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UGI proposes innovative clean-up plan for Gulf
BP’s oils spill now covers an area the size of Luxembourg; a U.K. clean-tech company joins with an Ohio-based partner to offer boat towing technology platforms specifically designed to remove the oil threatening the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and the waters around the Deepwater Horizon well; a towed membrane acts like blotting paper in attracting oil that can then be released only by mechanical pressure
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Emergent sells anthrax vaccine to U.S. allies
European countries, worried about bioterror attacks, are working on a plan to stock vaccines regionally — a Baltic stockpile, a Nordic stockpile, and so on would help in covering countries that have not expressed a desire to form their own stockpiles; a Maryland-based companies is providing these European countries with anthrax vaccine
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TSA looks for commercial software to manage Secure Flight
Managing the long — very long — No Fly and Terror Watch lists is not a simple task; TSA is looking to purchase commercial software to help manage its Secure Flight program which checks the information airlines collect about passengers against DHS terrorist watch lists
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FAA brings flying car's day closer
There is an inherent problem in designing a flying car: how to build a safe enough car that can still be light enough to compete with the other aircraft in its class; the FAA has given permission to Terrafugia, a flying car pioneer, to add an extra 110 pounds to the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) limit of 1,320 pounds maximum takeoff weight; the added weight will allow the company to add some automotive safety features such as airbags, crumple zones, and a safety cage, and still qualify as an LSA; the airplane will cruise at a speed of 115 miles per hour and a range of more than 450 miles; on the road, the two place, front wheel drive vehicle achieves a respectable 30 miles per gallon
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Cybersecurity insurance gains more adherents
With so many large U.S. companies suffering security breaches — and with companies losing an average of $234,000 per breach in 2009 — more consideration is being given to cybersecurity insurance; a crashed server policy is not as easy to write as a crashed car policy
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Smart Grid cybersecurity market to reach $3.7 billion by 2015
Spending on security for the smart grid will represent approximately 15 percent of total smart grid capital investment between now and 2015; cumulative investment in the security sector will reach $21 billion between 2010 and 2015, with annual revenue reaching $3.7 billion by 2015; among other incentives, one key condition for smart grid funding awarded last year under the federal stimulus program was that the awardees incorporate strong security into their smart grid initiatives
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Marines to use autonomous vehicles built by Virginia Tech students
Virginia Tech engineering students designed an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) which the U.S. Marines Corps will test in a war game in Hawaii; the unmanned vehicles are designed to resupply troops, to reduce the actual loads manually carried by Marines, and to provide an immediate means for the evacuation of any casualties in combat
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Insuring cities against terrorist attacks
Do small towns really need to spend money for terrorism insurance? To collect on such policies, an act of terrorism has to be certified by the U.S. attorney general, the Department of the Treasury and the secretary of state; there also has to be at least $5 million in damage and an intent to coerce or influence U.S. policy; nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological attacks are excluded
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Cap temporarily removed from gushing well
The lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap was taken off the failed Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer (BOP) earlier today after a vent on the cap accidentally got closed; it appears that a remotely operated vehicle accidentally bumped into the LMRP cap and closed a vent; the cap was taken off the well because with the vent closed, dangerous pressure was beginning to build up inside the well, raising the specter of another explosion, similar to the one on 20 April which destroyed the well
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Industry concerned about DHS standards on cybersecurity
Private cybersecurity companies worry that too-stringent cybersecurity laws and regulations could have a detrimental impact on private sector innovation; “The government needs to be very careful about imposing too much of a top-down standards process,” said McAfee vice president of government relations Tom Gann; “We need to bring products to market very quickly. They need to make sure we can get latest technology”
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$800 million for 53-mile of border fence (it was supposed to be 655 miles)
The original plan of the Secure Border Initiative (SBINet) called for spending $833 million to build a virtual fence — a system of sophisticated sensors, cameras, and other barriers — along 655 miles of U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, New Mexico, and a slice of Texas, at a cost of about $1.2 million per mile; Boeing, the prime contractor, used $800 million to build the system along only 53 miles of border at a cost of $15.1 million per mile; the virtual fence’s technology is now judged a failure
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Could-based voice biometrics e-commerce platform launched
The industry’s first voice biometrics-driven e-commerce platform launched; the cloud-based service allows retailers instantly to set up and run their online business, processing transactions using voice biometrics to authenticate and authorize their online, and mobile-based electronic payments
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Fingerprint Security Briefcase keeps papers safe
Biometrically protected briefcase may be nice to have, but since most business people now carry sensitive information digitally, one observer thinks that a more practical solution a giant USB key
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Microsoft offers developers cloud security tips
New paper provides best practices for writing applications for Windows Azure; one Microsoft security official: “it is important that people building software or hosting services in ‘The Cloud’ understand that they must also build software with security in mind from the start”
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Border Patrol decides not to purchase a balloon to aid communication among agents
An Arizona-based company makes a balloon that carries light-weight communication gear at 60,000 to 100,000 feet above the earth, and can extend the range of two-way radios on the ground as much as 40-fold; the Border Patrol showed interest in the balloon as a means to help its agents better communicate with each other and with law enforcement in remote border areas; but Border Patrol decided not the to pursue the balloon option
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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.