyzing video at the source — at the cameras themselves — analytic applications send only relevant footage through the network, conserving bandwidth and storage. They also save manpower, eliminating the need for security personnel to go through countless frames of video in search of questionable activity.

Analytic applications can detect an array of suspicious events, including loitering, perimeter intrusion and equipment removal. Analytics that detect camera tampering can alert security personnel that a video camera has a blocked field-of-view, is out of focus or has been moved so that its viewing angle is off-kilter.

Other analytic applications can detect unattended baggage or monitor virtual perimeters, which allow authorized users to set invisible boundaries around sensitive areas. When such a boundary is crossed, an alert is generated and distributed to appropriate personnel.

Just as important as the analytics themselves is a customizable rules engine that makes it easy for port authorities to define what activity constitutes a security breach. Once those rules and guidelines have been put in place, analytic applications can apply logic intelligently to the video captured by cameras. A rules engine also ensures that the right people are informed of a breach and mobilized to action.

Case in point: A commercial vessel crosses a virtual tripwire. Armed with a rule governing tripwires — a definition of what it means for an object to enter an area designated as off-limits — the analytic application can “recognize” a breach. Video of the vessel, and an alert, are sent to three places at once: a patrol officer's PDA, a video wall in a Coast Guard monitoring station and the port's central command station.

…A pound of cure

Sometimes a potential threat goes undetected. In such situations, the key is to respond quickly and contain the threat so a security breach doesn't escalate into a full-fledged crisis or disaster. A networked video solution can be integrated with other systems, such as access control and alarms, to provide security personnel with 360-degree situational awareness. Governed by preprogrammed rules and policies, a security system can generate automatic responses to alerts, adjusting camera angles, locking doors and kicking IP domes into high-resolution mode.

Also, it's important that information flow to the right people. Intelligent video and data distribution ensures effective communication among law-enforcement personnel and, in turn, a timely, well-orchestrated response to a security breach. One analytics application that can play a key role in providing event context in a port setting is scene stitching, which combines images from many cameras spread across a large area. The result is a single, wide-format view of activity in real-time — particularly useful for observing vast, unmanned perimeters.

After the storm

Being able to collect information easily and effectively after an event is important for two reasons: First, it facilitates the investigation process; second, it allows involved parties to interpret what happened and alter security policies, or devise new ones.

A networked video solution with investigation management features can reduce the amount of time spent sifting through video for relevant footage, help security personnel gather case-related audio and data from enterprise systems and facilitate data-sharing and collaboration with authorities.

A sophisticated, networked video surveillance solution is one weapon that all ports should have in their security arsenals to help deter crime and terrorism and protect people and assets. An easy-to-use interface minimizes the learning curve and helps to ensure that the system will be used productively by security personnel; an IT-friendly, open architecture bridges the gap between analog and digital video solutions and allows disparate systems to be linked; a rules engine and integrated analytics enable security staff to maximize their resources and efficiency; intelligent video and alert distribution facilitates collaboration among the discrete law-enforcement groups involved with port security; and a wireless infrastructure ensures maximum coverage at heterogeneous sites with difficult-to-wire areas.

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Mariann McDonagh is senior vice president of global marketing for Verint Systems.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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