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U.S. power and water utilities face daily cyberattacks
American water and energy companies deal with a constant barrage of cyberattacks on a daily basis; these incidents usually take the form of cyber espionage or denial-of-service attacks against the utilities’ industrial-control systems
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Isotec Security receives Safety Act designation
Isotec Security’s Automated Weapons Control Portals has been awarded SAFETY Act designation by DHS; the company notes that no strategic, public facility, or bank using the solution has suffered an armed incursion or successful armed robbery
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Missouri announces additional funding for Disaster Recovery Jobs Program
Missourigovernor announces an investment of $16.5 million in federal National Emergency Grant (NEG) funding to create temporary jobs for workers in twenty-nine Missouri counties affected by tornadoes, floods, and severe storms last year
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DHS brings military technology to border surveillance
The long list of products and equipment developed for the military but which were adapted to and adopted by civilian and law enforcement agencies has a new entry. Add to the list the Kestrel: a L-3 Wescam MX 360-degree camera mounted to a Raven Aerostar aerostat
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International collaborative effort to develop better radiation detection tool
In mid-February, the Flash Portal Project was launched with the aim of furthering the development and testing of a new technology to detect shielded nuclear materials
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Alternative to Keystone XL pipeline planned
The Obama administration rejected of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry Canadian oil to refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast, and now two companies are collaborating to develop an alternative plan to achieve the same end
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Beef Industry Safety Summit notes successes, challenges
The U.S. beef industry says that beef is increasingly safe and that consumers have more confidence in beef safety, but challenges remain
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2011 disasters: $116 billion in insured losses, record economic losses of $370 billion
Figures confirm that 2011 was the second-highest catastrophe loss year ever for the insurance industry: 2011 saw the highest economic losses in history, at $370 billion; the insurance industry experienced the second-largest insured losses ever, at $116 billion; 2011 also brought the highest insured earthquake losses, at $49 billion; flooding in Thailand resulted in the highest insured losses ever for a single flood event, at $12 billion
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New laws help cut metal thefts
Metal thefts have become a plague to businesses throughout the country; some states pass laws which require licenses and permits to buy and sell non-ferrous metals; Spartanburg, South Carolina, also requires that buyers pay for the purchases with checks rather than cash, in order to create a paper trail to the seller of the metal
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Developing crop for livestock in dry climates
Scientists at the University of Liverpool are working with international partners to develop new forage crop for the hot and dry climate of regions such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
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BlackBerry smartphones equipped with iris recognition system
NFC-enabled Blackberry 7 smartphones will be equipped with iris recognition identification system; the credential can be presented for authentication by holding the NFC-enabled BlackBerry in front of an iCAM7000 series iris camera
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PositiveID’s M-BAND fits the bill for $3 billion BioWatch program
DHS’s $3.1 billion BioWatch program aims to place biosensors on top of utility poles and buildings in major American cities in order to detect bioterror attacks; PositiveID says its M-BAND solution is well positioned to be picked up by DHS for the program
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Detection technology detects viruses, pathogens within 24 hours
New detection technology could enable food safety professionals, law enforcement, medical professionals, and others to detect within twenty-four hours any virus or bacteria that has been sequenced and included among the array’s probes
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zvelo reaches 100 OEM milestone
Pivotal milestone attributed to strong adoption of zvelo’s URL database, website categorization and malicious website detection solutions for a vast array of applications
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MRIGlobal awarded $9 million to evaluate detection gear
Kansas City company in a $9 million contract with the U.S. Army to test and evaluate equipment to identify chemical, biological, and radiological hazards in the field
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The long view
U.S. Needs New Drought Assessment Framework as Droughts Become More Severe and Unpredictable
Droughts in the United States are becoming more intense and unpredictable, and the nation needs to develop a new drought assessment framework to better understand and address them. A new framework should be developed which distinguishes between short-term operational needs, such as drought monitoring and emergency response, and long-term planning for water management, infrastructure, and climate adaptation.