Security Management articles from December 2005

Security Management archives from December 2005

The time for urgency is now[SM].
December 1, 2005... War, terrorism, workplace violence, sabotage, theft... the list of security-related worries preoccupying today's executive seems to grow each year. Who can predict what looms on the horizon? It's easy to pretend that corporations cannot shield...

PROTECT Smoke Cannon[TM] completes circle of protection against burglaries.
December 1, 2005... Now, for the first time, PROTECT's globally proven products are available in America. PROTECT is the world's leading company in the fast-growing global security smoke industry. The Denmark-based company is represented exclusively in the...

Security gets in the game.(Editor's Note)
December 1, 2005... Shakespeare saw the world as a stage. To Nobel prize winner Thomas C. Schelling, Ph.D., all the world's a playing field. Schelling just won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics for his insightful application of game theory to real-life challenges,...

Will you be ready?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... As a security specialist who has worked both in government and private industry, I'd like to share some thoughts on the Gulf Region's response to Katrina. Lesson 1: Don't assume that your critical employees will be there when needed,...

Secure flight encountering turbulence: several government groups have raised concerns about the viability of the latest proposals for passenger prescreening.
December 1, 2005... ITS DEJA VU all over again for airline passenger prescreening. Last year, the controversial CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II) program was scrapped by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after privacy...

Worldwide terrorism by tactic.(THE LATEST NEWS AND TRENDS)(Illustration)
December 1, 2005... Worldwide Terrorism by Tactic Incidents Fatalities Full Year January-October Full Year January-October 2004 2004 2005 2004 2004 2005 ...

600.(illegitimate goods)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... In billions of dollars, the estimated annual global trade in illegitimate (counterfeited and pirated) goods, according to Interpol and the World Customs Organization. That's up from $5.5 billion in 1982.

Teamsters bash rail security.(THE LATEST NEWS AND TRENDS)
December 1, 2005... UNSECURED TRACKS and other infrastructure, over-worked staff, rampant trespassing in railyards, and the absence of visible rail police combine to create a U.S. railway system that is "one step shy of disaster," according to a survey of...

Advice that's not all wet.(THE LATEST NEWS AND TRENDS)
December 1, 2005... One of the ironies of the promise of a "paperless society" that was supposed to have been ushered in with the Information Age is that computers have produced more paper than ever. And companies continue to have sensitive data not only on...

9/11 commission dismayed by inaction.(THE LATEST NEWS AND TRENDS)
December 1, 2005... THE 9/11 COMMISSION--formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States--disbanded in August 2004, but its ten commissioners didn't simply move on. Instead, they created an organization, called the 9/11 Public...

Cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., have a reputation for high crime.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., have a reputation for high crime. Yet in 2004, rates of overall property crime were much lower for households in the northeast than they were for households in any other region,...

Homeland Security Corporation.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The United States currently accounts for slightly more than half of the global homeland security market, but by 2014 its share will have slipped to 42 percent, according to the Homeland Security Corporation, a market research firm. Driving the...

A resource for the road.(THE LATEST NEWS AND TRENDS)
December 1, 2005... You just have to recall the pre-Hurricane Rita traffic jams around Houston to get a sense of how important the highway system is to disaster management. With that in mind, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies has...

Returning to the scenes of the crime.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... POLICE DEPARTMENTS used to track neighborhood crime by placing pushpins at crime locations on a wall map. Now crime tracking has become far more sophisticated. Today, law enforcement analysts around the country depict crime "hot spots"...

Demystifying jargon used in the security world.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Titanium bathtub: This term describes the bulletproof casing that surrounds pilots in certain fighter aircraft. Some aviation security experts have recommended the use of a similar design in the cockpits of commercial aircraft.

The case against Star Wars.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS since a weapon was tested in space--the so-called "Star Wars" program of the Reagan Administration. Now, the President has revived the notion of space weapons, as embodied in an Air Force strategy to "dominate" space, through...

The security consultant.
December 1, 2005... Q: I'm responsible for protecting a high-risk facility. How can I stop nighttime intruders at the perimeter, before they get a chance to do damage? A: For high-risk facilities, deterrence and prevention are not enough. You need to detect...

