Have Smart Security Systems ‘Killed’ Traditional Security?

Traditional security is dead.

And when we say “dead”, we actually mean completely ineffective. 

It wasn’t all that long ago that smart security didn’t exist. In fact, you can look at just a decade ago and you’d see that people were entirely reliant on spotlights, CCTV and perhaps an alarm system, to provide the complete protection they wanted. 

Apparently, 57% of UK homes contain smart devices which are around 2.2 million homes. That said, only around 3% of UK homes have smart security but smart security cameras are the fourth most common smart home product in the world, all according to the YouGov’s 2018 survey. We dare say that three years later, numbers are much higher.

The fact that security has moved on so much, particularly in the last 5 years highlights not just how quickly the market is advancing but the real key to this article: How poor most traditional security methods are at providing a decent level of protection.

What Makes A Good Security System?

Before we look at what a good security system should be, let’s consider the things that make a security system bad. We have covered this at length in previous articles, but let’s reiterate…

Any security system should be there to provide protection. Complete protection. 

This involves alerting you to threats or security breaches as they happen and either taking automated action or alerting the right people to take action. If a security system is passively there to monitor or even record a situation without intervening then it could not be considered “good”. It may be gathering evidence or even sound an alarm, but much like car alarms, instead of alerting people to a crime, it is often viewed as an irritation rather than an actual alarm. “When will they turn that bloody alarm off?” – tends to be the usual response, rather than considering someone might be getting broken into. 

False Alarms Mean Real Threats Get Ignored

Traditional security & alarm systems do not work because they fail too often, raising false alarms that “cry wolf”. When a real alert is raised, it is generally ignored. 

The same can be said for CCTV systems and PIR lighting. These should put off criminals and act as a deterrent. But they do not. A 10-plus-year-old CCTV system is simply not going to scare anyone or gather evidence of any quality, should you pick up a threat on it. They do make your home or work premises look unsightly though! 

So what would be considered a “good” security system? Well, anything that filters out the false alarms, the irrelevant triggers and acts as an actual deterrent whilst taking action to stop threats before real crimes can be committed. 

The Rise Of Smart Security Systems

You could argue that smart security has been around a little longer than we tend to realise. Most of us will have had smoke detectors in our homes for the last few decades. This may not directly relate to modern smart security systems but essentially, you have an alarm in a smoke detector that forces you to take action when it alerts you to a specific threat. In that case, that threat is internal; A fire source within your home. 

Fire alarms are known for being a little unreliable though. If you burn your toast or even get a few too many thunder bugs in the detector over summer, it can create a false alarm. But on the whole, you know that a smoke alarm and even a carbon monoxide detector will protect you whilst you sleep.

There is a big difference, however, between detecting a specific threat within your building and monitoring external threats. 

We’ve established the faults with traditional security systems and as technology has moved along, we’ve slowly seen the rise of smart security systems which monitor and protect specific areas. They create alerts when a threat is detected, they trigger live feeds to smartphones, computers or even smart home devices. They take action. 

Issues With Off-The-Shelf Smart Home Security

The Safe Security Solutions team have tested some of the smart home security systems that are readily available and we can see the pros but also identify a lot of cons. 

Let’s take just one example, the Amazon Ring and Camera Systems…

These can be easily purchased online or in-store and will take minutes to install. They require a bit of tweaking to set up on the app and once all that’s done, you have a nice looking system in place. But they do come with some flaws! 

Let’s start with the biggest issue: Battery life. By default, the Ring doorbell has a battery that needs to be charged about once a month. We’ve found a similar result with the Ring Spotlight Camera… If you turn off the spotlight on the model we have then you can get around a month of monitoring time but with that spotlight on, you will be lucky to get a couple of weeks with one battery in place.

Now a month is a fairly long time but it is not providing complete protection if you have to take a device down or remove the battery to charge it for around 8 hours every month. During that time, anything could happen and you can guarantee that the one time something does, it would be when the Ring system was down. 

So you need to buy additional batteries, solar panels that also need to be installed or you have to wire the system to your electrics. The latter will require an electrician to do the job but in all cases, the price you see the basic systems for is never the overall cost you will have to pay for a basic smart home system. 

Hidden Costs & Being Fit For Purpose

Quite aside from the fact that after a short time the number of false alerts and notifications these systems create will mean you’re ignoring them… You will always find that the cost gets bumped up with maintenance, the ongoing subscriptions and the means to power the system. 

Now, for the record, we’re not knocking the tech inside the box on these things. It is actually pretty impressive for the price point and should be enough to protect most small homes. 

But that’s kind of the problem.

If you have a business to protect or a home that attracts the attention of criminals then relying on standard smart security is not going to be enough. This is where AI-enhanced systems and more covert approaches should be considered. 

Advanced Security & AI-Enhanced Systems

At Safe Security Solutions, we specialise in security systems that do not fail. We eliminate the factors that can stop a system from working such as adverse weather, wildlife and animal intervention, loss of power and lack of threat analysis. 

We understand the shortcomings of traditional security systems and the smart systems that have become commonplace. We’ve watched the development of smart home technology with interest and tested much of it ourselves. We design, provide and can arrange the installation of security systems that simply do not fail. 

We are the company people turn to when their existing security measures have failed. 

The reasons security fails can vary but the biggest issues nearly always boil down to a system not being correctly set up, not reliable, not creating alerts the moment threat is detected, not taking immediate action or not providing an immediate deterrent. 

Our systems do all of the above. Without the false alarms and alerts. 

So Back To The Point Of This Article…

Have Smart Systems Killed Traditional Security? 

In many ways, we can confidently say yes. Detection systems have become better. The camera resolution and quality is better. Alerts to mobile phones and smart devices are a big improvement. But they are still flawed. 

The systems we provide are powered by AI technology. Our software uses machine learning and our security cannot be tampered with, powered down or avoided. Take just two examples of the solutions we provide:

SensoGuard Buried intrusion Detection Systems: These are completely invisible to intruders. They work using seismic earthquake detection technology and have been adapted from military use to civilian environments. These are ideally suited to wide, open areas that may not be effectively monitored by camera systems or might not have fencing protection around the boundary. They understand the vibrations they detect so they can identify if a vehicle, human or animal had crossed an invisible boundary and alert you to the exact area that picked up the alert. We’re the exclusive UK provider of all SensoGuard products.

Fence-Mounted Security Systems From El-Far: These systems are used to protect and monitor almost any type of metal fencing, from wire mesh to palisade. Perfectly suited for commercial use (but equally practical for anywhere with a fence) the fence systems will pinpoint any attempted scaling, suspicious vibration, cutting or destruction along a given area of fencing for as many kilometres as required. Perfect for protecting everything from your local cash and carry or warehouse to large estates and even heritage sites.

 

Combing these systems with our AI-Camera systems and advanced security control software means that you can detect threats not only as they happen but at the moment they cross an invisible line or attempt to break in. 

Immediate Detection & Immediate Action Are Our Specialities

With a host of special features that allow our detection systems to monitor a specific area at specific times without any chance of downtime or false alarms means we can create a security system that actually protects you, your home, your business or your assets.

This pre-detection means that threats are identified before they cause harm and action is taken. Traditional security simply does not do that and smart home security cannot do that effectively. 

If you are experiencing security issues in spite of already having a system in place, then please get in touch with the Safe Security Solutions team and see how we can use our advanced security systems to provide real protection that will not fail you.