Google Africa's recent announcement through a blog post by Amita Khattri, Program Manager at Google Street View, that it is now launching Google Street View in Uganda's capital city of Kampala represented a milestone for the internet company. Security services experts in South Africa, a country that already features the service, have differing views on whether or not the online feature heightens security risk.
Uganda is the 75th country worldwide and the 5th African country after South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Madagascar to have the technology rolled out.
Theunis Kotze, General Manager at ADT Inland Region told ITWeb Africa that they have no reason to believe that the panoramic images of addresses published by Google's Street View are being utilised by criminals as they have not received reports to this effect.
"Google Street View images are most often a few years out of date so the number of changes to the property could be substantial in that time. Also, google street view does not show the security measures inside the home or in areas of the property not on the side of the street."
ADT is familiar with the service provided by Google Street View following an incident in February 2015 where an ADT reaction officer was held at gunpoint by two criminals and robbed of his service firearm.
Kotze says the Google Street View images that were shared on social media because a Google Street View van was photographing parts of the street during the incident were brought to the attention of ADT and could possibly assist in furthering the investigation, although no arrests have been made to date.
Kotze adds that although it may seem that people are at greater risk when images of their homes appear on Google Steet View or when they post them on social media, this is not necessarily the case. "Photos are generally very difficult to place inside a home, unless the criminal has intimate knowledge about the layout and look of the home."
Jason Mordecai, Director at 7Arrows Security, another South African security company, has a different opinion about the security implications of addresses feature on Google Street View.
"While both Google Earth and Street view have a number of useful applications, we agree with the notion that these products could be used for criminal activities. There are similar problems with social media applications. To this end certain communities have approached Google to have their suburbs removed from street view and to the best of my knowledge Google have complied with these requests."
Google has not responded to repeated attempts to get their comment on this matter.
Using the internet to keep safe
Kotze says ADT and other security companies are also using the internet to keep residences and commercial properties safe.
"Many communities are investing in CCTV systems, mainly as a deterrent to crime. These systems range from local only recorded footage, to offsite monitored to advanced analytics systems providing exception alerts. Locally recorded systems are mainly used for forensic or post event purposes, whereas the monitored systems are intended for proactive security. LPR (Licence Plate Recognition) systems are also being implemented in certain communities in main entrance/exit points. These systems transmit number plate data to centralised systems which compare them to hot listed numbers. When a listed vehicle is detected a SOP including police involvement is followed to apprehend suspects. Some cities have also invested in street level monitoring to try preventing or limiting crime. Some businesses have invested in off site monitoring, which again is event driven or as we call it exception based monitoring. "
Kotze also recommended that home or commercial property owners who have private CCTV systems connected to the internet for self-remote monitoring should ensure that they follow IT security principles, including changing the default username and passwords, and making use of non-standard IP ports.
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