Daily Archives: June 25, 2019

In the United Arab Emirates, many websites are blocked. Websites containing adult content, anti-religious, agnostic, or atheist websites and articles and blocked. Any news articles critical of the government or the Royal family are completely off limits. Pro-Israeli content is also banned, meaning that certain news outlets and articles are censored.

The UAE also controls the local telecoms industry, and to stop people making free VoIP calls it blocks services like Skype, Discord, FaceTime, Whatsapp, and Viber. Even gambling websites and online poker services are unavailable.

Thankfully, anybody in Dubai or the UAE can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to bypass these restrictions. A VPN lets you pretend to be in a different country by geo-spoofing your IP address. As soon as you connect to a VPN server outside of the UAE, your internet behaves as if you were actually abroad; and you can access the internet without the local restrictions.

We have listed our top 3 favourites below. For more information on any of these services and more you should check out ProPrivacy’s Best UAE VPN recommendations for a detailed look.

NordVPN
NordVPN is ideal for unblocking websites in the UAE. This popular VPN provider has servers in over 60 countries. Thus, you can not only spoof your IP address to outside the UAE; but you can easily pretend to be anywhere in the world to bypass geo-restrictions. NordVPN’s servers are fast, which means that this VPN is perfect for watching HD video or making video calls over VoIP.

NordVPN is secure thanks to a zero-logs privacy policy, DNS leak protection, military-grade encryption, and obfuscated servers (for concealing VPN use from UAE ISPs). Considering what it provides, NordVPN is extremely good value for money and is worth every dime.

IPVanish
This US-based VPN primarily runs on its own network of servers. Control over its infrastructure allows the service to be both stable and reliable. Fast speeds mean that this VPN is suitable for making video conferencing calls and doing data-intensive tasks such as gaming, or streaming.

In terms of privacy, IPVanish is sound because it provides a solid zero-logs policy. In addition, the VPN has strong OpenVPN encryption and excellent obfuscation tech. Overall, IPVanish is a great all-rounder that is worth testing with its 7-day money back guarantee.

ExpressVPN
This VPN is a popular service that is heavily subscribed all over the globe. The VPN is quite pricey, but it justifies this by maintaining an extremely high level of service. This VPN has 24/7 live chat to help you unblock content at any time.

Encryption is military grade, and the VPN has obfuscation that allows users to evade firewalls and conceal VPN use. DNS leak protection is available, and (as is the case with both the VPNs above also) it has a killswitch. ExpressVPN has fast servers in 94 countries which means it is definitely worth a test run using its 30-day money back guarantee.

If you’re looking at purchasing a video surveillance solution, chances are you’ve run into digital video recorders (DVR) and network video recorders (NVR). Both of these security systems offer a centralized approach to video security that seems affordable up front; however, as time goes on, you will likely see increasing costs due to outdated technology and a host of other issues. These are some of the hidden costs of video surveillance systems:

Maintenance and updates

One of the biggest traps you will fall into when purchasing an NVR or DVR security system are maintenance costs. Many NVRs and DVRs use hardware and software that is outdated, and this antiquated approach to video security can wind up costing you as other network and internet technologies continue to evolve. 

In addition to having to manually push through firmware updates, you will likely need a specialized technician to service some aspects of your NVR system — an unforeseen cost many businesses don’t think to budget for. 

The costs of potential cybersecurity breaches

Another result of having an outdated video security system is that it makes your business far more susceptible to cybersecurity breaches. These sorts of attacks can make a major dent in more than maintenance fees, too. Beyond the costs of responding to a security breach, you may also wind up losing vital features of your business as a result of a hacker using your surveillance system as a backdoor to access your network. Since DVRs and NVRs are centralized, this means that hackers can truly wreck havoc on your company, should they find a way in. Especially for larger enterprises, these kinds of risks must be avoided in order to maintain normal business operations.

Expensive in multiple locations

Another weakness of NVRs and DVRs is their inability to scale in an affordable manner. While this may not be an issue if you only have one place of business, school districts and restaurant chains will definitely want to avoid picking either approach when it comes to choosing a surveillance system. As everything will need to be centralized at each location, that means that new equipment and recorders will need to be purchased each time you add surveillance security to another location. 

 

Beyond material costs, this also costs you time and labor. Ultimately, if you’re looking to expand your company’s reach, it may be more beneficial to pick a different solution rather than incur these costs every time your business needs to grow.

Video security systems that avoid these hidden costs

Thankfully, there are more options than just NVRs and DVRs for security surveillance. One popular newcomer to the field of video security is the hybrid cloud approach, which uses cloud connectivity and onboard storage. This results in a surveillance system that scales easily, receives updates automatically, and is far more secure than traditional surveillance options. Pioneers like Verkada are even introducing features that allow the systems to work while offline, further increasing the value of hybrid cloud surveillance for businesses of all sizes.

As you can tell, even though a surveillance system may be inexpensive, that doesn’t mean that it will always remain that way. Considering how quickly technology is advancing, a system that is only a few years old can still become outdated in a short amount of time. In addition, hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated and having an up-to-date, secure video surveillance solution is in your company’s best interests to combat them. Hybrid cloud video security mitigates many of the above weaknesses of traditional NVRs and DVRs, allowing you to gain peace of mind and save money in the long run.