No consensus on FEMA focus: experts disagree on merits of FEMA preparedness function.(Homeland Security)
December 1, 2005... EVEN BEFORE the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was deluged with criticism for its poor handling of the emergency response effort after Hurricane Katrina, a plan to drastically reorganize the agency had been put forth by Department...

Reporting of potential health problems examined.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... ARE THE SYSTEMS that public health agencies have in place to receive and handle reports of suspicious diseases adequate? In an effort to answer that question, the RAND Corporation polled 19 of the 2,800 public health agencies around the United...

Efforts to tighten borders continue.(Homeland Security)
December 1, 2005... SPECIALLY TRAINED border patrol officers have long been authorized to issue removal orders so that illegal immigrants not seeking asylum get deported without a hearing. Called "expedited removal," the authority previously applied in only three...

Islamic extremism evaluated.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The rise of Islamic extremism is examined in a new GAO report. The report evaluates what U.S. government agencies are doing to identify, monitor, and counter support and funding for the global propagation of Islamic extremism. It also takes a...

Homeland security contracts.(Department of Homeland Security)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Homeland Security Contracts AWARDEE AMOUNT PURPOSE Hebrew University $5.6 million Develop drug against superantigens of Jerusalem RTI International $1.2 million Early detection of disease ...

Flight crew training.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The actions TSA has taken to develop guidance and standards for flight and cabin crew security training and to measure the effectiveness of such mandatory training are reviewed in a GAO report. The study also details the efforts TSA has taken...

Protecting a magic music hall.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... DESPITE ITS INCLUSION within a four building complex making up the Music Center of Los Angeles County, the Walt Disney Concert Hall sets itself apart by radically diverging from the traditional "shoebox" style concert hall that characterizes...

Building business partnerships: credibility and trust are the two legs on which all lasting business partnerships must stand.
December 1, 2005... SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS partnerships--whether between two different companies or among departments in the same organization--are built on credibility and trust. No single action will result in the loss of credibility and trust; however, a pattern...

The perils of wireless networking.
December 1, 2005... COMPUTERS THAT FOLLOW their own directives--to the detriment of their human owners--are a favorite topic of science fiction. If you use Windows XP and have a wireless card installed, this kind of sci-fi scenario may not just be fiction anymore....

Spam gets leaner.(number gets decreases)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
December 1, 2005... Spam Gets Leaner January-June 2005 Jan 67% Feb 65% Mar 61% Apr 60% May 59% Jun 53% Spam decreased 14 points as a percentage of overall e-mail in the first half of 2005; that represents a proportional 21% decrease....

Password frustration.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Password frustration. How many passwords do you need to remember? A survey by RSA Security Inc. of 1,700 enterprise technology end users found that 71 percent had as many as 12, and almost one-quarter had more than 15. To keep track of these,...

RFID planning.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... RFID planning. The Department of Defense (DoD) is using radio frequency ID (RFID) tags throughout its supply-chain operations; by January 2007, all DoD commodities will have these tags. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that...

Zero-day approaches.(internet security)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Zero-day approaches. The time between the disclosure of a computer vulnerability that can allow infection by a worm or virus and the release of an exploit that can attack that vulnerability has dropped from 6.4 days to 6.0 days. Meanwhile, the...

Worth a look: fencing out malicious code.(TECH TALK IN PLAIN ENGLISH)
December 1, 2005... WHEN MEDICAL CRISES HIT, patients who might have been exposed to a highly contagious disease are put into quarantine, thus ensuring that they cannot infect the public at large. When the virus is the digital kind, it's just as important to...

A site to see.(del.icio.us)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... WEB-PAGE BOOKMARKS are a great way to keep track of your own frequently traveled Web sites. But how can you find out what sites are most popular with other people? "Social bookmark" sites allow anyone who stumbles across an interesting...

DOT's security off track.
December 1, 2005... WHEN THE ZOTOB WORM appeared only days after Microsoft released a patch that would have prevented infection, 700 Department of Transportation (DOT) computers were infected after a contractor connected a laptop to the DOT's network against the...

Ramping up garage design.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... HOLLYWOOD LOVES TO PORTRAY CARS hurtling down garage ramps and across parking decks as bystanders dive out of the way. Or to use a parking garage as the scary setting in which an attacker kills an unsuspecting and helpless victim as he returns...

