One Year Since Virginia Tech, School Security Funding Still Debated
Almost a year after the deadliest shooting on a college campus, Congress is still haggling over legislation that would provide federal dollars to colleges and universities to help pay for improved campus security, USA Today reports....
Copper Theft Draws the Attention of Industry, Lawmakers
Criminals have taken notice that growing demand in global markets has led to a worldwide increase in copper prices. As the value of the metal soars, many businesses are finding themselves victims of copper theft. It can be found in many everyday products including electronics and computers, but the most commonly exploited form is found in pipes and wiring. Thieves are stealing this valuable metal from job sites, homes, storage facilities and even directly from utility and light poles. The stolen property is then sold to scrap metal yards for financial gain. It is estimated that recycled copper retrieves approximately $2.75 per pound.
According to the Security Industry Association (SIA), the growing problem of copper theft impacts a broad cross-section of industries and the general public....
"Digital Universe" Bigger Because Of Video, Surveillance
EMC Corp., a provider of information infrastructure solutions, offers findings from the EMC-sponsored research from IDC that measures and forecasts the vast amounts and diverse types of digital information created and copied in the world.
“The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe: An Updated Forecast of Worldwide Information Growth Through 2011” highlights findings that are newly updated since IDC’s inaugural forecast of the digital universe was published in March 2007. ...
Cisco Moving Schools Toward Convergence And Modernization
Cisco has reported a change in how K-12 schools, colleges and universities view emergency preparedness and security management when designing their campus safety architectures. Seizing a movement already under way in businesses and government agencies, school officials increasingly recognize the importance of converging their physical security tools on their networks and are doing so at an unprecedented pace.
Campus security has long been a top priority for schools from kindergarten to higher education. At many schools, however, the physical and network security infrastructures are disjointed, comprising a patchwork of separate alarm systems, surveillance cameras, communication systems and radios that cannot interact with the digital, network-connected systems more recently put in place....
NTC Offering To "Train The Troops" With New Program
"Train The Troops" program is a free program offered to recently discharged military service personnel to train them for careers in the low voltage industry.
Charles Aulner, CEO of National Training Center (NTC), explains the inception of the program: "NTC is dedicated to providing the low voltage industry with the very best in training and is committed to empowering individuals and companies to succeed. Many returning service members are discharged within two months of returning from the battlefield. This does not provide them with much time to find work in the civilian sector. We wanted to give back to the U.S. troops that risk their lives in order to protect the American way of life." ...
ADI Kicks Off Latest Expo Training Series
ADI, a wholesale distributor of security and low voltage products, is launching its latest Expo Training Series and celebrating 15 years of success in 2008. Free to industry professionals, the ADI Expo offers dealers an opportunity to meet with local associations and manufacturers, increase their technical expertise, expand their business and remain competitive in the low voltage industry.
This year's theme, Go Full Throttle, is designed to energize, as ADI and its vendors are committed to offering opportunities that prepare customers to move full speed ahead and accelerate their business. The ADI Expo provides dealers with valuable education opportunities, a chance to demo the latest technology and engage in face-to-face interaction with leading manufacturers....
Police Asking For Tougher Security At Florida Malls
Since someone murdered a mother and daughter and left their bodies outside a Boca Raton, Fla., mall, Coral Springs Police Chief Duncan Foster repeatedly tried to talk to the owners of Coral Square Mall about hiring off-duty officers to increase security.
But Foster tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper that his requests went unanswered by mall managers for Simon Property Group, owner also of the Town Center at Boca Raton, where the bodies were found.
Now Foster has written the Indianapolis-based owner of the malls, asking for a sit-down meeting....
Cell Phones Give Students False Sense of Safety
A new study from three professors finds that college students packing cell phones feel safer than those without and are more likely to take risky walks at night.
The research reveals that carrying a cell phone can amp up risk-taking, particularly among women.
"Students seem to feel less vulnerable when they carry a cell phone, although there's no evidence that they really are," says study researcher Jack Nasar, a professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State University. "If anything, they are probably less safe because they are paying less attention to their surroundings."...
Purdue University Strengthens Security With Help Of Students
Increasing the number of employees in the Purdue University Student Security Patrol on its West Lafayette, Ind., campus will be an effective way to enhance safety on campus, reports The Exponent, Purdue University's student newspaper.
