How privacy protection works in Security Center SaaS

2024-09-12Last updated

In Security Center SaaS, privacy protection anonymizes video by pixelating parts of a video stream where movement is detected. The identity of individuals or moving objects is protected, without obscuring movements and actions or preventing monitoring.

Privacy protection is a default feature in Security Center SaaS. This differs from enabling privacy protection in Security Center on-premises, which requires the installation and configuration of the KiwiVision™ Privacy Protector module.

Activating privacy protection on cameras in Genetec Configuration

In Genetec Configuration, administrators can activate and deactivate privacy protection as needed on individual cameras.

To activate privacy protection:
  1. On the Devices page, select a camera.
  2. In the side pane of the camera, click the Settings tab.
  3. Select the Activate privacy protection checkbox.
Note: Security Center SaaS only applies privacy protection to video streams displayed in a video tile. This uses fewer computing resources and less storage than KiwiVision™, which applies privacy protection to all video streams, even those that aren't displayed.

Deactivating privacy protection on video streams

In Genetec Configuration and Genetec Operation, you can deactivate privacy protection in video tiles that are actively displaying live or playback video.
Genetec Configuration
Click the privacy protection icon () in the video tile.
Genetec Operation
Right-click on a video tile and select Deactivate privacy protection.
Genetec Operation web
In the selected video tile, click Show more () and select Deactivate privacy protection.
Note: Deactivating privacy protection in a video tile doesn't change the privacy protection setting on the camera that provides the stream. If an operator deactivates privacy protection in a video tile, it remains active in all other video tiles.

Privacy protection and video streaming

There are two types of streams related to privacy protection:
Public streams
Contains privacy-protected content with video anonymization applied.
Private streams
The original video stream from the video unit, where video isn’t anonymized or masked.

Security Center SaaS only saves private streams. When users play back these streams, privacy protection is applied to video through Genetec™ Cloud Services. Security Center on-premises differs by saving private and public streams by default.

Exported video

To apply privacy protection to exported video, the feature must be activated on the camera and enabled in the video tile when the operator exports the video.

If privacy protection is active on a camera, but inactive in the video tile when the operator exports the video, privacy protection isn’t applied to exported video.

Camera compatibility

Security Center SaaS doesn’t support privacy protection on the following camera types:
  • 360-degree fisheye cameras
  • PTZ cameras

Licensing

No additional license is required to activate privacy protection on cameras.