At the end of September, our Managing Director Jamie Clague was down from Scotland visiting a client. With some time to spare afterwards, he headed over to Olympia London for International Cyber Expo 2026.
He makes time for events like this for a simple reason: to see what's genuinely new, and to ask the people building the technology the questions that matter to our clients.
The big takeaway: your front door now has a password
Cyber events are usually all about software. This year, Jamie's biggest takeaway was how much physical security has become part of the conversation. International Cyber Expo now runs side by side with International Security Expo, and the organisers themselves put the convergence of physical and digital security front and centre.
"A lock used to just be a lock. Now your front door, your CCTV and your intercom all have a login. If nobody's looking after them, it's like leaving a spare key under the mat for the whole internet. We see it at home too, doorbell cameras were once something only businesses had."
Jamie Clague, Managing Director, Dunedin IT
So what does "physical security" look like on a network today? In most offices, it's things like:
- Door access control: key fobs, card readers and cloud-managed smart locks
- CCTV: IP cameras and the recorders that store their footage
- Video intercoms and door entry systems
- Intruder alarms you can arm and check from an app
- Building systems: heating, air con and lighting controls
- Visitor sign-in tablets in reception
This isn't theoretical. One of the largest retail data breaches in US history, at Target in 2013, began with login details stolen from its heating and ventilation contractor. In 2021, attackers accessed live feeds from around 150,000 cloud-connected cameras run by Verkada, inside hospitals, schools and businesses.
The lesson is simple. Every connected door, camera or sensor is another way in. If it isn't patched, monitored and kept separate from your main systems, it can become the weakest link in your whole setup.
The obligatory sobering stats
It wouldn't be a cyber blog without a few numbers to make you put the kettle on and check your settings. So here they are, mostly from the UK Government's latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey:
- 43% of UK businesses identified a cyber breach or attack in the last 12 months. That's roughly 612,000 organisations.
- Bigger isn't safer. 65% of medium businesses and 69% of large businesses reported a breach, compared with 42% of micro businesses.
- Phishing still rules. It's the most common type of attack, and 69% of affected businesses rated it the most disruptive.
The good news? Most of these risks come down to the basics being done well, consistently, by someone who's actually keeping an eye on them.
Why one partner beats another number in your contacts
Most businesses end up with a supplier for everything. One for IT support, one for the internet, one for cyber security, one for the door entry system, one for CCTV. When something goes wrong, they all point at each other, and you're left in the middle.
That's exactly where physical and cyber security fall through the gaps. The CCTV installer isn't watching your network. Your IT provider doesn't know the door system exists. Nobody owns the bit in between.
At Dunedin IT, we see the full picture. We've been working in this evolving space for over 16 years, across our four core services of Support, Connectivity, Cyber and AI. For some time now, that has included helping clients with door access control and CCTV, making sure they're set up securely, kept up to date and watched over alongside everything else.
In practice, that means:
- Vulnerability and pen testing that includes your cameras and door systems, not just your laptops
- Monitoring and alerting that spots unusual activity from any connected device
- Proactive protection, keeping building systems separate from your business data
- vCISO and cyber strategy that treats physical and digital security as one plan
It's also why Jamie goes to events like this. As Managing Director, he makes it his job to stay ahead of what's happening across the UK and Europe, not just within our own client base. Our engineers do the same, as you can read in Staying Ahead of Cyber Threats: Lessons from the 2026 Huntress Roadshow.
Not sure who's looking after your doors, cameras and intercoms? Or whether they're quietly connected to everything else? Talk to us. We'll help you see the full picture and close the gaps, from the front door to the cloud.
