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Hackers use brokers to sell software vulnerabilities
Although programs such as ZDI and VCP are popular, hackers can earn ten times the bounty by going through SNOSoft; significant flaw research can earn as much as $120,000; smart disclosure falls by the wayside
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Magal wins a $6 million contract to secure Israeli army bases
Deal follows recent successes with U.S. water authorities, banks concerned about underground tunnelling, and a Scottish hospital; company will install perimeter detection and command and control systems
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Nuance and Appligent team up to secure PDFs
Converting text documents into PDF can open the door to determined thieves; safely redacting information at issue; new add-on software securely scrubs files for lists of redacted words and phrases
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IBM predicts rise in security threats in 2007
Newly released Vista operating system a ripe target for malicious hackers; fuzzer attacks demonstrate a growing sophistication among the black hat set; IBM’s Internet Security System’s X Force Team pessimistic about the future
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DARPA seeks to replicate black ice for use in Iraq
Envisioned mobility control system would force enemies to slip, while a reversal agent applied to U.S. vehicles permits effortless apprehension; companies interested in developing “polymer ice” have until April to respond
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Northrop teams up with RADA in Israeli missile defense bid
Israel will choose a winning plan within a month, and so Northrop positions itself tactically by teaming up with a major Israeli defense company; Skyguard system uses a deuterium fluoride laser to shoot down rockets; RADA Electronics moves beyond avionics
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Smiths joins Birmngham U. to develop next-generation IMS systems
Ion mobility spectrometery has already proven itself in Smiths Detection’s Sentinel portals, but all agree that improvement in chemical detection is neccesary; £1 million project will take a close look at ionization chemistry
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Congress looks to expands America's K-9 ranks
Canine Detection Improvement Act of 2007 sets out standards for an increased push at explosives detection; airports and other critical infrastructure suffer from a lack of trained dogs; “breed American” is the new watchword, as congressmen try to take the German out of German shepherd
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NYPD refuses to use $140 million subway radio system
Long overdue and overbudget, the system is troubled by widespread interference and decrepit cabling; E.A. Technologies and Petrocelli Electric struggle to explain the problem
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Greater U.S. scrutiny of foreign investment in sensitive industries
The repercussions of the controversial DPW deal of early 2006 are very much with us, as the Bush administration scrutinizes much more closely many more foreign investment deals, and conditions approval of some of them on national security “mitigation” agreements
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London Olympics to sport photometric stereo facial recognition technology
Intriguing approach uses a single camera and multiple sequential flashes to develop a “facial skin signature”; software uses slightly differing shadows to generate a 3D image of higher quality than conventional facial recognition systems; skin color and tone can both be identified
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Analysts worry about growing IT threats from Skype, GSM networks
Crispin Pikes of Image Analyzer sees the troubles of today sown in the decisions of yesterday; new rules of civil procedure may force companies to expand IT offices to manage instant messaging storage; Skype and GSM to present headaches all around
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NIST opens competition to improve SHA-1 encryption standard
Recent efforts by Chinese researchers show that decades-old encryption system is increasingly vulnerable; competition is open to all, and winning bid will support 224-, 256-, 384- and 512-bit key encryption, with a maximum message length of at least 264 bits
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Sun Microsystems offer shipping containers for secure data storage
Stackable and easily shippable system holds eight server racks, a cooling system, and other critical appurtences; both DoD and FEMA see useful applications; airlifting to war zones a major possibility
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Bioscrypt snatches up A4Vision in stock swap
Deal brings together Bioscrypt’s strength in fingerprint algorithims with A4Visions’s 3D facial recognition technology; company will now offer off-the-shelf finished readers for both finger and 3D face biometrics; investors add another $8 million to the venture
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More headlines
The long view
From Iron Dome to Cyber Dome: Defending Israel’s Cyberspace
In response to growing attacks against its infrastructure by formidable adversaries like Iran and its proxies, Israel recently announced that they are building a ‘cyber-dome’ or a digital ‘Iron Dome’ system to protect Israel’s cyberspace to defend against online attacks.
The Case for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
Climate change is making weather harder to predict, and creating new risks in places that never faced them before. And as hurricanes, floods, extreme heat and wildfires intensify, most infrastructure will need to be retrofitted or designed and built anew for future climate resilience.
Nationwide Flood Models Poorly Reflect Risks to Households and Properties, Study Finds
Government agencies, insurance companies and disaster planners rely on national flood risk models from the private sector that aren’t reliable at smaller levels such as neighborhoods and individual properties.
Emerging Threats to the U.S. Financial System
In early 2021, a freewheeling, freethinking group of investors on Reddit plowed their money into GameStop, a video game retailer that several big hedge funds had bet against. The stock price shot up, some people made millions—and, to the delight of those on Reddit, the hedge funds had some very bad days. Researchers saw the GameStop story as a cautionary tale. If investors on Reddit could work together to move the markets like that, what could an adversary like China do?