Synology says organisations should process more surveillance data on premises and retain control of encryption keys as AI increases the sensitivity and volume of video moving through connected camera systems.
Synology has argued that the rise of AI has made surveillance architecture a data-sovereignty issue rather than a simple choice between local hardware and cloud storage. In its view, organisations should keep more video processing on premises, limit what leaves the site, and ensure that any encrypted footage stored remotely remains controlled by the customer rather than the provider. Synology says this is increasingly important as internet-connected cameras, biometric analysis and AI-driven identification tools expand the amount of sensitive material moving through surveillance systems.
The company’s position is built around an edge-first model, in which tasks such as facial detection, vehicle recognition and behavioural alerts are handled on cameras or local appliances, with only selected metadata sent onwards for remote monitoring or administration. Synology has also pushed a zero-knowledge cloud model for customers that need off-site storage or central oversight across multiple locations, meaning footage is encrypted before it leaves the customer environment and the decryption keys stay with the account holder. That approach is intended to reduce the risk of unauthorised access, internal misuse or provider-side exposure.
Synology has paired the argument with a set of design principles covering data residence, access control, end-to-end encryption and localised AI analytics. It says surveillance systems should include role-based permissions, multi-factor authentication and traceability features such as watermarks to help identify where footage came from if it is exported or shared. The company also says access to stored video should remain governed by a customer-held encryption key, rather than by Synology itself.
The message also serves as a product positioning exercise. Synology has linked the position to its Surveillance Station platform for on-premises deployments and to Surveillance365, its video surveillance as a service offering for multi-site businesses. The company says Surveillance365 supports edge recording and on-camera intelligence, with AI processing carried out directly on the camera to reduce cloud bandwidth use, while governance features such as multi-factor authentication and a C2 Encryption Key are intended to keep customers in control of footage access.
Cody Hall, product manager at Synology America, framed the issue in stark terms, arguing that surveillance systems now collect increasingly intimate operational data while AI systems are becoming more opaque and more powerful. In comments relayed by the company, he said the collision of those trends creates “a profound risk” when surveillance is tied too closely to external infrastructure. The company is using that message to position local processing and customer-held encryption as safeguards for organisations that need stricter control over video, metadata and auditability.
For security teams, the broader question is not only where footage is stored, but where analytics run, who can decrypt archives and whether video crosses jurisdictional boundaries. That matters most for regulated sectors, or for organisations with internal rules on data handling and evidence retention, where the architecture of a surveillance system can shape compliance obligations as much as it affects performance. Synology’s intervention reflects a wider industry debate over whether the convenience of cloud surveillance outweighs the governance advantages of keeping sensitive operations closer to the edge.
Disclaimer: This content is intended for informational purposes only. Readers are advised to exercise their own judgement, conduct due diligence, or consult a qualified expert before acting on any information provided.
