• Utilities plan to stay the course with spending plans for infrastructure

    Despite the economic slowdown, utilities around the world plan to press ahead with investments in both their infrastructure and “smart grid” automation program; investments will be in the range of $90-$105 billion

  • CBP highlights C-TPAT accomplishments

    The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (C-TPAT) was established in 2001 to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve international supply chain and U.S. border security; DHS says program is achieving its goals, with more than 8,000 applicants validated since 2003

  • IT security spending to grow despite economic slowdown

    Forrester Research finds that companies are still spending to protect their data — and that they will spend more in 2009; respondents to survey say security is an ongoing necessity unaffected by economic peaks and valleys

  • Security specialist Core Systems sees U.S. prisons as opportunity

    Belfast-based Core Systems provides biometric equipment to prisons in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland; it is now expanding to the United States; with a prison population of 2.2 million; “In the prisons business, the United States is the market leader,” says Patricia O’Hagan, company’s co-owner

  • $400 million ballistic missile defense award

    The Bush administration awarded Boeing a $400 million contract for Ground-based Midcourse Defense interceptors; it may well be the last large ballistic missile defense contract, as both Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress have shown little interest in the program

  • 2008 natural disasters cause record loss of life, damage

    More than 220,000 people died in events like cyclones, earthquakes and flooding; overall global losses totaled about $200 billion, with uninsured losses totaling $45 billion

  • India's bioterror plans will take some time to get off the ground

    India is augmenting its preparations for bioterror attacks; experts complain that one of the major weaknesses in India’s ability to cope with a bioterror attack is the lack of interest, so far, of the private sector in being enlisted in the effort

  • Russia's hackers a growing global threat

    There used to be a time when Russian hackers exposed chinks in American software just for the thrill of it; today they do it for cash — or for political reasons; cybercrime has outpaced the amount of illicit cash raked in by global drug trafficking

  • Uranium is good investment

    Many analysts, disoriented by the fall of uranium prices from $130+ to about $45 a pound, fail to notice that the fundamentals of the uranium market have not changed

  • Political squabbles hobble H5N1 research

    Indonesia has had the most cases of human H5N1 flu since 2005; it refuses to share the virus samples with Western pharmaceutical companies unless these companies agree to share with Indonesia the profits from the vaccine these companies develop — and also guarantee Indonesia access to a vaccine in case of a pandemic

  • Even in tough times, IT security should not be short changed

    In tough economic times, IT managers — as do other managers — look for ways to cut costs and expenses; they should realize, though, that in tough economic times IT security may become even more important than during more normal times

  • More secure European electrical grid

    Several European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) launch a new initiative designed to improve electrical systems security throughout Europe

  • Israel-made UAVs gain popularity among world's armies

    Israeli-made Heron UAVs will be introduced to the Afghani theater by the Canadian military; Turkey, India, and Georgia have struck deals for various Israeli UAVs; Russia was impressed with the UAV performance (in Georgian hands) during the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war, that the Russian military is buying them

  • AT&T awarded contract to deliver secure Internet connections to federal agencies

    The Networx program — Networx Universal and Networx Enterprise — is the the U.S. federal government’s largest telecommunications program, with a ceiling of $48.1 billion over ten years; AT&T wins a chunk of Networx Universal

  • H2-B visa program to be streamlined, simplified

    The H2-B visa program allows foreign workers into the United States for specific seasonal jobs; the program is capped at 66,000 workers per year; regulatory changes in the waning days of the administration aim to set in place policies favored by the business sector