Microeconomic Decision-Making

...In the United States, decisions about infrastructure projects usually are made in private and/or public boardrooms and generally are not focused on resilience.

...Engineers and architects have key roles to play both in consulting the client on innovations and in producing plans and specifications.

...if a designer works in close cooperation with the owner the goal of resilience can be achieved, to at least some degree, by advocating for it during the process. The resilience will be built-in, therefore, through the microeconomic decisions that are made in the thousands of projects that are projected to be built – at a total cost of almost $1 trillion – to expand, maintain, and improve the nation’s infrastructure over the next five years.

...To that end, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hart of the U.S. Military Academy's Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department developed not only a course of study but also the first, in 2010, of what is intended to be an annual symposium for his students (and those from other universities) to explore Critical Infrastructure Resilience and Protection. One of the principal lessons learned from his efforts this past year is that there are very few engineering departments currently focused on the resilience of Critical Infrastructure.

...That may change in the not-too-distant future, though, thanks in large part to Colonel Hart's efforts. Fortunately, there is a growing awareness that: (1) The roadmap to achieving resilience is paved with many microeconomic decisions; and (2) Both education and career development are critical to the long-term process of building resilience – primarily by following the ASCE Guidelines mentioned earlier.

To view the entire writing - http://www.domesticpreparedness.com/Infrastructure/CIP-R/Leadership_and_Stewardship_in_Microeconomic_Decision-Making/

New York Gang Investigators Association - Gang Training Conference in Syracuse - July 13-15

The New York Gang Investigators Association is pleased to announce its 2010 Fourth Annual New York State Gang Training Conference from July 13-15, 2010.  This training conference will provide the most current and reliable street gang information available to our membership. The NYGIA has gathered an array of speakers from throughout the United States that will focus on the recognition and identification of Latino Gangs, Prison Gangs, Gangs in Schools. We also have special guest speakers that will focus on Intervention and Prevention strategies for at-risk youth

http://www.nygia.org/

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:


Carl “CJ” Boykin New York State Office of the Attorney General

Det. Robert Mateo Polk County (FL) Sheriff’s Office

Laurie Venditti - InfraGard

Sgt. Bill Clendenen Clayton County (GA) Police Dept

CONFERENCE TOPICS:

•New York Gang Trends •Leaving the Gang

•Prison Gangs •Gang Investigations in Corrections

•Intervention/Prevention Strategies •Latino Gangs

•MySpace and Facebook as Investigative Tools

•Southern Hospitality: Overview of Georgia Gangs

•Gangs and Rap •Gangs in Schools

•Rockin’ the Walls: Understanding Graffiti

•…And much more!

Visit the website for registration information: http://www.nygia.org/

Mojave Cross Stolen by Vandals

The 7-foot-tall metal cross that has stood in California's Mojave Desert for 75 years as a memorial to World War I dead -- and withstood a hard-fought battle in the Supreme Court -- was ripped down and stolen in a nighttime heist, according to state officials.
http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/us/2010/05/11/mojave-cross-stolen-vandals/#slide=5

ShotSpotter Video - WCBS: Nassau County gun crime drops 32% since ShotSpotter debut

Nassau County, NY gun crime drops 32% since ShotSpotter debut

http://www.shotspotter.com/news/videoclips/2010/May/WCBS_2010-0414_NassauCounty.html

Times Square Investigation Begins

Virtual Fence Integration 'a Complete Failure,' Bersin Says

by Mickey McCarter
Wednesday, 21 April 2010


CBP chief stresses standalone tech, promises to evaluate McCain border plan

During a Senate hearing on border security Tuesday, the new commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declared that the goal of constructing a fully integrated virtual fence as originally envisioned by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not possible at present.

CBP chief Alan Bersin told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that building the complete system for the Secure Border Initiative-Network (SBInet), as originally envisioned, was not possible in the near future.

"What has not worked is the total integration of technology from each of the areas along the border into an overall system that would permit a central monitoring and control--that technology integration at the very broadest level has been the complete failure the committee described," Bersin stated.

http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/12985/149/

"Aloha" Message from Howard Schmidt

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Internet Safety Awards is proud and honored to present Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President of the United States, Cyber Security Coordinator. He has a special message to the participants and attendees of the 2010 Internet Safety Awards.
http://internetsafetyawards.blogspot.com/

Aloha, and the winner is….

