Business

IT security jobs largely untouched by economic slowdown
New reports describe a surprising stability in the information security job market amid all the cost-cutting and layoffs that are taking place; regulatory compliance demands, increasing data protection requirements stemming from wireless deployments and rollouts of virtualization technology, and growing consumer angst over data breaches combine to blunt the toll recession takes on information security jobs, salaries
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MRAPs keep soldiers safe from mines, IEDs on battlefield
The Obama administration wants to send tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan; these troops will need protection from land mines and IEDs; Force Protection, a company producing Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MARP) vehicles, stands to benefit
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Bolstering cyber defense
Against the backdrop of tens of thousands of reported attacks and breaches of government and private computer systems each year, Cobham’s subsidiary awarded a $8.6 million contract to develop cybersecurity test and evaluation technology
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Growing interest in flexible display -- for both soldiering and profit
U.S. Army invests $50 million in flexible displays, bringing its total investment since 2004 to $100 million; flexible displays are paper-thin electronic screens that can be bent, mounted onto objects, and sewn into clothing
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Airport screening machines to stimulate the U.S. economy?
A $500 million piece of the proposed economic stimulus plan
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Lax U.S. drug import regime may offer opening to al-Qaeda
Repeat incidents of contaminated foreign foods and medicines appear, so far, to reflect a drive to reduce production costs in poorly regulated nations; with the United States exercising but scant scrutiny of imported food and drugs, terrorist leaders could easily identify and exploit this key U.S. vulnerability
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Gemalto reports profitable fourth quarter
Smart-card specialist Gemalto reports $625.4 million in revenues for the fourth quarter
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Biometric system on trial for airport security
Unisys to install iris recognition devices at Australian airports; authorities want to speed up security checks of passengers
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General Dynamics 4Q profit rises nearly 6 percent
The defense and homeland security sectors appear relatively immune during the turmoil that has engulfed the broader economy; GD 4Q profit rises
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U.K. companies invest in R&D
Survey of R&D spending by the 850 U.K. companies most active in R&D and the 1,400 most active companies globally show that U.K. companies increased their R&D budgets by 6 percent (the top 88 companies increased their budgets by 10.3 percent); global competitors average a 9.5 percent increase
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The five considerations in advancing video surveillance in security
Video surveillance has become an integral part of security; more CSOs are finding it is necessary to integrate video into overall IT security; Eric Eaton offers a good discussion of the five criteria that should be considered in an effective integration of video surveillance and IT security
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NASA working on sonic boom-less jets
Sonic booms are one of the major downsides of supersonic jets; they may not matter much over the battlefield, but are a hindrance in civilian aviation — the noise was sufficient to restrict the Mach-2 Concorde to subsonic speeds when over land
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Check Point releases impressive FY2008, Q4 2008 financial results
IT security company Check Point release financial results for Q4 2008 and FY 2008; revenue increase 11 percent to $808.5 million; GAAP operating income was $356.5 million
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India to see a large, broad growth in expenditures on domestic security
A series of terrorist attacks, culminating in the coordinated attack in Mumbai last month, convinced both government and industry in India that more security — much more security — is required to cope with mounting threats to domestic peace; business opportunities abound for companies in IT security, biometric, surveillance, detection, situational awareness, and more
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Certicom agrees to takeover by VeriSign
VeriSign’s $92 million bid is 40 percent higher than RIM’s failed hostile offer of $66 million
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