• TSA's proposal for tougher general-aviation security to be scaled back

    TSA wanted to apply tougher security rules to the 15,000 or so private planes — aka “general aviation” — but operators and owners of such planes, and also DHS IG, said the risk such planes posed to U.S. security was not great; TSA is now planning to scale down general aviation security measures

  • Sorting the bad guys from the good

    Israel’s WeCu claims a 95 percent success rate for its new terrorist detection system that monitors reactions to visual stimuli at airports and checkpoints; the company’s device flashes stimuli, such as photos, a symbol, or a code word, relating to the information authorities are most interested in (whether it is terrorism, drug smuggling, or other crimes), to passengers as they pass through terminal checkpoints; hidden biometric sensors then detect the subjects’ physical reactions and subtle behavioral changes remotely or during random contact

  • IBM filed patents for airport security profiling technology

    IBM has filed a dozen patent applications which define a sophisticated scheme for airport terminal and perimeter protection, incorporating potential support for computer implementation of passenger behavioral profiling to detect security threats

  • E-Verify urged for Baltimore County

    Federal program aims to keep illegal immigrants off job sites; a coalition of labor unions wants Baltimore County Council members to adopt a new requirement that contractors working for the county verify the immigration status of their employees or risk losing county business; the hourly pay rate of members of the Ironworkers Union – a pay which includes health and retirement benefits — is about $40; workers in the United States illegally often get $12 an hour with no benefits

  • Polish priest installs fingerprint reader to check for mass attendance

    A Polish priest installs a biometric fingerprint reader at his church to monitor schoolchildren’s attendance at mass; the pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years, and if they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation

  • Japanese biometric border fooled by tape

    Two South Korean women have managed to fool Japan’s expensive biometric border-control system by using special tapes on their fingers; the invisible tape carries the finger prints of another person, and the South Korean broker who supplied the tape also provided false passports to go with it; this is the third known case of South Korean women using the fingerprint-altering tape to enter Japan; in all three cases, the women managed to fool the biometric screening, but were later caught because they over-stayed their visas

  • E-passports vulnerable to traceability attacks, allowing real-time tracking of passport holders

    The electronic passports issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, and some fifty other countries are vulnerable to “traceability attacks”: hackers can remotely track an e-passport holder in real time without first knowing the cryptographic keys that protect the personal information embedded in the e-passport

  • L-1 Identity Solutions’ Daugman-based iris algorithm passes test

    Rigorous tests by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) find that the accuracy of L-1’s iris recognition technology as markedly higher than prior results, and that improvements came without sacrificing speed; the evaluation also showed that L-1’s accuracy did not come at the expense of template size

  • U.S. boarding pass system easy to circumvent

    Unbelievable but true: If a terrorist obtains someone else’s credit card, he (the terrorist) could then follow instructions on the Internet to doctor a boarding pass; the terrorist could then show the fake boarding pass with his own name instead of the cardholder’s, along with his own ID, to pass through security, where the boarding pass is not scanned into the system; then at the gate, where the terrorist is not asked to show his ID again, he can simply hand in the real boarding pass with the cardholder’s name and be let onto the plane

  • Potential security breach in German airports workers' IDs

    A German TV news program and members of a computer club demonstrated how they managed remotely to access data stored on key cards used by airport employees; terrorists could use such a breach to gain admittance to restricted areas of the airport

  • Applying FIPS 201 to aviation security and counter-terrorism information sharing

    Would implementation of PIV based access control help improve the performance of the intelligence community? One expert wonders whether the fundamental ability of PIV and PIV-I to improve creation, distribution, and access to information is fully appreciated by the U.S. intelligence community and DHS

  • Keyboard strokes reveal who you are – and whether your are stressed

    The rhythms of a person’s typing style are stable over time, allowing computers and ATMs to identify you; researchers suggest key strokes could be used not only to verify identity but also to detect stress or even spot early signs of Alzheimer’s disease

  • U.K. ID card scheme for foreigners extended

    On Tuesday the U.K. government announced that from now on, Tier 2 foreign nationals will have to apply for a card if they wish to extend their stay in the United Kingdom; Tier 2 includes skilled workers, ministers of religion, sportsmen and women, representatives of overseas businesses, and dependants

  • U.K. home secretary reveals ID register linked to NI numbers

    The U.K. National Identity Register contains National Insurance numbers and answers to “shared secrets”; the secretary claimed the NI numbers have been included to “aid identity verification checks for identity cards and, in time, passports”

  • 2010: Topics for homeland security discussion

    The only thing we can say for sure about 2010 is terrorists, criminals, and mother nature will surprise us at some point during 2010; still, based on what we do know, we offer a short list of topics we predict will dominate the homeland security discussion in the coming year – from whole-body scanners to 100 percent air cargo screening to social Web sites to communication interoperability to the consequences of climate change (or is there a climate change?)