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AT&T: Disaster planning low priority for small business
36 percent of smaller businesses (fewer than 100 employees) reported that business continuity planning is either not a priority or not important — compared with 27 percent of large companies
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Katrina victims inundate Army Corps with trillions in claims
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces more than 489,000 claims for the damage and deaths in the post-Katrina flooding; one claim alone seeks $3 quadrillion in damages, almost all of it for personal injury; this is 3 followed by 15 zeros — about 250 times the U.S. GDP
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200 Quebec municipalities have no emergency plan
Lack of disaster preparedness is not only a U.S. problem: In 2001 the Quebec government passed a law requiring all municipalities to have an emergency plan in place to deal with natural disaters; a recent survey finds that 20 percent of them do not have such plans
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Accreditation program for labs which test body armor
In the last three decades, the lives of more than 3,000 officers were saved by body armor; many, though, lost their lives or were injured when they were wearing ineffective body armor; NIST, Justice create program for accrediting labs which test and certify body armor
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Bioterror surveillance uneven from state to state
What is even worse than being a subject to bioterror attack? Answer: Being subject to such an attack in Mississippi; state is among six states scoring the worst scores on compatibility with CDC’s National Electronic Disease Surveillance System
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Communication's last mile especially vulnerable to pandemic
As much as 40 percent of the U.S. workforce would be unable to go to work during peak periods of an outbreak, “and you don’t get to pick which 40 percent that could be,” says Greg Garcia, DHS’s assistant secretary of cybersecurity and communications
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Improving protection of customers' personal data
The FBI says that hackers steal $67.2 billion worth of personal information from the data bases of U.S. companies every year, and the amount is only growing; with so much at stake, hackers will try to get some of it; here are five easy steps to bolster the security of customers’ personal data your company holds
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IBM's billion dollar security push to transform Big Blue
IBM’s 2008 multi-billion dollar push into corporate security would offer end-users new and improved policy, management, and reporting solutions — but with its new security push, integration also has become critical within IBM’s own corporate structure, as it melds various product groups and structures to execute on its vision.
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DHS urges Americans to make a New Year's resolution to be prepared
DHS says the New Year is a perfect time to Resolve to be Ready; department’s Ready Campaign outlines top ten items for a basic emergency supply kit so that Americans can keep their preparedness resolutions next year
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Intensified efforts to combat identity theft
Identity theft is one of the highest priorities for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission; agency is playing a lead role in preventing identity theft and helping those who are victimized
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Phishing attacks escalated in 2007
Gartner survey finds that $3.2 billion was lost due to phishing attacks in 2007; 3.6 million Americans lost money in phishing attacks in the twelve months ending in August 2007, compared with the 2.3 million who did so the year before
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Epidemic preparedness varies widely from state to state
If an epidemic breaks out in the United States, you don’t want to find yourself in Arkansas or Mississippi: Research organization scores states’ epidemic preparedness level, and these two states brought up the rear
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Robotic device to help first responders
UC San Diego graduate engineering student designs Gizmo — a robotic device which can be sent to dangerous areas to collect and transmit information that emergency personnel need
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Influenza pandemic could cost Canadian economy $9 billion
Over half of Canadian critical industry workers may not show up to work during a flu pandemic
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AT&T shows RFID solution for schools
RFID-GPS solution will allow school district to monitor schools buses, but also school equipment, students and teachers, and visitors; it will also help in disaster response
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The long view
Scientists Find Evolutionary Explanation for “Irrational” Dread Risk Behavior
People often respond to low-probability, high-consequence events like terror attacks or nuclear accidents with a Dread Risk response, leading them to engage in extreme avoidance behavior, which often exposes them to higher risk of dying in more common incidents like traffic accidents.