The security consultant.
December 1, 2005... Q: My security team is expected to stop would-be intruders before they can do damage. How can we detect intruders earlier to improve our response time? A: First and foremost, you need to include at least one type of perimeter security...

Don't be spooked by spyware.
December 1, 2005... IN THE 1984 BLOCKBUSTER Gremlins, Billy receives an exotic pet as a gift and is cautioned to keep it away from water and not to feed it after midnight. Billy's failure to adhere to these restrictions causes the pet to multiply, and its...

A matter of degrees.
December 1, 2005... BEFORE HIS SENIOR YEAR in college, Erik Stanton landed a summer internship in Washington, D.C. A criminal justice major at Salem College in Massachusetts, Stanton was placed with The Shaw Group, Inc., a Fortune 500 company that provides...

Fifty years of advancing security.
December 1, 2005... "THERE IS HISTORY in all men's lives," wrote William Shakespeare in King Henry IV. The history of ASIS International is manifest in the careers of the many practitioners who have helped to advance the profession. The Society, the profession,...

Premises liability.(U.S. JUDICIAL DECISIONS)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... PREMISES LIABILITY. A California appeals court has ruled that the owners of a bar had a duty to intervene in an attack on a patron. In the case, the court ruled that bouncers at a bar who anticipated an assault did not attempt to keep the...

Transit security.(U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION)
December 1, 2005... TRANSIT SECURITY. Asked to give their opinions about mass transit security, witnesses from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), consultants, and transit operators for the United States and the United Kingdom gathered to testify before the...

First responders.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... FIRST RESPONDERS. Two Senate bills have been introduced to address communication issues that arose in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. One bill (S. 1554), introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), would establish a grant program to improve...

OSHA.(Occupational Safety and Health Administration)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... OSHA. A bill (H.R. 3165) introduced by Rep. Al Green (D-TX) would hold companies criminally liable for the deaths of contract employees that result from willful violations of safety standards set out by the Occupational Safety and Health...

Border security.(U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... BORDER SECURITY. The Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, signed into law (P.L. 109-90) by President Bush in October, contains $940 million for border security initiatives, including 1,500 new border patrol agents and expanded...

Hazardous materials.(regulations)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. A bill (S. 1256) introduced by Sen. Joseph Biden (DDE) would require the Department of Homeland Security to issue regulations for the rail shipment and storage of extremely hazardous materials by railroads. These...

Georgia.(chating rules)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... CYBER PREDATORS. A bill (S.B. 62) recently signed into law in Georgia has created the new crime of "initiation of deceptive commercial e-mail." Designed to punish those who lure children via chat rooms and instant messaging, the crime is a...

Current legal highlights.(Legal Report)
December 1, 2005... Current Legal Highlights SOURCE OF LAW BILL/CASE VENUE STATUS Federal Legislation Patriot Act H.R. 3199 Conference The committee has Committee issued its report...

Privacy.(Elsewhere in the courts)(privacy case)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Privacy. A Washington appeals court has ruled that Steven White can proceed with his invasion of privacy lawsuit against his employer, a municipality. White, who was a town marshal, claims that when his boss revealed to a local newspaper that...

Discrimination.(Elsewhere in the courts)(employment discrimination case)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced that Fairmont Hotel and Resorts, Inc., has agreed to pay $525,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit. In the case, 12 employees of Arab and Asian descent claimed they...

Confidentiality Agreements.(National Labor Relations Board)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Confidentiality Agreements. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that a company's confidentiality agreements violated federal labor laws because they prohibited employees from discussing their wages and conditions of employment...

The Business Case for Network Security: Advocacy, Governance, and ROI.(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... ****# The Business Case for Network Security: Advocacy, Governance, and ROI. By Catherine Paquet and Warren Saxe; published by Cisco Press, www.ciscopress.com (Web); 408 pages; $39.95. Convincing executive management of the merits of a...

Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation.(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... ****# Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation. By J.D. Lasica; published by John Wiley & Sons, 877/762-2974 (phone), www.wiley.com (Web); 320 pages; $25.95. Darknets refer to small networks of users who typically share...

