Cloud vs. DVR Storage for Your Video Monitoring System

Christian Nascimento VP, Product Management & Strategy at Comcast Business

These days a video monitoring system is almost as important as the lock on the doors for your small business. Without a monitoring system, you are leaving your business vulnerable to break-ins, theft or even destruction of property. But not all video monitoring systems are the same, especially when it comes to the storage of the video – after all, if you can’t access the video, your monitoring system is useless.

There are two main ways of storing your video: Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) or Cloud Storage. A DVR works by using your business’ internet connection to store the captured video onto a hard drive or computer in the office, which often has limited storage space. Cloud storage sends the video files into the cloud where there is more space and recordings can be stored for a longer time.

Not only can using the cloud help to store more video, it also greatly decreases the chances of your video being manipulated or mishandled by someone who is unauthorized, because cloud-based video management systems do not have the cyber-security vulnerabilities of being connected directly to the company’s internet and are not stored directly in the workplace. Much different from cloud based systems.

In fact, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.csoonline.com/article/3034284/security/hard-coded-password-exposes-up-to-46000-video-surveillance-dvrs-to-hacking.html">just recently </a>46,000 DVR based recording systems faced a cyber-attack. This kind of an attack can lead to business and personal information getting out to the public and being misused. Cloud based storage is safer because it greatly decreases the chance of a cyber-attack – but that’s not the only reason for them being safer than DVRs.

An on-site DVR storage system is susceptible to destruction, along with everything stored on it.  In the case of a break-in, theft or just something a person wants no one else to see, they can simply destroy the DVR to make sure no evidence gets out. However, when a business uses cloud storage for their video monitoring system the video is stored off-site, so nothing can be destroyed—either accidentally or purposely. In addition, the video is recorded and stored so that it can be watched anywhere at any time, and you can even quickly jump to flagged incidents or irregularities.

If you and your business are looking for a video monitoring system, it’s time to leave DVRs in the past and choose the safer, more reliable cloud storage option. It will give you the true peace of mind a monitoring system should, with no worries about it being hacked or tampered with and being able to store and review all recordings when you need them.

Photo via <a target="_blank" href="https://visualhunt.com/re/d82690">Visual hunt</a>

To ensure your video monitoring system is as secure as possible, choose a cloud based storage system.

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