• USAID, Swiss Re Partnership Targets Hunger, Natural Disasters

    USAID and Swiss Re a few days ago announced a 3-year partnership to help vulnerable communities fight hunger, build resilience to climate change, and reduce the costs of natural disasters in the Americas, Africa, and Asia

  • New cloud continuity solution for SMBs

    Research by Contingency Planning, Strategic Research Corp., and DTI/PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the effect of downtime and data and application loss on small to medium enterprises caused 70 percent of small firms to go out of business within a year of the event; a new cloud-based continuity service addresses this problem

  • Formation of Senate and House rare Earth minerals caucuses urged

    The Association for Rare Earth yesterday urged the creation of Senate and House caucuses to focus on the challenges of securing supplies of rare Earth elements for U.S. high technology, clean energy, and defense communities

  • 80% of U.S. small businesses have no cyber security policies in place

    The majority of small business owners believe Internet security is critical to their success and that their companies are safe from ever increasing cyber security threats even as many fail to take fundamental precautions, according to a new survey of U.S. small businesses

  • OmniTouch turns any surface into a touch screen

    Researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon have created a shoulder-mounted device that can turn virtually any surface into an interactive touch screen; with OmniTouch users can now use walls or even the palm of their hands to control their smartphones

  • World's first 1080p/30fps video analytics solution on an FPGA announced

    Altera Corporation said it was introducing what it described as the world’s first FPGA-based full-HD 1080p/(30 frames per second) 30fps video analytics on a Cyclone IV FPGA

  • TSA expands pilot screening program for pilots

    Last week the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expanded its trial program that allows pilots to skip airport security checkpoint lines to Washington Dulles International Airport; Dulles is the sixth of seven test locations for the “Known Crewmember” program which offers pilots an expedited screening process in the hopes of minimizing wait times for passengers

  • Innovative surveillance solutions recognized

    MicroObserver Unattended Ground Sensor from Textron Defense Systems was recognized as one of the 2011 Big 25 intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) products; the solution detects and tracks vehicles and personnel for perimeter defense, border security, force protection, persistent surveillance, and critical infrastructure protection

  • Google making search more secure

    Google is enhancing its default search service for signed-in users; over the next few weeks, many users will find themselves redirected to https://www.google.com (note the extra “s”) when they are signed in to their Google account; this change encrypts their search queries and Google’s results page

  • Iris recognition system deployed at Gatwick Airport

    AOptix Technologies and Human Recognition Systems (HRS) announced their integrating of AOptix InSight VM iris recognition system into thirty-four automated e-Gates at the Gatwick Airport South Terminal

  • DHS funds Ricin detection

    Positive ID announces the company’s immunodetection assay for the identification of Ricin toxin to meet DHS specifications; Ricin, a chemical warfare agent, is derived from the seeds of the castor oil plant Ricinus communis and has become a tool of terrorist groups across the world due to its easy production and high toxicity

  • Smartphone can spy on computer keyboard strikes

    In hundreds of millions of offices around the world, this routine repeats itself every day: People sit down, turn on their computers, set their mobile phones on their desks, and begin to work; now, what if a hacker could use that phone to track what the person was typing on the keyboard just inches away?

  • Greatest cyber vulnerabilities are people, says cybersecurity expert

    Dr. Cedric Jeannot, the founder and president of I Think Security, recently sat down with Eugene K. Chow, the executive editor of Homeland Security NewsWire, to discuss the latest rash in cyberattacks on companies, why hackers have been so successful, and the fallout from the RSA SecurID attacks

  • Improving critical infrastructure protection

    Salt River Project (SRP), the U.S. third-largest public power utility, recently announced that it had teamed with Quantum Secure to help protect its facilities

  • Business group: cybersecurity critical to U.S. economic, national security

    The Technology CEO Council says that Private sector steps to strengthen the U.S. digital infrastructure combined with new policies and government actions are important to America’s national and economic security