OSSA Releases Camera Cybersecurity Spec, Starts App Developer Council

The Open Security & Safety Alliance’s new App Developer Council involves essential entrepreneurs and small businesses in the OSSA ecosystem.

SAN RAMON, Calif. — The Open Security & Safety Alliance (OSSA) announces two key developments as part of its mission to promote trustworthy and innovative security and safety solutions.

First, a new specification is now available to members that focuses on camera cybersecurity measures. OSSA also introduces a new App Developer Council designed to attract and involve app developers in the Alliance’s growing ecosystem of stakeholders from all facets of the security, safety and building automation space.

The newest technical specification — the OSSA Camera Cyber Security Specification — contains definitions and guidelines regarding mandatory and optional security determinations for cameras. It is largely based on an existing standard by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), with an additional clear focus on the security market and OSSA philosophy by transparently dividing the roles and responsibilities between camera manufacturers, the operating system (OS) provider and the system-on-chip (SoC) vendor, in particular.

The specification also prescribes responsibility changes in the event of individual OS modifications by camera manufacturers. The mandatory part of these guidelines will be used as input for the forthcoming OSSA certification framework.

The OSSA-orchestrated ecosystem is designed to enhance trust, enable innovation beyond the limits of a single organization, and fuel opportunity for industry stakeholders and customers, according to the announcement. The backbone of this initiative is the Alliance’s first Technology Stack that prescribes the use of a common OS along with the first three OSSA Specifications:

  • OSSA Application Interface Specification (available to OSSA members)
  • OSSA Compliant Camera Definition Specification (available to the public)
  • NEW: OSSA Camera Cyber Security Specification (now available to OSSA members)

OSSA App Developer Council

As software application developers are essential to the OSSA ecosystem, the Alliance in early 2021 created a new offering to enable these (usually smaller) companies to weigh-in and be introduced within the security and safety sphere.

This is an important corridor to establish between the two groups as the open platform approach continues to flourish and — particularly Android-based — apps become an integral part of customization and differentiation across the security and safety IoT.

The annual OSSA App Developer Council fee is $250 or $500 a year, depending on the size of the developer company. It is said to provide benefits including heavy industry exposure, early access to finalized Alliance deliverables, and exclusive insight into the OSSA specification roadmap.

“Although our Alliance is young, I’m continually impressed by member agility and a firm commitment to remove barriers and move the mark for the industry to all rise together,” says Johan Jubbega, president, Open Security & Safety Alliance. “We’re steadily delivering on that vision: members have not only embraced the OSSA philosophy but already have actual hardware available in the market and a digital app store to source from.”

Jubbega continues, “This has led to a new and natural connection with the app developer community. We’re advocating for truly open ecosystems not only within our specific security and safety sectors, but are now also broadening to cross-collaborate with other industries and stakeholder groups. I am convinced that the best is yet to come.”

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