Five scary and wonderful tech and gadgets we saw at the security expo

Africa’s leading security and fire protection trade exhibition, SecurEx South Africa, is celebrating 25 years, and with the industry worth almost R45 billion and growing it is no wonder this trade show has been around for so long.

The exhibition kicked off on Tuesday and ran until Thursday at the Gallagher Estate Convention centre in Midrand, where about 300 exhibitors showcased their products and services

Walking into the first exhibition hall (there are two exhibition halls, one for security exhibitors and one for the safety exhibitors), one is filled with a sense of trepidation because the first thing you see are dozens of cameras – some mounted on the outside of stands, some at the top of stands, some just on a stand; it was hard to just stand and not feel a tad bit vulnerable.

But once you get over that feeling of being followed and watched (side note: you are always being watched), you walk around and notice some of the really cool technology on display, yes even the CCTV cameras start to feel like buddies.

Here are five fascinating and intriguing technologies and gadgets City Press found at SecurEx.

Thermal imaging

GoDistribution is a distributor of primarily thermal imaging equipment. They cover everything from thermal tactical gear to radar systems to thermal imaging systems. Oh and did I mention that some of their thermal equipment is military grade?

Looking through one of those scopes is everything you think and more. You see the reddish orange colour that detects heat signatures to the pale, light pastel colours that have no heat, while still being able to make out shapes and even the type of clothing a person is wearing.

Purchasing the military-grade stuff, however, requires between seven and 15 signatures which include government, military and sometimes even overseas military and government signoff. But then again you would need upwards of R300 000 before you worry about the muscles in fatigues.

Thermal cameras can detect gases and heat signatures

Smoke the criminals out

This is literally what Smoke Clock does with its patented fog. Installed mostly in jewellery stores and similar sized rooms, this security feature creates a very high output of dense white fog as soon as the panic button is pressed.

The fog is not harmful as it is a glycol vapour, which is like those smoke machines used at clubs and events – only more scary.

The smoke can hang in the air for almost an hour and is virtually impossible to see through.

The name’s Bond, James Bond

If James Bond had to come to South Africa he would probably use Frank Street as his local Q. The company, which provides a whole host of security solutions mostly centred around CCTVs, had a few wearables on display.

First up was a clock, standard white background with the logo under the 12 and the numbers in black. But ask me where the camera was and even with it being about 15cm from my face I could not locate it.

There were also glasses with an embedded camera, a cap, a pen and interestingly a BMW key.

Don’t expect high-quality imaging as the cameras range from between one to three mega pixels in quality, but at around R800 a pop that’s not a bad deal to catch someone red-handed.

Also, the camera in the clock is in the zero of the 10.

Hacking through a fish tank

In one of the presentations, DarkTrace – a leading AI company in cyber security – said that it detected a hack in a casino client but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from as all the traditional sources were covered.

Eventually, it discovered that because the casino had installed fish tanks recently and used a technologically automated system to make sure the fish are fed on time and that the temperature of the water is controlled, it was hacked due to the system being connected to the casino’s system. However, only 10GB was transferred, the breach was intercepted and security protocols were revised to include the fish tank. Finding Nemo has become a whole lot harder.

Facial recognition ain’t so shady

A number of stands had cameras and management systems actively sought out a person’s face for facial recognition.

Speaking to some of the exhibitors most agree that facial recognition can be tricky in two instances: one, when a person’s face is covered by something like a hat or sunglasses and two, when trying to identify different ethnicities. No one could really explain why identifying different ethnicities was a problem.

However, everyone waxed lyrical about the facial biometric indicators i.e. size of eyes, distance between eyes, size of nose etc. This is why wearing a cap and shades throws the system off.

Not anymore, according to AxxonSoft. Its technology uses biometric detectors as well as AI and machine learning neural networks that can easily identify someone with a cap, as well as their ethnicity and even their age. Where’s Waldo just got a whole lot easier!

Face recognition is one of the biggest selling points in any security system.