• Aeronautics readies Picador UAV for May first flight

    Aeronautics is moving forward — from September to May — the first autonomous flight of its Picador unmanned helicopter; the Picador is being aimed mainly for navies as a means of replacing their current, manned helicopters in delivering “over the horizon” intelligence and deploying long-range weapon systems

  • Acoustic surveillance for border, critical infrastructure security

    A Montana company offers a new way to secure U.S. borders and critical infrastructure facilities: TerraEchos teams up with IBM to embed new IBM technology into a system of fiber-optic sensors; the sensors are capable of gathering real-time acoustic information, alerting of a possible security breach in remote and often unmanned areas

  • NORAD general warns wind turbines pose national security threat

    There is a new homeland security issue: wind turbines; turbines create a shadow that makes airplanes disappear from radar screens; the turbines also clutter the screens with the turbines’ “signature,” which changes as blades accelerate and slow with the wind; the U.S. military says that decision on wind farm locations should be carefully vetted to make sure home defense is not compromised

  • For want of a nail: errant cat disables global control system of U.S. UAVs

    A wandering cat found its way into the control room at Creech Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, Nevada; the base is the location from which U.S. Air Force Predator and Reaper UAVs are controlled during missions overseas; one of the officer explained that the cat “climbed into one of the electronic nodes and fried everything”

  • 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

  • Safer e-cards for passports, e-IDs, and electronic voting

    Researchers find serious security drawbacks in chips that are being embedded in e-passports and other e-IDs, and in credit, debit, and “smart” cards; the vulnerabilities of this electronic approach — and the vulnerability of the private information contained in the chips — are becoming more acute; using simple devices constructed from $20 disposable cameras and copper cooking-gas pipes, the researchers demonstrated how easily the cards’ radio frequency (RF) signals can be disrupted; the method can also be used to corrupt the results of electronic voting machines

  • Thales's Watchkeeper makes maiden voyage

    Watchkeeper is a multi-sensor, all-weather unmanned air system (UAS) designed to remain airborne for more than sixteen hours in a single mission. It includes automatic take-off and landing (ATOL), along with a de-icing capability, expanding its ability to operate in all-weather environments

  • Indiana companies benefit from UAV trend

    Last year, for the first time, the U.S. Air Force trained more pilots to operate unmanned vehicles than it did pilots for traditional fighter planes; UAV carry out more and more intelligence and operational missions; Indiana companies benefit

  • Safeguard is awarded security technology study in Mexico

    Mexico’s deteriorating security offers opportunities for American security companies; a Dallas-based specialist in security solutions is awarded a contract for an engineering study for a massive surveillance monitoring system in Mexico; The pilot program is estimated to be approximately $8 million;

  • Camgian awarded DARPA UAV-UGS fusion contract

    Today’s soldiers rely on advanced ground and airborne sensors to identify, track, and monitor critical targets; as stand-along platforms, UAVs and unattended ground sensors (UGS) have operational limitations such as endurance, coverage, and target resolution; Camgian is teaming up with BAE Systems to exploit the fusion of these assets in an automated network architecture to provide powerful ISR capability

  • More employers track their employees' every digital move

    More and more companies are more and more interested in what their employees are doing with their PCs, laptops, and smartphones while in the office; sophisticated tracking and monitoring solutions allow employers to monitor any information its employees post publicly on Facebook and Twitter, and read e-mails and instant messages (even those you typed but decided not to send)

  • Swedish pension fund drops Elbit Systems over West Bank barrier

    A Swedish pension fund has decided to Elbit Sytems from its portfolio because Elbit provides surveillance equipment to the West Bank barrier Israel is building; the barrier does not follow the Green Line which marked the border between Israel and the West Bank until 1967, but rather extends eastward to include Jewish settlements built in the West Bank since then; Sweden, the EU, and others consider these settlements — and the barrier itself — to be in violation of international law

  • Half of New York City's subway cameras do not work; killer goes unidentified

    There are 4,313 subway security cameras on platforms and in the tunnels of the New York City’s subway system; trouble is, only 2,270 work; the other 2,043 cameras do not; the problem of missing video came to light after two men were stabbed to death on the subway early Sunday — and there was no camera in the station to catch an image of the killer

  • Five ways to make subway stations and cars safer

    Several new technologies and practices can make subways and mass-transit stations significantly safer; among the latest technologies: shields, vests, and blankets made from Demron, a fabric blend that blocks chemical, biological, and nuclear agents; the shields and vests would be used by first responders, while blankets would be thrown over radiation victims to keep them from irradiating others; another blanket — the Hi-Energy Nuclear Suppression Blanket — is designed to be placed over a dirty bomb about to go off; it traps chemical, biological, and nuclear agents and reduces by more than half the distance they can spread

  • Coalition of tech heavy-weights wants U.S. privacy law revamped for Internet age

    A coalition of technology giants wants the U.S. government to revamp Internet privacy laws and make more suitable for the new age in communication; the traditional standard for the government to search one’s home or office and read one’s mail or seize one’s personal papers is a judicial warrant, the coalition says that the law needs to be clear that the same standard applies to e-mail and documents stored with a service provider; the need to update Internet privacy strictures is especially urgent now because of three trends: the popularity of smart phones with global satellite positioning features has led to a hot trend of companies offering services that play off of where people are at any given moment; and the recent economic meltdown added momentum to a shift toward people using software programs hosted as services in the Internet “cloud” instead of buying and installing applications on machines; people are also increasingly storing personal information, pictures, and videos at online social- networking or data storage Web sites