Defending the Homeland: Domestic Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and Security.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... ****# Defending the Homeland: Domestic Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and Security. By Jonathan R. White; published by Thomson-Wadsworth Publishing, www.wadsworth.com (Web); 128 pages; $37.95. A recent report by the inspector general of...

Hunting Terrorists: A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror.(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... ***## Hunting Terrorists: A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror. By Joe Navarro; published by Charles C. Thomas, 800/258-8980 (phone), www.ccthomas.com (Web); 122 pages; $39.95. The preface to this book promises that the work will first...

Web Mapping Illustrated.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... ****# Web Mapping Illustrated. By Tyler Mitchell; published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 800/998-9938 (phone), www.oreilly.com (Web); 367 pages; $39.95. With revolutionary technology, Google Earth now lets computer users zoom through space to...

Proactive Security Administration.(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... **### Proactive Security Administration. By George E. Curtis and R. Bruce McBride; published by Pearson Prentice-Hall, www.prenhall.com (Web); 256 pages; $34. Ever heard of CPED? You probably think the "T" is missing from CPTED--crime...

Fire and security integration.
December 1, 2005... SimplexGrinnell of Westminster, Massachusetts, has developed a new technology that integrates two products made by Tyco Fire & Security--the Simplex 4100U fire alarm platform and the Software House C-CURE 800/8000 security management software....

Security shredder.
December 1, 2005... The new Model 5140C/3 maximum security shredder has a built-in oiling system that keeps the cutting blades sharp even under constant use. It shreds paper to 1-mm X 5-mm particles, meeting requirements set forth in the NSA/CSS 02-01 for paper...

Pickpocket deterrent.
December 1, 2005... Tecco Corporation of Suffern, New York, has introduced the Zip-R-Lock, a twist-snap device that can be attached to any zipper or bag closure to deter pickpocketing and casual theft. Manufactured by Comprehensive Identification Products, Inc.,...

Bomb protection.
December 1, 2005... The BombJammer VIP 300T from Security Intelligence Technologies, Inc., of New Rochelle, New York, is a counterterrorism system that can be covertly mounted inside a trunk or in the back of an SUV. It protects against the use of...

LCD monitor consoles.
December 1, 2005... The new Two-Bay LCD/3 Console with Rack Cabinet from Minneapolis-based Winsted Corporation offers space for binders, CPU, and rack-mount electronics in a single console. Besides extra storage, it features two 21-inch (12U) rack spaces for LCDs...

Vertical rack cabinets.
December 1, 2005... Minneapolis-based Winsted Corporation is offering an array of new accessories for its Pro Series II vertical rack cabinets, which feature adjustable tapped front and rear rack rails and gusseted horizontal supports for additional strength....

Door Prop Alarm.
December 1, 2005... The 7200-PT Series Door Prop Alarm provides an audible alarm if a door is not closed within a specified time period or is forced open. It can also send an alarm condition to other monitoring systems and it can be custom-configured for a wide...

Checkpoint screening.
December 1, 2005... The Rapiscan 3D20 from Rapiscan Security Products of Hawthorne, California, enables operators to view three-dimensional images of scanned baggage in real time. It uses the AXIS-3D camera system to deliver high-resolution x-ray images and offers...

Biometric identification.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Ultra-Scan Corporation of Amherst, New York, will combine its patented ultrasonic fingerprint biometric technology with the Dynamic Hospital Suite of products from Bio-Optronics, Inc., of Rochester, New York. Designed to improve workflow and...

Iris reader.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The BM-ET330 iris reader from Panasonic Security Systems of Secaucus, New Jersey, delivers fast and accurate system enrollment and authentication using software developed by Iridian Technologies, Inc., of Moorestown, New Jersey. The system...

Secure telephone.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Nortel Corporation of Brampton, Ontario, Canada, has introduced enhancements to its Meridian telephone series that meet strict U.S. federal government security requirements for protecting highly sensitive information from intrusion and...

Smart-card readers.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... OMNIKEY of Walluf, Germany, is offering high-performance desktop smart-card readers bundled with validation software from CoreStreet, Ltd., of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The new package is designed to minimize deployment time and reduce the...