When Detective Chris Duque retired in 2007 after more than 30 years with the Honolulu PD, he didn’t actually retire in any true sense of the word. It was about then that he and members of his extended Ohana (Hawaiian for ‘family’) started the Internet Safety Awards program in Hawaii’s schools.

Duque said that in his last two years with HPD he worked 14 cases involving children being molested after meeting someone online. He said, “the scary thing is that in 11 of those cases, the child made the initial contact with full knowledge that they were contacting an adult. These are the kids with serious issues. These are the children who don’t have the affection, love and attention from parents, so they go online looking for adult companionship that they’re lacking.”
http://connectedcops.net/?p=1932

Reporting on Village of Manlius Board of Trustee's Meeting

Bicentennial Committee member Lori Vendetti (Laurie Venditti) assembled a grant proposal to benefit the Manlius Farmer's Market.

The $100,000 grant, which does not require matching funds, would aid in the expansion of the existing market. If approved, she said there would be no time limit to use the funds. The catch? The application needed to be postmarked by April 15, so the board had to deliver a vote promptly.

After some discussion, the board motioned to accept the submission of the grant application, contingent on Village Attorney Jeff Brown reading the application thoroughly for no hidden obligations or commitments to the village to accept the grant. Additionally, the board would further discuss Vendetti's (Venditti's) plea for a 10 percent fee – only if the proposal should be granted – at a later date.
http://www.cnylink.com/news/view_news.php?news_id=1271874779

IBM Delivers Predictive Analytic Capabilities for Data in Motion

As part of its commitment to business analytics, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology to give city of Stockholm residents and officials a smarter way to manage and use transportation.

Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden are using IBM’s streaming analytics technology, to gather real-time information from the Global Positioning System (GPS) devices on nearly 1500 taxi cabs in the city and will soon expand to gather data from delivery trucks, traffic sensors, transit systems, pollution monitors and weather information. The data is processed using IBM’s breakthrough streaming analytics software, InfoSphere Streams, giving the city and residents real-time information on traffic flow, travel times and the best commuting options.
more....http://7thspace.com/headlines/341678/ibm_delivers_predictive_analytic_capabilities_for_data_in_motion.html

Convicted CA Sex Offender Leads Authorities to Missing Girl

A convicted sex offender led authorities to the body of Amber Dubois. SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County prosecutors say convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner led authorities to the body of 14-year-old Amber Dubois.  District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said Friday that Gardner agreed to lead authorities to the body on the condition that they could not use that information against him in court. Dumanis says it was a difficult decision, but prosecutors had no other evidence or DNA to link him to the Amber's death. Amber's bones were discovered March 6 in a rugged, remote area north of San Diego. Gardner pleaded guilty Friday to murdering Amber and 17-year-old Chelsea King.  He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/16/convicted-california-sex-offender-leads-authorities-missing-girl/

Napolitano's Meeting With University Presidents

“America’s colleges and universities play a vital role in developing the next generation of homeland security leaders,” said Secretary Napolitano. “I look forward to expanding our partnerships with academic institutions on educational programs and hiring initiatives that enhance our capabilities to protect our nation against evolving threats.”

During the meeting, Secretary Napolitano highlighted the Department’s strong partnerships with universities including support for training, coursework in homeland security-related fields and industries, and for research and development in science and technology, such as the DHS Centers of Excellence, which bring together multidisciplinary homeland security research and education assets of more than 200 institutions across the country.
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1271440147685.shtm

DOMESTIC TERRORISM - Sovereign Citizens

Sovereign citizens are anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or “sovereign” from the United States. As a result, they believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april10/sovereigncitizens_041310.html

Napolitano Remarks to Law Enforcement Leaders

“The men and woman of our state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies serve our country honorably every day,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The Department of Homeland Security is committed to doing everything we can to support these officers on the frontlines by providing the critical training and information they need to do their jobs to secure our nation from the threats we face.”

