Secured by Design at the 2023 FIT Show

SBD Technical Manager Alfie Hosker also joined two other experts in the field - Howard Trotter & Mark Alton - for a panel seminar on fire legislation at the FIT Show.

Alfie said: “This was a great show for us to promote our work and to explain about SBD membership and the benefits of our Police Preferred Specification product accreditation scheme and the essential part industry, test & certification and other associated stakeholders play in creating products and services that are not only secure, but also help to keep people safe in the event of an emergency.

“The FIT Show also enabled us to have some great conversations, afforded us superb networking opportunities and was also an ideal opportunity for us to link in with all of our SBD members who were exhibiting and ensure that we are up-to-date regarding their products, as well as support them with product launches.

“Fire doorset legislation has changed significantly in recent years and at all points through the lifecycle of a fire doorset. The seminar was an excellent opportunity to discuss the requirements for a life cycle of compliance, with the first stage (Design & Test) also the reference point to ensure the original design intent is preserved and the intended performance met and maintained to reduce and remove potential elements of confusion or interpretation.”

“We were extremely busy throughout, with a large amount of interest and enquiries at the stand over all three days of the show”.

SBD’s pioneering work

As regular exhibitors and visitors at the FIT show know, SBD has been involved in pioneering work with national and local government, and a wide range of organisations to improve the physical security of buildings, particularly in the residential marketplace, over the last 30 years.

This work has involved tackling the wide variations in the quality of products installed during the housing boom of the 1960s, 70s and 80s when security was barely considered and windows could be lifted out almost as easily as they were installed.

To combat the rise in burglary that resulted, SBD set about looking at the quality of the products being sold against those originally tested. SBD instigated the formation of the UK Test House Studies Group and Certification Bodies Group for doorsets, windows and lock products and have chaired these groups for over 20 years with the sole aim being to ensure there is parity between test and certification bodies. Better quality means these products last longer too, making them more cost effective and leading to greater sustainability in crime prevention.

Today, door and window manufacturers must be certified by a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) certification body before becoming an SBD member company and being considered for SBD’s coveted Police Preferred Specification.

SBD continually monitor national crime trends to keep pace with changing patterns of criminal behaviour and new technology, ensuring that standards are updated to reflect these changes.

The Police Preferred Specification

Secured by Design (SBD) operates an accreditation scheme on behalf of the UK Police Service for products or services that have met recognised security standards. These products or services – which must be capable of deterring or preventing crime - are known as being of a ‘Police Preferred Specification’. 

There are many hundreds of companies who produce over seven thousand individual attack resistant crime prevention products in more than thirty different categories that have met the exacting Police Preferred Specification. This includes doors, windows, locks and hardware, perimeter security products and many others.

SBD is the only way for companies to obtain police recognition for security-related products in the UK. Find out more about SBD here.

SBD Secure Connected Device accreditation

The SBD Secure Connected Device accreditation for IoT connected devices is available to companies with IoT products to help them highlight their products as having achieved the necessary IoT standards and certification to be compliant with the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PSTI Act), which has recently been enacted into law. Businesses will need to be compliant with PSTI Act from the 29th of April 2024.

The PSTI Act applies to all consumer IoT products, including connected safety-relevant products such as door locks, connected home automation & alarm systems and smart home assistants.

Consumer connectable products, such as those listed above offer huge benefits for people and businesses to live better connected lives with a lower carbon footprint. However, the adoption of cyber security requirements within these products is poor, and while only 1 in 5 manufacturers embed basic security requirements in consumer connectable products, consumers overwhelmingly assume these products are secure.

Whilst connectable consumer products have previously had to comply with existing regulation to ensure that they will not directly cause physical harm from issues such as overheating, environmental damage or electrical interference, they have not been regulated to protect consumers from cyber harm such as loss of privacy and personal data.

The PSTI Act requires manufacturers, importers and distributors to ensure that minimum security requirements are met in relation to consumer connectable products that are available to consumers and provides a robust regulatory framework that can adapt and remain effective in the face of rapid technological advancement, the evolving techniques employed by malicious actors, and the broader international regulatory landscape.

The SBD Secure Connected Device accreditation scheme, developed in consultation with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), helps companies to get their products appropriately assessed against all 13 provisions of the ETSI EN 303 645 standard, a requirement that goes beyond the Government’s legislation so that companies can not only demonstrate their compliance with the legislation but protects them, their products and customers. 

The SBD Secure Connected Device IoT Assessment identifies the level of risk associated with an IoT device and its ecosystem, providing recommendations on the appropriate certification routes with one of the SBD approved certification bodies. Once third-party testing and independent certification for a product has been achieved, the company can apply to become SBD members, with the product receiving the SBD’s Secure Connected Device accreditation, a unique and recognisable accreditation that will highlight products as having achieved the relevant IoT standards and certification. 

A number of SBD member companies have had their IoT connected products – which cover a range of categories including Smart Home Security and Locks & Hardware - achieve SBD’s Secure Connected Device accreditation already. You can find out more about these companies and products here.

To find out more about Secured by Design, the Police Preferred Specification, the Secure Connected Device accreditation, and SBD membership, visit: https://www.securedbydesign.com/