Evacuation notification.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(Fire Control Instruments Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The new E3 expandable emergency evacuation system from Fire Control Instruments of Westwood, Massachusetts, is a peer-to-peer network operating at 625 Kbaud that can be arranged as Style 4 or Style 7 using two conductor unshielded wire or fiber...

Building control.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(AMAG Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... An optional building control module for the Enterprise and Professional Editions of security systems from AMAG Technology of Torrance, California, allows control of building systems such as heating, ventilation, and lighting. By monitoring...

Locking system.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(Abloy Security Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The ABLOY EXEC High Security cylinder uses rotating detainer disks to provide an extensive number of key combinations for large systems, including master keying capabilities. Made by ABLOY Security, Inc., of Irving, Texas, the locking system...

Mass transit video.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(GVI Security Solutions Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... GVI Security Solutions, Inc., of Carrollton, Texas, has introduced the Mass Transit Intelligent Video System, which uses sophisticated algorithms to automatically detect, identify, and signal an alarm when the system detects unauthorized...

Network video.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(Integral Technologies Inc)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Indianapolis-based Integral Technologies is offering a new solution to security system integration. DigitalSENTRY Network Video Solutions (NVR) offers a pure software solution and is designed to accompany and complement the new 16-channel NVR...

MPEG-4 codec.
December 1, 2005... PI Vision of Orlando, Florida, has launched a new enterprise-level MPEG-4 codec. Benefits include smaller file sizes to help reduce bandwidth and hard-disk storage requirements, thus achieving cost savings compared to MPEG-2 and JPEG encoding....

Card printer.
December 1, 2005... The Persona C30 Card Printer from Fargo Electronics of Minneapolis is designed for facilities that need high-quality plastic ID cards without high-security features. It features an easy-to-load, all-in-one ribbon cartridge to save time and...

Access control power supplies.
December 1, 2005... Honeywell Power Products of Northford, Connecticut, is offering access control power supplies with significantly expanded capabilities in three power output levels with both UL and ULC ratings for fire, access control, and intrusion systems....

Control room consoles.
December 1, 2005... The Prestige Slim-Line series of modular control-room consoles from Minneapolis-based Winsted Corporation are available with fully enclosed back panels for a finished look. The Enclosed Slim Line Console features full sized enclosed back panels...

Integrated security panel.
December 1, 2005... The new ACUVision panel 1.0 from GE Security of Austin, Texas, offers a single-panel platform solution for access control, alarm monitoring, and digital recording. The single IP solution lowers cost of ownership by facilitation service and...

Long-range reader.
December 1, 2005... HID Corporation of Irvine, California, has expanded its 13.56 MHz contactless smart-card reader family with the introduction of a self-contained long-range reader that meets international regulatory standards. For installations incorporating...

Network cameras.(from Canon U.S.A. Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Expanded audio features, built-in servers, and zoom lenses are the highlights of a new line of cameras from Canon U.S.A., Inc., of Lake Success, New York. Both the Canon VB-C50FSi Fixed Network Camera and the Canon VB-C50i/VB-C50iR...

Secure document transmission.
December 1, 2005... PrivateExpress is a secure hosted service that enables financial institutions to meet regulatory requirements for the handling of sensitive customer and institutional data while exchanging documents online. Financial institutions can securely...

Video stabilization.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)
December 1, 2005... FOR-A Corporation of America of Cypress, California, has developed a video stabilizer that corrects the shaking of images shot in unstable conditions, such as windy or high-traffic areas. Thee IVS-300 video stabilizer corrects shakes from both...

Fixed camera domes.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Vicon Industries, Inc., of Hauppauge, New York, has introduced a new series of camera domes with a compact housing and a fixed camera-and-lens combination. The Fixed-Position Camera Domes are configured for in-ceiling or surface-mount...

Color cameras.(HOT NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES)(Bosch Security Systems)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Bosch Security Systems of Fairport, New York, now offers 540-TV line imaging for its entire line of high-resolution fixed and dome color cameras. The high resolution enables viewers to discern denominations and color of money exchanged, as well...

Anne Arundel County.(Anne Arundel County Employee Federal Credit Union opened Mobile Command and Control Unit )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Anne Arundel County, in Maryland, has deployed a new mobile emergency command center designed to provide information sharing and communication among emergency agencies and support government operations in the event of a disaster. The Mobile...