• Robots designed to search disaster areas for survivors

    Researchers to build robot that uses vision and tactile sensors to navigate homes, buildings, and the outdoors; robot will be equipped with a small camera and a vision algorithm that will allow it to see, recognize and avoid running into objects; goal is to send swarms of these robots to crawl over the rubble of disaster areas in search of survivors

  • MPRI to help CDC prepare for disasters

    Simulation and virtualization are becoming more popular as tools for preparedness; MPRI, a subsidiary of L-3 company, will use its simulation and training expertise to help CDC prepare for all-hazard disasters, including bioterrorism and pandemic outbreaks

  • Experts: Australia must take lead on climate change

    Australia is more economically vulnerable than any other wealthy nation to the effects of global warming; new report says: “Australia would be a big loser — possibly the biggest loser among developed nations — from unmitigated climate change”

  • How to protect corporate secrets from outsiders -- and insiders

    A secret can be lost in the blink of an eye, but getting information back under wraps can take forever; John Edwards offers a few useful tips on how corporations can become more secure

  • New intellectual property database launched

    INTERPOL to launch Database on International Intellectual Property (DIIP) crime; it will maintain reliable data on the scale of counterfeiting and piracy to determine more clearly the nature of crimes against brand and copyright integrity

  • Majority of U.K. companies consider new continuity standard

    Security legislation, rising insurance premiums, investor focus on risk, and increased outsourcing prompt U.K. companies to consider being certified as complying with new British standard for business continuity

  • Business pushes for department for business continuity management

    In the U.K., government responsibility for business continuity and recovery policies is divided among BERR to the Cabinet Office, Communities and Local Government, Culture, Media and Sport, Defense, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Health, Work and Pensions, Justice and Transport ministries; continuity experts argue it is time to create a Department for Business Continuity Management

  • Textual analysis reveals corporate fraud

    The textual analysis technique can be used to identify language patterns in management communications which are inconsistent with either the company’s financial performance or with the communications of other companies in the same industry, indicating fraud

  • BT offers new voice continuity solution

    Disasters have demonstrated that in an emergency communication is key, and the resilience of the voice network is vital to the continuation and survival of the business; BT offers a new continuity solution

  • Cost to Irish economy from bird flu outbreak: €2 billion

    Experts say that over a 15-week bird flu pandemic in Ireland, there would be a hospitalization rate of between 0.55 percent and 3.70 percent of the population, and among those hospitalized, a fatality rate of between 0.37 percent and 2.50 percent

  • Cyber insurance is especially useful for small companies

    Yes, many cyber crimes are covered — if implicitly — by current insurance policies under clauses such as fraud and dishonesty (for data sabotage), theft (sensitive data removal), general property terms (disclosed personal data), etc.; still, small companies which rely on outside vendors would be advised to demand policies which are more explicit in their coverage of cyber crime

  • CBP hails C-TPAT 2007 achievements

    DHS’s Custom and Border Protection agency says that Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program made major contributions to U.S. security in 2007 by keeping a close eye on the supply chain bringing goods into the U.S.

  • New method for anthrax decontamination developed

    Yellow Jackets, SMD researchers develop an X-rays and UV-C light-based method for anthrax decontamination; it is rapid and nondisruptive, and also less expensive than currently available decontamination methods; it kills anthrax spores — even those hidden in crevices and cracks — within two to three hours without any lingering effects

  • Companies, government responses to war game draw mixed reviews

    Details emerge of a $3 million, invitation-only war game — Cyber Storm —which simulated what DHS described as plausible attacks over five days in February 2006 against the technology industry, transportation lines, and energy utilities by anti-globalization hackers

  • Spam, Q4 Email Threat Trends of 2007

    A steep rise in attacks using social networking techniques which target user psychology and behavior patterns; spammers launched attacks by predicting user behavior patterns, such as looking for easy cash and discounted gifts during the holiday season, and preying on consumer trust to generate interest in cheap pharmaceutical products and stocks