The Purdue Police Department reported that it would nearly double the number of positions open on the force. The current staff of 25 would jump to 35 beginning this spring. The student patrol will eventually employ 50 by the end of the year.
Saving the university millions of dollars that would normally be spent on installing security cameras, the path is adding student jobs while increasing campus surveillance....
Radiation Research Gives Hope For Explosive Detection
A new type of radiation called T-rays—electromagnetic waves in the far infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum that have a wavelength 500 times longer than visible light—may allow for the development of a new generation of sensors for detecting explosives and poisons.
The research, performed by a team of U.K. and Spanish physicists led in the U.K. by Dr. Stefan Maier from Imperial College London's Department of Physics and Dr. Steve Andrews of the University of Bath, shows that the T-rays can be guided along the surface of a specially designed material, known as a metamaterial. Being able to control T-rays in this way is essential if this type of radiation is to be used in many real-world applications....
Fire Alarm Boxes Becoming Another Technology Casualty
The street corner fire alarm box, a lifeline used when few people had telephones at home to report fires, has become another casualty of technology, replaced by the 9-1-1 emergency system and cell phones.
The bright red and white boxes with peaked "roofs" once dotted street corners throughout the United States. Now, sometime in the next three months, the Village of Lancaster, N.Y., will likely become one of the last suburban municipalities to bid a fond goodbye to the American icon.
According to New York's Buffalo News, if this occurs, the Village of Depew, N.Y., will become the sole remaining suburban holdout in New York's Erie County relying on a fully functioning street box alarm system. Depew's dates back to 1894—the year of the village's incorporation....
Port Security A Key Topic At Homeland Security Conference
At the fourth annual ThinkTec Homeland Security Innovation Conference last week at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) in Charleston...
Research Says Best Info Security Requires Managed Security Services
New research from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Co., reveals that the organizations getting the best information security performance include some managed security services as part of their defense. The new report, "Best Practices in Choosing and Consuming Managed Security Services," provides insight gleaned from close to 200 survey respondents, supplemented with in-depth interviews with veteran consumers of managed security services.
"These findings are significant because they reflect a shift in market awareness. Often organizations have been turning to managed security services to help with compliance issues, or reduce the management associated with maintaining ongoing security or to reduce their costs," says Carol Baroudi, research director in the IT Security practice at Aberdeen. ...
Connecticut Firehouse Involved In Security/Privacy Fight
The union for paid firefighters has filed a grievance with Stamford, Conn., over the installation of security cameras at the volunteer Springdale Fire Co., saying it's an illegal invasion of privacy.
The Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association, which has 16 members working in the Springdale firehouse, told The Stamford Advocate that the security cameras will create a "big brother" environment and make paid firefighters uncomfortable.
Springdale Fire Chief Shawn Fahan says the security system is necessary to ensure the safety of paid and volunteer firefighters after a series of break-ins, thefts and tampering with firetrucks and equipment. The system would include 14 cameras to be placed in two kitchens, two lounge rooms, the garage and several hallways and exits, Fahan says....
Raising An Eyebrow At Surveillance
No less than The Washington Post has offered its opinion of the video surveillance trend, and according to its editorial staff, it may be time to rethink where -- and why -- a person's image is being recorded.
According to the Post, there are no federal laws governing how these images can be used, where they should be stored, with whom they may be shared and when they must be destroyed. This may raise the question of where the image may reappear -- be it on TV or the Internet. ...
Amtrak Beefs Up Security With New Procedures
Amtrak will deploy a new specialized Amtrak Mobile Security Team to patrol stations and trains and randomly inspect passenger baggage.
The Mobile Security Team supplements ongoing patrols already in place by Amtrak to enhance the safety and security of passenger rail travel. The deployment of the Mobile Security Team and the launch of random baggage inspection are further steps in Amtrak's ongoing efforts to strengthen rail security as a means to minimize the risk of terrorist threats.
The Mobile Security Teams will ultimately be deployed nationwide....
Northern Illinois University Addresses Security Concerns
After a gunman shot and killed five students and himself at Northern Illinois University (NIU) last week, questions and concerns are being voiced about the school's security and method of communication.
According to the Associated Press, many students phoned each other and sent text messages even before school officials could warn them.
