Is Push Or Pull Alarm Data More Secure For Alarm And Automation Event Notifications?
Is Push Or Pull Alarm Data More Secure – Is push or pull the most secure for sending alarm event data to end users by mobile app?
A: Push data transmission technology is inherently secure against remote attacks since it does not have to listen for network connections that might leave it open to opportunistic automated hacking.
Another benefit is that push applications can send instant system status data, including alarm event data, to end users 24×7. This means there’s virtually no delay between the alarm event and notification received by management or security staff.
As soon as a push-registered mobile device is powered up it automatically sends its metrics to the controller and that means alarm events can be reported faster. And with push, the polling tasks are distributed among the devices so there’s linear scalability. The central collector simply listens for updates from registered mobile devices and stores data it receives.
The configuration required for devices is relatively simple. When it comes to latency, the low overhead and distributed nature of the push model means data can be sent more frequently, allowing the management system to react faster to changes. In addition, many push protocols are implemented on top of UDP, providing non-blocking, low-latency transport.
Conversely, with pull architecture, a user or endpoint periodically initiates requests to a remote server to retrieve data. This requires the server to remain reachable and responsive to inbound requests. Pull protocols can potentially expose systems to remote access risks, brute-force attempts, or denial-of-service conditions, particularly if authentication, rate-limiting, or firewall rules are poorly implemented.
There is also additional operational complexity. A pull-enabled system must maintain device registries, credentials, polling schedules and session state. Firewalls must be configured to allow bi-directional communication between pollers and agents, increasing configuration overhead and expanding the network attack surface. Latency is inherently tied to polling intervals, meaning critical alarm data may not be delivered immediately unless aggressive polling is used, which in turn increases load.
You can learn more about client-side security of alarm systems here or read more SEN news here.
“Is Push Or Pull Alarm Data More Secure For Alarm And Automation Event Notifications?”