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1271428926276.shtm

Study of Targeted Academic Campus Violence

New Study of Targeted Violence Affecting U.S. Institutions of Higher Education Released
U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Education, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Collaborate on Joint Effort

On Friday, April 16, 2010, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will release a study of targeted violence incidents on U.S. campuses of higher learning.

The June 2007 Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy included a recommendation that the Secret Service, Department of Education, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation explore the issue of violence at institutions of higher education. This collaborative effort examines the scope of the problem of targeted violence at U.S. institutions.

In total, 272 incidents were identified through a comprehensive search of more than 115,000 results in open-source reporting from 1900 to 2008. The incidents studied include various forms of targeted violence, ranging from domestic violence to mass murder. The findings should be useful for campus safety professionals charged with identifying, assessing, and managing violent risk at institutions of higher education.

The study and its findings will be available on each of the agencies’ Internet sites: www.secretservice.gov, www.ed.gov and www.fbi.gov.

Security incidents rise in industrial control systems

.....A new report based on data gathered by the Repository of Industrial Security Incidents (RISI) database provides a rare look at trends in malware infections, hacks, and insider attacks within these traditionally cloistered operations. Cybersecurity incidents in petroleum and petrochemical control systems have declined significantly over the past five years — down more than 80 percent — but water and wastewater have increased 300 percent, and power/utilities by 30 percent, according to the 2009 Annual Report on Cyber Security Incidents and Trends Affecting Industrial Control Systems. source: http://www.darkreading.com/insiderthreat/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224400280

NYPD Works to Protect Tunnels From Terror

By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK -- The tidy, three-story brownstone looks like any other on the cobblestone block in Brooklyn, but it isn't. It's a fake, leading directly to the belly of the nation's largest subway system.

The unmarked emergency exit behind the facade is one of many posts protected by beat cops defending the city against bombings or other terror attacks in the city's intricate underground mass transit network.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials at the nation's largest police department insist the city remains the nation's No. 1 terror target, devoting extra resources to protecting Wall Street, the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and other high-profile potential targets.
more: http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=51687&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+officerrss%2Ftop_news_stories+%28Officer.com%3A+Top+News+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Font style can help save on ink costs

MILWAUKEE – Here's a way you might save $20 this year: Change the font in the documents you print.

Because different fonts require different amounts of ink to print, you could be buying new printer cartridges less often if you wrote in, say, Century Gothic rather than Arial. Schools and businesses could save thousands of dollars with font changes.

Data on the subject from Printer.com, a Dutch company that evaluates printer attributes, persuaded the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to make a switch. Diane Blohowiak, coordinator of information-technology user support, has asked faculty and staff to use Century Gothic for all printed documents. The school also plans to change its e-mail system so it uses Century Gothic.

"The feedback we've gotten so far has been positive," she said. "Century Gothic is very readable."

The school of 6,500 students spends about $100,000 per year on ink and toner cartridges. Although students and staff can change the default font to something more ink-intensive, Blohowiak said the university expects to save $5,000 to $10,000 per year with the font switch.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100406/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_money_saving_fonts

Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty to Enticing Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity

In pleading guilty, Koch admitted the following facts. He admitted that between September of 2008 and June of 2009, in the Northern District of New York and elsewhere, while using a facility and means of interstate and foreign commerce, which included text messaging, picture messaging, and wire communications by use of cellular telephones, Koch knowingly did persuade, induce, and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. The communications between Koch and the victim occurred via telephones and also by way of computer on MySpace and America Online Instant Messaging. Koch admitted that at the time he was the varsity soccer coach at Blue Ridge High School in Pennsylvania. The victim was 15 years old when the communications between the victim and Koch commenced. Koch purchased and provided to the victim cellular telephones for the express purpose of communicating with the victim by way of texting and telephonic conversations.
http://albany.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/alfo033110.htm

New Service Combats 'Sexting,' 'Cyber-Bullying'

New Service Combats 'Sexting,' 'Cyber-Bullying'
Updated: Tuesday, 30 Mar 2010, 2:39 PM CDT
Published : Monday, 29 Mar 2010, 10:30 PM CDT

NED HIBBERD
Reporter
HOUSTON - 'Sexting,' text messaging and 'cyber-bullying.' Most parents know the danger is out there, even if they are not quite sure what to do about it.

