• Sungard announces new virtualization product

    System intended for those requiring a short-term boost in computing strength after a disaster; large companies continue to jump on the virtualization bandwagon

  • Duke students invent "wisdom door"

    System uses nine sensors to measure height, weight, and girth; passing through the door can activate any number of responses, including home entertainment preferences; tandem use with RFID envisioned

  • DHS to offer $1-2 million in tunnel-sensing technology

    Concerned about illegal immigration, government asks private sector for a solution; sensors, IT, and geospatial imaging to play a role; temperature differences between soil within the tunnel and without may be a key indicator

  • Delta to install vehicle barriers at U.S. embassies worldwide

    Shallow foundation system to be deployed to China, Austria, Saudia Arabia, and various cities in Germany, among others; more than 1,000 have already been sold; U.S. Air Force plans to use same to protect all of its bases around the world

  • India dumps airport Backscatter machine

    Revealing images upset socially conservative security guards; cultural values often underappreciated by security officials

  • TSA finds most railroad security measures inadequate

    $7 million study finds advanced explosives and screening methods suffer high false positive rates; yet traditional methods such as X-rays and canines suffer from poor economies of scale; study may upset congressional plans to boost railroad security spending

  • RAND lists thirty-nine options for mall security

    Shopping centers seen as a tempting terrorist target; RAND recommends vehicle barriers, bag and coat searches, and information campaigns; implementing procedures claimed to reduce risk 95 percent

  • The virtue of security syndication // by Ilan Meller

    In addition to doing everything they can to make themselves more secure, individual organizations may enhance their security by forming a security syndicate with other organizations for the purpose of sharing security-related information; with more organizationas sharing more terror-related “dots,” it may be possible to connect these dots more effectively to form a larger, clearer threat picture

  • MIT students invent wall crawling device

    Intended for first responders, the Atlas Powered Rope Ascender uses the capstan effect to pull a firefighter carrying one hundred pounds of equipment up a thirty-story building in thirty seconds; students have already sold units to Army and look to commercialize

  • Vista fails to make the antivirus grade

    Virus Bulletin puts Microsoft’s LiveOneCare to the test; it fails, along with antivirus software from McAfee and GDATA; criticism mounts about Vista’s ability to handle the WildList

  • Immunity offers a portable hacking device for penetration testing

    Nokia 770 tablet device is intended for companies to conduct their own white hat operations; tester turns on the $3,600 device, sticks it in his pocket, and waits to see whether his local wireless network is exploitable

  • Defense Information Systems Agency budgets $959 million for IT security

    As DoD prepares to sign a cybersecurity pact with NATO, DISA tries to get its own house in order; $819 million for operations and maintenance and $140 million for procurements; plans to improve defense of SIPRNET, develop a risk management system

  • DoD and NATA to sign cybersecurity pact

    National Cyber Response Coordination Group sees a great benefit to dealing with a single NATO cybersecurity agency, rather than working bilateralluy with twenty-six nations; Eastern European hackers a major concern

  • Javelin finds ID theft on the decline

    Survey finds a 12 percent drop in the overall cost of ID theft nationwide; 500,000 fewer victims; teenagers a growing target due to social networking and music sites

  • DHS offers infrastructure protection course

    It is one thing for a committee of experts to write lengthy and detailed plans on how to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure, and it is another thing to have these plans implemented effectively by thousands of government and private sector organizations; DHS offers a Web-based course which will help the relevant people to do so