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Army contracting scandal reaches DHS
A $20 million contracting scandal involving the Army Corps of Engineers has now grown to include DHS; last week, Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) expanded the congressional probe to gather information on EyakTek, an Alaskan-native corporation that has received more than $1 billion in set-aside contracts from DHS and the Army
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Danish designer wins completion for new U.K. pylons
There are 88,000 pylons in the United Kingdom, carrying 400,000 volts of electricity over thousands of miles across the country; the design of the pylons has barely changed in eighty years – and a winner has just been announced in the competition for a new pylon design
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Little progress despite $3.4 billion spent on food safety programs
In the past decade the U.S. government has gone to great lengths to secure the nation’s food supply against terrorists, but more than $3.4 billion later it has little to show for its efforts; despite all the government spending, key food safety programs and counter-terror policies have been bogged down by a murky, convoluted bureaucratic process
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Iranian airline sanctioned for ties to terrorism
On Wednesday the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on sanctioned Mahan Air, an Iranian airline, for supporting terrorism
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Sony hit by hackers again, 93,000 accounts compromised
Once again Sony has been the victim of a major cyberattack. This time as many as 93,000 accounts have been compromised from Sony Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network, and Sony Online Entertainment
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UN warns record food prices to continue
Food prices are projected to continue skyrocketing and remain volatile leaving poor countries and consumers exposed to food insecurity, according to a recently released UN report
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Michigan to launch cyber command center and defense teams
To help boost the state’s economy and its role in securing the nation’s data networks, Michigan recently announced that it plans to launch a cyber command center and cyber defense response teams
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Public-private partnership in homeland security
The Homeland Security and Defense Business Council says that job of securing the U.S. homeland is an extensive and daunting mission that cannot be accomplished by government alone; it requires that the United States, collectively, become a resilient nation, with the capabilities needed to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against all threats
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Focus on terrorism allowed foreign pests to slip into U.S.
Following the 9/11 attacks the U.S. government assigned hundreds of agricultural scientists responsible for stopping invasive species at the border to anti-terrorism duties; the result has been that dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases managed to slip undetected into the United States
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Doyenz, Lifeboat Distribution in distribution agreement
Lifeboat Distribution, a software distributor for disaster recovery, will distribute Doyenz’s cloud-based recovery services to thousands of its reseller partners across North America
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Blackberry service disruption spreads across North America
Research in Motion announced earlier today that the 3-day disruption of the company’s e-mail services has now spread across North America; it is the worst such disruption of service in two years; analysts say it is a major blow to the already-struggling company; not only individuals, but also private companies and government agencies may now reconsider their reliance on Blackberrys as their preferred mode of communication
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TraceSpan Communications shows new interception device
DOCSIS Phantom intercepts target communications directly from the line and collects a hundred percent of the information in both directions, to and from the ISP or communications provider; the device allows interception of all data, including peer-to-peer communication, even when it does not pass through the ISP server
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Rising political, economic tensions over critical minerals
The clean energy economy of the future hinges on many things, chief among them the availability of the scores of rare Earth minerals and other elements used to make everything from photovoltaic panels and cellphone displays to the permanent magnets in cutting edge new wind generators; trouble is, China currently controls about 97 percent of the mining and production of the minerals, and it is using that control to give Chinese companies an advantage and for political pressure on other countries
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Global Security Challenge grand final 24-25 October
Global Security Challenge grand final will be held in London 24-25 October; six start-ups and six SMEs will compete for a prize fund of $500,000
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Voice-recognition market to reach $58.4 billion in 2015
New report says the voice recognition technologies market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8 percent between 2010 and 2015; the total market is valued at an estimated $38.4 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach $58.4 billion in 2015; this growth will spur additional growth in two sub-markets: voice recognition software technologies and text-to-speech software
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More headlines
The long view
Ransomware Attacks: Death Threats, Endangered Patients and Millions of Dollars in Damages
A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a company that processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and deals with 1 in 3 patient records in the United States, is continuing to cause massive disruptions nearly three weeks later. The incident, which started on February 21, has been called the “most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system” by the American Hospital Association. It is just the latest example of an increasing trend.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
LNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.