• Biometric technologies adopted by more Australian banks

    The use of face-recognition biometrics technology will soon become main stream in Australian banks, and may even be used in conjunction with other technologies; in a survey, 79 percent of Australians said that they were comfortable with fingerprint technology replacing banking PINs

  • GOP lawmakers advise defense contractors to issue sequestration-related layoff notices

    The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires that an employer who employs more than 100 employees must provide a 60-day advanced notice to employees of mass layoffs or the closing of a plant; if the act is not followed, employees can sue for back pay and benefits for up to sixty days; the Obama administration advised defense contractors that they should not comply with the act, even in the face of the 2 January 2013 $500 billion cut in the defense budget which would go into effect if no deficit reduction agreement is reached; if contracts are cancelled and mass lay-offs ensue, the administration said it would cover the defense contractors’ non-compliance-related legal costs; Republican lawmakers say they would block any payments to cover such non-compliance, and advised defense contractors that they should follow the law

  • New methods might drastically reduce the costs of investigating polluted sites

    In Europe there are over 20,000 complex and large contaminated areas. These so-called megasites threaten scarce land and water resources, create environmental and health risks, and result in economic and social costs; new methods may allow polluted sites to be investigated and monitored long term at significantly reduced costs

  • Congressional panel says two Chinese telecom companies pose “national security threat” to U.S.

    A report by the House Intelligence Committee recommended that the U.S. government be barred from doing business with two Chinese telecommunications firms – Huawei and ZTE – and that American companies should avoid buying their equipment; a committee report said the two companies pose a threat to U.S. national security; installing these companies’ technology in U.S. communication network will not only allow these companies, acting on behalf of the Chinese military and intelligence, to steal sensitive national security information and trade secrets of private U.S. companies – it will also allow China to attack and paralyze large portions of U.S. critical infrastructure

  • Defense firms growing anxious about sequestration-related defense cuts

    Defense contractors are growing anxious as they still do not know whether $500 billion in defense cuts will take place on 1 January 2013 as a result of sequestration; many firms are hoping that the administration and Congress will come to a budget agreement once the election is over, but at the same time, it is something contractors cannot rely on; what complicates the issue is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), which requires employers with more than 100 employees to give employees a 60-day notice before mass lay-offs or plant closure

  • Scenario-based gaming exercise to improve intelligence analysis

    Raytheon has created a scenario-based gaming exercise to study in depth the intelligence analyst’s tradecraft; the company says the goal is ultimately to help analysts produce the best intelligence products and streamline workflows

  • NRC sees no evidence of bad security practices at Michigan nuclear plant

    The Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC) released  information last week about a leak earlier this summer at the Palisades plant near South Haven, Michigan; the plant has been mired in controversy this year, as at least three water leaks have occurred in the past several months, and the plant has one of the worst safety ratings in the United States

  • Environmentalists concerned about earthquakes tests near California nuclear plant

    The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) wants to use air guns to emit strong sound waves into a large near-shore area which includes parts of marine reserves; the purpose: creating three dimensional maps of fault zones near its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California; the plans have federal and state officials concerned about marine life and public safety

  • Dallas area earthquakes were caused by fracking: geophysicists

    Three earthquakes that hit a Dallas suburb last week could be connected to fracking operations, according to a local geophysicist who studies earthquakes in the region; the earthquakes were considered minor, with the biggest one registered at a 3.4 on the Richter scale; no injuries were reported despite many emergency calls

  • Infrastructure security market to reach a value of $32.55 billion in 2012

    The infrastructure security market has rapidly developed over the past decade, with the formation of a host of governmental and international organizations dedicated to homeland security and critical infrastructure protection; a new report says growth trends in the infrastructure protection market will continue

  • Camera for long-range gas leak detection

    New infrared gas imaging camera equipped with a 75 mm lens; it iscertified for use in Class I Div 2 hazardous locations, enabling remote detection and visualization of gas leaks from a great distance

  • Oshkosh Defense unveils new light vehicle for unconventional missions

    Using the occasion of the Modern Day Marine 2012 exposition, held 25-27 September in Quantico, Virginia, Oshkosh Defense unveiled its new Special Purpose All-Terrain Vehicle (S-ATV) designed for unconventional and reconnaissance missions, and also showed its Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle (L-ATV), which was selected for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase; the joint services are expected to replace tens of thousands of HMMWVs with the JLTV

  • U.K. military’s drone spending keep rising

    In an effort to boost its military, the United Kingdom, over the past five years, has spent more than two billion euros buying and developing unmanned drones; the U.K. has no intention of slowing down, as it is committed to spending another two billion euros on new unmanned aircraft

  • U.S. nuclear industry believes its on the threshold of a renaissance

    Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, doubts were raised about  the future of the U.S. nuclear power industry; now, eighteen months later, a new poll, and changes in NRC’s reactor design approval procedure, have convinced industry leaders that nuclear power could become a significant source of power in the United States

  • EU considers far-reaching Internet security initiative

    Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly more daunting challenge as governments try to prevent attacks against critical infrastructure on which the well-being of countries depends, now, several European countries are trying to come together in an effort to defend themselves against a cyber attack, but critics say the project, called CleanIT, goes too far