But a new service offers monitoring of a child’s cell phone in the same way software can scan websites visited by the child’s computer.

A Katy-area woman called “Mary” wishes she had heard of it sooner.

She says she tried to control her 13-year old daughter’s cell phone usage by allowing the girl to share her phone.

One day, concerned about a flurry of text messages from someone named “Mac,” she posed as her own daughter.

“I'm like, okay, so I'll text him and say, ‘hey I'm scared,’ and just generate a conversation like that,” says the mom. “And sure enough, he started texting me back.”

She showed FOX 26 one of the text messages she says she received: “i dnt think u pregnant cuz i dont think the condom broke but it might have.”

The alleged sender, Harold McArthur, 25, has been charged with two counts of “Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child.” He remains jailed in lieu of $30,000 bond.

“He doesn't understand that what he took, he can never give back,” says Mary, whose identity is being shielded to protect her teenage daughter.

The phone’s “delete” function kept this mom in the dark.

But a newly-launched service aims at keeping parents “in the loop.”

It monitors text messages for certain keywords, alerting mom or dad if the content is sexual or bullying.

“It gives them back control that they really don't have,” says Andy Kahan, a crime victims’ advocate who is on the advisory board of the company, WebSafety.

He says its service also tackles the problem of “sexting,” which is when a teen takes a nude self-portrait with the camera-phone and sends it to a significant other.

“Whatever image is either sent to your child or your child sends to another individual, Bingo! You get it as well,” says Kahan.

With plans starting at $150 a year, WebSafety’s service isn’t cheap.

Then again, neither is the therapist treating Harold McArthur’s alleged victim, according to her mom.

“If I had known that there was technology that would send alerts to you,” says Mary, “it would have helped me a whole lot.”

She is unhappy with the plea deal she says is in the works for McArthur.

And she is preparing a “victim impact statement” to read in court at the end of May.

On the Web:

WebSafety Program to Monitor Children's Cell Phones --

http://www.mywebsafety.com/venditti

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/scitech/100329-new-service-combats-sexting-cyber-bullying

Frank Shea member NLEA - CBS Interview on the FL Police Shooting 3/29

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6343185n&tag=mg;earlyshow

Laurie Venditti signs WebSafety as a Partner For Security!

WebSafety is a security solution designed to safeguard our children. Learning by their mistakes is how our children grow. This is how we as parents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and grandparents learned, right?. But what happens if they make the wrong choice with electronic communications? By the time parents learn of the mistake, all too often the damage is done and it is too late. WebSafety helps parents to teach their children to make the right choices on the internet, to respect the power, limitations and dangers of the internet. For instances when children make the wrong choice, parents are alerted immediately so they are able to step in to provide guidance.

Websafety products contain the world's largest word recognition library. It is the most comprehensive and advanced database ever compiled, capable of searching more than 4,000 words, terms and phrases that spell danger for children. Once WebSafety content analytics determines a child is in harm's way, it sends an alert to parents via email and/or cell phone, empowering them to take action “proactively”. Visit http://www.partnerforsecurity.com/ or www.mywebsafety.com/venditti  to learn more about this powerful content analytics and alerting technology.

Mercy Corp worker and Syracuse University graduate gives Joe Biden some advice in Iraq

By Emily Kulkus / The Post-Standard
July 09, 2009, 5:04PM

Al Behrman/ APVice President Joe Biden, shown here speaking Cincinnati, listened to SU graduate Sahar Alnouri's advice about Iraq on July 3.
Sahar AlnouriEditor's note: Sahar Alnour is a program manager for Mercy Corps in Iraq. She spent part of her childhood in Syracuse and graduated from Syracuse University in 2001.

In packing for a recent trip to Baghdad, the furthest thing from my mind was Vice President Joe Biden. I thought I would spend much of my trip helping my colleagues move boxes into a new office, and I packed accordingly.

