David Lacey writes on his IT Security Blog about “the elephant in the room” problem of organizing and managing user access to computer systems in large, dispersed organizations. It’s “a problem,” he says, “that is highly significant, but difficult to tackle so business is reluctant to acknowledge it. If it wasn’t for compliance and internal […]
On perimeter security, here’s a video of an auto-tracking camera that follows a suspected intruder while keeping its eye on the wider scene. The “two-panel” approach looks helpful for security guards who don’t want to lose the big picture, and that’s probably most of you. Maintaining perimeter security from a vehicle gate or other entry […]
The ultimate security threat could come from the sky above the earth’s atmosphere – an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could disable – “fry” is a term sometimes used – power-generating and distribution systems. We don’t necessarily buy into this threat, but when an evenhanded presentation of the possibility comes along, as in this National Journal […]
Laser pointers need to be kept aimed at whiteboards or screens, and little else. For, as three people in California have found, aiming lasers at aircraft is now a federal crime with potentially stiff penalties. Government Security News reports that: “A federal grand jury in Fresno, CA, returned three indictments on March 21 charging three […]
Now it’s computer-launched cyber attacks and cyber espionage that are deemed most threatening to the U.S., moreso than Al Qaeda, according to the U.S. intelligence community’s annual review of worldwide threats. Even so, The Los Angeles Times adds that “Russia and China are unlikely to launch a devastating cyber-attack against the United States outside a […]
Call it extreme pessimism or simply realism, Bruce Schneier’s view of our exposure to a devastating security breach is not casually voiced. “If security won’t work in the end,” he asks, “what is the solution?” “Resilience — building systems able to survive unexpected and devastating attacks — is the best answer we have right now. […]
The thing about security drills, in either school of business settings, is that they need to be taken seriously and performed as though they are real. That’s the way to minimize the consequences of any real, traumatic events. That ought to be obvious. Yet there’s an Internet story from Michigan on schools there “cutting corners” […]
A couple of posts on the Security Debrief blog place “eternal vigilance” in an appropriate context during an age of global cultural clashes between the West and radical Islamists, in the garb of Al-Qaeda. In the first post, writer David Olive notes that “only 135 of the 435 current members of the House were in […]
It’s getting hard to know who’s legal to fight in the Mideast, and who isn’t. The Obama Administration is reconsidering its opposition to a new Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). The authority would be extended to “associates of associates” of al-Qaeda, and the Administration would like to limit its exposure to hostilities. Yet when […]
Be careful what you say, even if it’s just inviting folks to a community’s weekend workshop events. Oakland, CA, Mayor Jean Quan will attest to that, after a staffer issued a newsletter announcement for a Workshop Weekend that led off with “Introduction to Lock Picking.” However well-intended the instructional material may have been, Oakland is […]