Those in the public eye and medium to large sized businesses must make sure that they are selecting a security system that is appropriate for their unique security needs. While security devices like Ring are a great solution for small businesses and those with ordinary residential security concerns, when it comes to protecting medium to large businesses and those individuals with high net-worth and/or in positions of prominence, mass-market security devices, like Ring doorbells and cameras, lack the necessary features critical to the safety of prominent individuals and businesses.
So how does Ring compare a high-end remote monitoring system like Edgeworth Security’s Remote Guarding? The major points of difference are: Privacy protection, Price, Capabilities and Execution, and the Full-service family of solutions for layers of protection.
Points of Differentiation
Privacy Protection:
As recently as 2019, ongoing hacker attacks compromised over 55,000 Ring accounts, allowing the criminals access to the victims’ personal data, historical video files, and direct access to their cameras. Hackers were connecting with camera speakers, harassing the occupants, and then uploading or live streaming the resulting videos. Besides outside criminals gaining illegal access to Ring accounts, the sheer scale and entry level application of Ring leaves consumers extremely vulnerable to privacy intrusions from unvetted and untrustworthy Ring employees.
No one deserves to have their privacy invaded, but those in the public eye are generally prime targets for privacy invasions. High-net worth individuals, CEOs, public figures, and those with significant assets to protect generally have the most to lose when it comes to the consequences of privacy invasion.
The public’s insatiable interest in the lives of famous people means hacked videos of their private residences are very desirable. Criminals with access to video streams might record or download archived videos to sell to the tabloids, or simply post them on social media sites and other celebrity watch websites.
Furthermore, access to a prominent individual’s home or a targeted businesses’ Ring cameras allows those with malicious intent the ability to become familiar with daily routines and the locations of valuables, facilitating robberies at both homes and businesses.
Edgeworth has many policies set in place to protect our clients’ privacy. The digital security of both the live views of our client’s properties and their historical footage is protected by a system of comprehensive digital security barriers, including leveraging Transport Layer Security Secure Remote Passwords (TLS-SRP) for client server connections and encrypted data streams for all network video recorders.
In our Monitoring Center, only select supervisory personnel can share approved footage with law enforcement or clients when requested. These transfers are meticulously logged and monitored by Command Center leadership. Any attempts to transfer, upload or attach files are instantly flagged and blocked before transfers can be completed.
All agents are on-site, in our award-winning central secure facility. Among those various accolades and awards is the UL827b Certification from the leading security company standards organization, UL. This certification affirms Edgeworth’s ability to actively manage security events and subsequent engagement. This includes handoff and tactical support to law enforcement, all in real-time via command-center based agents. In addition to robust vetting and training of our agents, the facility itself is built to ensure client privacy with both sophisticated privacy protections, access control and common sense restrictions barring any personal devices (including smart phones) within the monitoring center.
These layers of security make it extremely unlikely that either criminals or rogue employees are able to access or share private videos or data. The bespoke and white-glove nature of Edgeworth allows for this heightened privacy protection, which is something a mass-market service provider like Ring simply can not achieve.
Price:
At first glance, Ring is more affordable than a custom Edgeworth Remote Guarding solution, which is why it’s a great option for small business and typical households. However, the cost of failing to stop a serious crime due to the inherent limitations of Ring is simply too high for prominent individuals and medium to large sized businesses. One security failure caused by the lack of high level features inherent to Ring as compared to Edgeworth’s Remote Guard could cost clients not just financially, but also physically and emotionally.
Talking just in dollars and cents, a single break-ins can be very costly, for both high-end residential and commercial properties. Thousands, even many hundreds of thousands of dollars in products or personal belongings can be stolen within a few minutes, especially if the criminals already have insider information on where the most expensive items are kept, garnered from access to unsecured camera feeds.
Valuables don’t just start and stop with money and property. Data is another valuable at risk. In the publicized hacks of Ring devices and accounts, perpetrators were able to gain access to the victim’s Personal Identification Information (PII). Information like names, date of birth, address, and other data were captured, as well as bank account information. If customers reuse passwords, the capture of Ring account passwords add a web of additional risked accounts. All of this captures data allows criminals everything they need to steal the victim’s identities.
