• Schumer pushing for new airport security scanning device

    New York senator claims new scanner, produced by a Long Island-based company, would have prevented Shahzad from getting past no-fly list; the new scanning device would cross check passengers, weed-out fake IDs, and track visa overstays

  • "IPhone on Steroids" to bolster law enforcement biometric capabilities

    Plymouth County, Massachusetts became the first in the country to deploy the Mobile and Wireless Multi-Modal Biometric Offender Recognition and Information System (MORIS). The system is part of a national network, designed to help law enforcement agencies keep track of sex offenders, gang members, inmates, and illegal aliens

  • SRI's defense technology spawns civilian applications

    SRI’s newfound interest in mobile and Web applications was born, in part, from a research project commissioned by the Defense Department to develop software that can learn, in an effort to create a more efficient way for the military to communicate and stay organized in the field; the project’s underlying technology, a combination of adaptive machine learning and natural-language processing, has spawned several offshoots

  • A smarter, faster, more controllable cloud

    Different types of cloud applications have different needs; a highly interactive application such as a voice chat program probably needs a high-quality connection; a file-backup service that transfers data in bulk might benefit from the least expensive transit between machines; a proposed system would let cloud developers control the way their data travels across different machines

  • Chase: IE6 "more secure" than Chrome, Opera

    Banking giant Chase said it found the old IE6 to be more secure — and popular — than either Google’s Chrome or Opera; the bank’s online banking services will, therefore, continue to support aging the IE 6 but drop support for Chrome and Opera; also making the cut are Mozilla’s Firefox 2.0 and higher and version 3.0 and higher of Apple’s Safari on the Mac — but not the PC

  • Top 10 smart surveillance systems from Israel

    Video surveillance systems have become an important tool in enabling authorities to trace criminals and terrorists; Israel is one of the leading players in the field of intelligent surveillance; here is a list of the Top 10 video security technologies from Israel; these companies offer solutions that range from “seeing” through walls to reducing twenty-four hours of video to a few (indexed) minutes to detecting subtle changes in the landscape to offering high-resolution under-water images, and much more

  • Spanish firm embedded logic bombs in software it sold more than 1,000 corporate clients

    Spanish software company embedded “logic bombs” in software it sold to more than 1,000 corporate clients; these controlled errors would paralyze the normal functioning of businesses and oblige customers to contact their supplier, who would hit them for repair fees and extended support

  • CIA awards Xe $100 million contract to guard facilities in several countries

    The CIA awards Xe Services, nee Blackwater Worldwide, a $100 million contract to provide security services in Afghanistan and in “multiple regions”; this follows a $120 million contract the State Department awarded Xe to guard U.S. consulates under construction in Afghanistan

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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