Drew Creal, a sophomore from St. Charles, was in a building next to Cole Hall when students around him began receiving text messages from other students that read, "There's shooting in Cole Hall" and "Get off campus," he says....
Although Still High, Rates Of U.S. Identity Fraud Dropping
A new report from Javelin Strategy & Research says that identity theft remains a major problem, with Americans losing $45.3 billion in 2007, but a drop in fraud cases suggests that more consumers and businesses are winning the battle against criminals.
Losses declined 11 percent from about $51 billion in 2006, according to the fourth annual study. The average loss fell 6 percent to $5,574 from $5,920.
According to Reuters, the study also says that as banks and retailers beef up their in-store and online security systems, frauds are resorting more to the phone and the mail to prowl for victims....
Survey Shows Americans Incorrectly Confident About Fire Safety
A nationwide survey conducted by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) reveals that 79 percent of Americans feel safer from fires at home than in a public building with an additional 9 percent feeling equally safe in both locations.
These results are inconsistent with government statistics that show that home fires outnumber all other building fires by over three to one. At the same time, most fire deaths and injuries occur in the home.
Public buildings are subject to tough fire-safety regulations and inspections, whereas most homes are not. ...
Food Terrorism Risks Studied In Arizona
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, awareness has heightened to the idea that the nation's food supply could be at risk of possible attack....
GAO Report Warns Of Campus Reactor Threat
The risks of a terrorist attack on a nuclear reactor at a college campus -- and the potential consequences -- have been underestimated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Congressional auditors say in a report.
According to The New York Times, the report, by the Government Accountability Office, says the commission overruled expert contractors who thought differently, and misrepresented what the contractors had said.
Security requirements at the reactors have changed little since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to the auditors, even though many of the reactors still run on enriched uranium, which terrorists could convert into an atomic bomb. In contrast, the rules for civilian power plants have become much stricter, the report said....
Storage A Challenge With Today's Surveillance Cameras
With digital video on the rise in enterprises, IT storage teams will play a key role in accommodating the petabytes of data that can be generated by video surveillance systems.
With falling costs of digital video surveillance systems, organizations can now buy additional IP video technology and do more with video data. In addition to combating fraud and crime, companies are applying analytics to video data to aid merchandising, operations and customer service. "The advent of IP video is one of the key things that changed surveillance video from a sleepy technology backwater to something that IT needs to get involved in," says Steven Norall, senior analyst and consultant at Taneja Group....
Report Finds National Landmarks At Risk
According to a government report about the U.S. Park Police, national icons such as the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty are left vulnerable because of inadequate security.
The Interior Department's inspector general accuses the Park Police of an "overall lack of commitment to its icon security responsibilities," citing chronic understaffing along with a lack of coordination and training.
The report states, "We found that despite having increased security and law enforcement responsibilities since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, USPP's staffing levels are lower now than they were six years ago."...
Cisco Study Reveals Need For Diligence Among Remote Workers
Cisco has announced key findings from its annual global study on remote workers' security awareness and online behavior, indicating how they can inadvertently heighten risks for themselves and the companies they work for. The study's findings are prompting Cisco security executives to offer recommendations to IT professionals on how to protect their companies against threats and maximize the business benefits of distributed and mobile workforces.
Conducted by InsightExpress, a U.S.-based market research firm, the study involves surveys of more than 2,000 remote workers and IT professionals from various industries and company sizes in 10 countries: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, India, Australia and Brazil. The 10 countries were chosen because they represent a diverse set of social and business cultures, stable and emerging network-dependent economies and varied lengths of Internet adoption....
Fingerprint Authentication Acceptance On The Rise, Survey Shows
A recent consumer survey from fingerprint sensor and solutions provider AuthenTec shows that a vast majority of U.S. consumers trust in the convenience and security benefits of fingerprint authentication, especially as it relates to online banking, PC security and electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications. The survey indicates that a clear majority (77 percent) is ready to begin using fingerprint sensors as part of their day-to-day activities, signaling the strong growth potential for broad consumer adoption.
The survey shows two-thirds (66 percent) of consumers trust fingerprint biometrics as a means of authentication more than traditional PINs or passwords while 68 percent perceive the use of a fingerprint sensor to be more convenient....