If hackers leak or sell your PII on either the internet or the Dark Web, it can be very difficult for individuals to erase their data from all possible locations. In the case of high-net worth individuals, identity theft can mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Beyond Remote Guarding, Edgeworth also offers clients Edgeworth’s Open Source Intelligence services. This team of experts can help remove your private information from these sites and mitigate the potential damages for victim of a PII leak.
Capabilities and Execution:
It’s smart to look towards camera-based security solutions to protect against emergency situations, but it’s important to weigh all the pros and cons for your personal situation so you don’t end up with a false sense of protection. In the event of a criminal trespass, every minute counts. Clients need both a swift police response and immediate management of trespassers by a trained professional.
Many security companies offer some form of remote monitoring, but the quality of response varies greatly depending on the provider you select. Ring, for example, does have a camera motion monitoring service that you can add on to your regular plan. They are authorized to check camera feeds, inform the home owners of any important alerts, and call law enforcement. For those with average security concerns, this type of mass-market remote monitoring may be sufficient. But for those who are uniquely at risk due to being in the public eye or possessing great amounts of wealth, their remote monitoring needs require a more sophisticated team of highly trained agents monitoring camera views and a custom designed suite of state of the art equipment.
Edgeworth’s Remote Guarding service goes above and beyond what other remote monitoring systems can do, starting off with the very cameras themselves. Remote Guarding’s smart cameras come with advanced A.I technology pre-installed, giving Remote Guarding a boost when it comes to false-alarm filtering. Through its machine learning and A.I. capabilities, Remote Guarding learns the natural rhythms of a particular site, so it is better able to identify normal behavior from unusual activity. If unusual activity is detected, an alert is sent to our highly trained remote monitoring agents, who then respond to the alert, including contacting law enforcement if necessary.
Edgeworth not only calls law enforcement, our remote agents also manage the situation, providing the police with detailed information about the location of the suspect in real-time, their description, and video proof of their activities before and after the call was made. Law enforcement agencies know that when they are called to an Edgeworth-secured property, the incident is not a false alarm and has the video verification they require to act upon a call immediately. These calls are thus bumped up in the priority order, giving the police time to respond making it more likely they’ll be able to arrest criminals. Edgeworth Security also cultivates relationships with local law enforcement in our client’s locales to ensure best possible response times for our Remote Guard clients.
Fully Layered Protection:
When partnering with Edgeworth, you’ll be able to benefit from our expertise in the security industry. Ring devices are more or less plug and play spotlights and doorbells. In contrast, our security experts will come to your property to fully analyze and survey your property, using industry expertise and experience to assist you in forming a site security plan that will cover every inch of your property with a myriad of security devices and cameras that all work together. This quality, in-depth inspection makes emergency situations less likely to happen in the first place.
Edgeworth agents go through continuous training and education to ensure that our clients are protected by the most up-to-date techniques in the security industry. Along with their ever-evolving knowledge, our agents are also able to access the analytics and information collected by artificial intelligence, machine learning, military grade analytics, and cyber data tools. This fusion of the best aspects of both human and machine intelligence allows Edgeworth to provide an extra layer of protection against threats and issues.
Lastly, Edgeworth Security provides a variety of solutions that can be layered together to provide ever increasing coverage against threats. Having any one Edgeworth service, like Remote Monitoring, will protect our clients from certain incursions. The combination of all five layers however - Consulting, Remote Guarding, Integration, Executive Protection, and Open-Source Intelligence - will work together to provide an almost impenetrable armor of protection. Together your custom, integrated security service will encircle you in a multi-layered sphere of protection, achieving the ultimate peace of mind.
Let Edgeworth Take Care Of Your Security Concerns
While Ring can be a great tool for some, it simply isn’t enough for high-end residences and medium to large businesses. Instead, trust a company that has the technology, training, and industry knowledge to deliver a complete security experience.
If you think you and your property could benefit from Edgeworth’s superior family of services, contact one of our security experts at 412-334-1961.
