Privacy and security in video surveillance

Abstract

Video surveillance systems are usually installed to increase the safety and security of people or property in the monitored areas. Typical threat scenarios are robbery, vandalism, shoplifting or terrorism. Other application scenarios are more intimate and private such as home monitoring or assisted living. For a long time, it was accepted that the potential benefits of video surveillance go hand in hand with a loss of personal privacy. However, with the on-board processing capabilities of modern embedded systems it becomes possible to compensate this privacy loss by making security and privacy protection inherent features of video surveillance cameras. In the first part of this chapter, we motivate the need for the integration of security and privacy features, we discuss fundamental requirements and provide a comprehensive review of the state of the art. The second part presents the TrustCAM prototype system where a dedicated hardware security module is integrated into a camera system to achieve a high level of security. The chapter is concluded by a summary of open research issues and an outlook to future trends.