Key Highlights
- The SIA OSDP Boot Camp provides hands-on training with the latest controllers, readers, and access control systems, emphasizing interoperability and security best practices.
- The SICC Review Course prepares security professionals for cybersecurity certification, covering key concepts, exam domains, and test-taking strategies.
- Both courses aim to enhance industry knowledge on cybersecurity threats and solutions, ensuring professionals can protect facilities and data effectively.
As the security industry continues down the road of digital transformation and the convergence of hardware and software, making sure those connections and communications are secure is becoming a top priority. This year’s Security Industry Association (SIA) education at ISC West in Las Vegas, March 24-27, reflects this shift in the industry and provides numerous sessions on cybersecurity as the industry stays hyper-focused on not only keeping the wrong people out of a facility but also keeping them from breaching access control systems and people’s data.
SIA OSDP Boot Camp
SIA understood from the beginning that there needed to be education and training coinciding with the formation of the SIA Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) standard back in 2019, and began offering in-person classes, like the one at ISC West next week, to help security professionals understand the standard and what it means for installers, integrators and manufacturers.
SIA's OSDP Boot Camp at ISC West on March 24, from 8am-5pm, is an all-day class broken into a morning session and an afternoon session, providing in-depth training on how to design, configure and deploy modern, interoperable, OSDP-compliant access control systems. Attendees will learn how to more effectively do business with sophisticated firms that demand current security technologies, receive the information needed to train teams on OSDP, and gain the skills to transition from legacy access control to today's modern technologies and more.
“We've held the training in geographic locations, and for system integrators at their facilities, and for manufacturers at their facilities,” says Sal D'Agostino, CEO of IDMachines, and one of the instructors for the bootcamp. “And we've actually even held it for end users, like the one we did one for the City of Toronto, for example.”
While the morning is focused on more lecture-style, the afternoon features hands-on learning sessions using the latest controllers, readers and access control systems.
“We have these Pelican cases with equipment, which different manufacturers have generously supplied,” says D'Agostino, noting that the training pod for ISC West bootcamp has about $15,000 worth of equipment to help attendees get familiar with different controllers, readers and access control systems. “The pods are literally loaded – we've never had the variety and breadth of hardware, equipment and tools available that we will have at this boot camp at ISC West, which is very exciting.”
He continues, “And with the instructors we have – Jonathan Horvath, Daniel Schleifer, Rodney Thayer, Mike Zercher, and me – you've got in that one room probably 100 years of OSDP experience. There's literally no question that someone could ask where you don't get an authoritative answer or you get real-world feedback and experience about it, even from other attendees, because we are holding this at ISC West with all the vendors in attendance and industry people from all over.”
D'Agostino points out that OSDP continues to gain momentum as more companies look to get their products OSDP-verified.
“It’s going really well, and we've actually got a backlog in testing,” he says, noting that SIA OSDP Verified is a comprehensive testing program that validates that a device conforms to the SIA OSDP standard and the related performance profiles. “We currently have more than 100 OSDP verified products, representing a dozen countries. In addition, the OSDP technical subcommittee is actively working to develop the standard and provide updates.”
SICC Review Course
In addition to the OSDP Boot Camp, SIA is also offering a new Security Industry Cybersecurity Certification (SICC) Review Course, March 25, from 8-5PT, to help security professionals prepare for the SICC exam for certification. While this course is not intended to “teach to the test” and does not guarantee success on the certification exam, this course does cover essential aspects of the SICC competency framework.
“The Security Industry Cybersecurity Certification (SICC) enables professionals in the physical security industry to demonstrate core cybersecurity competencies and their ability to apply them to the systems they install and service,” says Chris Peckham, COO, Ollivier Corp., and one of the instructors for the course. “It also establishes a solid foundation for adapting to future changes in cybersecurity."
Highlights of the course:
· Learn key concepts, terms and principles that relate to cybersecurity for physical security systems and devices.
· Increase your understanding of the SICC Exam Blueprint, including domains and subdomains.
· Identify areas of improvement and assess your readiness to take the SICC exam.
· Prepare a study plan and discuss test-taking best practices.
During the course, instructors will guide attendees through an in-depth review of the key knowledge domains and subdomains of the SICC exam, discuss exam preparation strategies and provide direct feedback on any questions. Participants are provided with a SICC Review Course Participant Guide (PG) that includes domain-specific knowledge, Key reference material, a study plan worksheet, a glossary of terms and definitions and expectations on the SICC test taking experience.
As Peckham points out, cybersecurity is no longer just something you can think of after the fact, and security professionals who are proficient and savvy in this area have an advantage when it comes to designing, deploying, installing and maintaining systems.
“Physical security increasingly relies on network-connected devices, making a strong understanding of cybersecurity essential to properly install, support, and maintain these systems,” he says. “As technologies in the space continue to evolve, they also introduce new vulnerabilities that must be addressed through sound cybersecurity practices.”
About the Author
Paul Ragusa
Paul Ragusa is senior editor for Locksmith Ledger International, an Endeavor Business Media Security publication.