• Interim government review of U.K. summer flooding published

    Interim review addresses the issues of managing flood risk, groundwater monitoring, local and national planning and response, public information, and public preparedness; the Review draws seventy-two interim conclusions, awaiting further information and evidence before being put forward in firm recommendations next summer

  • CN expands rail holding, banking on increasing northern oil production

    As the price of oil increases, the attractiveness of extracting oil from oil sands in Canada’s northern regions increases apace; CN acquires yet more rail to ensure rail links to Alberta’s oil sands region

  • Weapon-grade plutonium shipped cross-country

    The Department of Energy plans to scale down U.S. nuclear weapons program by consolidating special nuclear materials — read: weapon-grade material — at five federal sites by the end of 2012 and reducing the square footage and staff within those sites by 2017; nuclear materials will have to be shipped from different labs around the country to these five sites

  • DOE IG offers details of 24 October Oak Ridge security breach

    Certain areas of the U.S. nuclear labs are designated “limited areas” by DOE; employees are prohibited from bringing into these secure areas any equipment capable of transmitting data wirelessly; at Oak Ridge, 38 laptops had been allowed into restricted areas, and IG finds that nine of these laptops had later been taken on foreign travel — two of them to countries on DOE’ sensitive countries list

  • Storage offers investors intriguing opportunities

    More and more surveillance cameras are placed around critical infrastructure facilities, above city streets, and long highways; these cameras generate mountains of visual material — and there is a need to store all this material; storage solutions will be a major business in the coming years

  • SSE acquires wind farm operator Airtricity

    Dublin-based Airtricity develops and operates wind farms in the United Kingdom, Ireland, continental Europe, and China; Scottish and Southern Energy, eager to have more of a presence in renewable energy, acquires it

  • Two Florida companies see their stock prices increase 35% in 2007

    Melbourne, Florida, is home to two security companies: Communication manufacturer Harris and biometrics specialist Authentec; both companies saw the price of their stock increase by more than 35% in 2007

  • U.K. nuclear power plan draws fire

    A group of academics issue a report arguing that the established nuclear-power industry would inevitably move on to the use of fast-breeder reactors to manufacture plutonium for use as fuel, increasing the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation

  • Energy bill to save U.S. more than $400 billion between now and 2030

    The energy efficiency portions of the energy bill which passed the Senate save U.S. consumers and businesses more than $400 billion between now and 2030; this is triple the savings from legislation passed by Congress in 2005

  • A new Wi-Fi security worry: Sidejacking

    Two hackers’ tools — Ferret and Hamster — “sidejack” machines using Wi-Fi and accesses their Web accounts; Hamster hacks the cookies and URL trail left behind by a Wi-Fi user, and the attacker then can pose as the victim and read, send, and receive e-mail on his or her behalf

  • 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

  • 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.

  • U.S. forces in Europe pay more attention to cybersecurity

    Greater reliance on cyberspace by the U.S. military offers many benefits, but also introduces many vulnerabilities; the 5th Signal Command creates cyber cells to monitor and improve cyber security

  • RWE Power, GE to collaborate on compressed air energy storage

    The intermittent nature of wind energy means that there is a need for the energy generated from wind turbines to be stored efficiently so that it can be recovered when needed

  • Cisco release global security report

    Security threats and attacks have become more global and sophisticated; as the adoption of more and more IP-connected devices, applications, and communication methods increases, the opportunity emerges for a greater number of attacks