• The Philadelphia Story, cont.

    Hidden Webcam attached to laptops given to Lower Merion School District high school students as loaners caught pictures of these students sleeping, half naked, and in other intimate moments; viewing the images was like watching “a little LMSD soap opera,” one of the school district employees who administered the laptops said, referring to the initials of the school district; “I know, I love it!” technology coordinator Carol Cafiero replied

  • They screen pets, don't they?

    The Israeli security authorities are now alerting pet owners that their pets, if they look like “suspicious animals,” may be subjected to X-ray screening before boarding; if the owners refused, the pet would not be allowed on the flight; more than four million pets are flown across the world each year

  • Weapon-grade fissile material in the world could yield 126,500 nuclear bombs

    The nations of the world together have in their possession about 1.6 million kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and about 500,000 kilograms of plutonium; it takes only about 25 kilograms of HEU or eight kilograms of plutonium to make a crude nuclear bomb; thus the weapon-grade material now available in the world could yield 64,000 HEU-based bombs and 62,500 plutonium-based bombs

  • Shortcomings in U.S. safeguards of weapon-grade nuclear materials

    Reviews ordered by President Obama have found weaknesses in the U.S. government’s stewardship of its nuclear cache, from weapons to the ingredients and classified information that go into them; before opening the nuclear summit earlier this week, Obama said that “Unfortunately, we have a situation in which there is a lot of loose nuclear material around the world”; this is true for the United States as well

  • Congress to address important cybersecurity initiatives

    Congress is setting to tackle important cybersecurity-related issues — including the confirmation hearing on Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander to be military cyber commander, markup sessions on bills to fund cybersecurity research and development, and realign the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) laboratories

  • U.S. federal authorities fear surge of homegrown extremism

    DHS officials and lawmakers have been warning for months that law enforcement agencies are unprepared to deal with what they say is a mounting threat. Experts note that Michigan, in particular, is vulnerable because of its growing number of anti-government militia groups and the attractiveness of its large Arab-American population to radical Muslim groups

  • Pure samples of telltale xenon-133 gas help detectors sniff out nuclear tests

    Nuclear explosions produce an excited form of the radioactive gas xenon-133, called xenon-133m, in which the atomic nucleus is boosted to a higher-energy state, but it is not known exactly how sensitive detectors are to this form because there has been no way to make pure samples of xenon-133m with which to test them; until now

  • FCC to move forward with national broadband plan

    FCC will move forward on the with key recommendations in its national broadband plan — even though a federal appeals court this week undermined the agency’s legal authority to regulate high-speed Internet access; plan calls for advancing “robust and secure public safety communications networks”

  • Cyber espionage targets UAV manufacturers

    A report tracking cyber-espionage — and cyber-industrial espionage — against U.S. defense contractors finds an intriguing trend: targeting UAV technology; UAVs are likely to remain a principle target of foreign collection activities, particularly given the growing market in UAVs, the report notes

  • Schmidt: private sector key to warding off cyber attacks

    White House cybersecurity coordinator says the private sector is where the best defense against cyberattacks and cyber warfare can be mounted; the government can do a lot to improve U.S. cyber defenses, but the key to warding off attacks remains private-sector vigilance; one major technology Web site agrees: “This is a battle every IT security professional must fight from the foxholes”

  • TV operators say FCC's broadband plan is a threat to homeland security

    The National Association of Broadcasters, a group that represents TV broadcasters, says that what it regards as the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) anti-broadcast, pro-broadband prejudice is a threat to homeland security: in the event of a national disaster, broadband service will overload and shut down because it is not meant to accommodate everyone’s data-communications needs at once

  • Hamas: Israel using Facebook to recruit spies in Gaza

    Hamas claims Israeli intelligence uses information Palestinians from Gaza put in their profiles on Facebook to pressure them to become spies for Israel; it is not clear how someone can be blackmailed or coerced into a risky spying career using information in the public domain, and it seems more likely Israel is using social networking to map contact networks

  • Son files harassment charges against mother for Facebook posts

    A 16-year old sues his mother for tampering with his Facebook account; he filed charges against her last month and requested a no contact order after he claims she posted slanderous entries about him on the social networking site; he alleges she hacked his account, changed his password, and posted things that involve slander about his personal life

  • Drug traffickers take on Mexican military

    The steady descent of Mexico into chaos was accelerated this week when drug traffickers fighting to control northern Mexico have turned their guns and grenades on the Mexican army; gunmen in armored cars and equipped with grenade launchers fought army troops this week and attempted to trap some of them in two military bases by cutting off access and blocking highways

  • U.S. institutes new, targeted security protocols for travelers to U.S.

    The United States is replacing broad screening of all in-coming travelers with a more targeted approach; the intelligence-based security system is devised to raise flags about travelers whose names do not appear on no-fly watch lists, but whose travel patterns or personal traits create suspicions