It took us six hours to Baghdad from Sulaimaniya, the Kurdish city in the north where I have been living. I am a program manager for the international aid organization Mercy Corps. Since February, I have been running women's programs in the country, including a literacy campaign.

I sat in the front seat, excited to be traversing new terrain. Until recently, it was considered too dangerous to make the trip to Baghdad by car.

Sadly, it was too dusty to really see much that day. It reminded me of visibility in Syracuse, my hometown, during a light snow storm. Of course, the sky on the road to Baghdad had an orange haze to it like nothing you'd see in Upstate New York.

When I got into Baghdad, I could sense a tense mood. Most Iraqis were pleased to see U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraqi cities on July 1, but two car bombs the week before, one in Kirkuk and one in Baghdad, had dampened the occasion.

I was busy last week running a series of community meetings and racing to write two grant proposals under deadline -- all while the office was in complete disarray from the move and temperatures soared to 90 degrees.

So when I received an e-mail telling me that on top of everything else, I had to represent Mercy Corps at a meeting at the U.S. embassy on July 3, I nearly lost it. I begged to get out of the meeting -- to no avail.

When I called the embassy to confirm my attendance, I mentioned that I hoped the meeting was not too formal as I didn't even have a suit with me. The embassy employee laughed and said it would be a bit formal. He told me a VIP would be joining the meeting, but he didn't say who that VIP would be.

That evening as I pulled my only pair of dress pants out of the just-hooked-up washing machine, I discovered the towel I had washed with them had shed light brown lint all over. Now, I'm not talking about a few specks. This was lint that gets stuck and never comes off.

Total panic ensued. The only other pants I had with me were jeans. My female colleagues didn't have any clothes that fit me and there was no time to pick up something new.

Thankfully, a male colleague lent me a pair of pants that nearly fit. Then we had to figure out the word for safety pin in Arabic (kelaab) and frantically call our Baghdad staff begging to borrow some. When we finally managed to get our hands on some safety pins the next morning, we hiked up the hems a good 5 inches, and off I went.

Upon arrival at the meeting place, we were escorted in almost immediately. And there was the Vice President standing in a receiving line, ready to shake everyone's hands.

As I sat at the long, oval table, I realized I was the youngest participant in the meeting by at least 10 years and the only woman. And, I was wearing men's pants with safety pins. This was clearly a sink-or-swim situation.

The Vice President facilitated the meeting himself. He began by asking about the tension between Kurds and Arabs, Shias and Sunnis -- looking for feedback about whether improved economic development would relieve some of these tensions.

I responded immediately, saying that I did not think that economic development alone would help the situation between Kurds and Arabs because the Kurds are actually doing pretty well economically -- except in areas where you have displaced Arabs in poor Kurdish communities.

Biden also asked the group how U.S. assistance could be more effective. I was the first participant to speak.

Here, I had to take a deep breath and ask if I could speak frankly. I told him that the Provincial Reconstruction Teams -- military personnel doing humanitarian assistance and development work -- are not an effective use of resources. I said that while their hearts are in the right places, ordinary Iraqis are often afraid when they see their uniforms. This means that most of the time, the military is relying on information from only a few select people. I argued that this leads to an environment rife with corruption.

We also talked about the security conditions on the ground. I highlighted Mercy Corps' no-arms policy, which means that we do not travel in armored vehicles or use security forces, and how we rely on community acceptance to accomplish our goals. Mercy Corps has been in Iraq since 2003 and operates in some of the most challenging and insecure areas in the country. Mercy Corps employs more than 180 local Iraqi staff, and only 18 internationals, which means our programs are designed and run by Iraqis.

After the 90-minute roundtable discussion, Biden walked around the table to thank me for Mercy Corps' participation. I couldn't believe the Vice President was personally thanking me. Army Gen. Ray Odierno also thanked me, and said he agreed with me. He said they've been frustrated by their inability to connect with communities, and that I made some important points.

And that is how a girl from Syracuse met the Vice President of the United States of America in men's pants and safety pins.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/mercy_corp_worker_and_syracuse.html

Jobs and population: controlling population

Editor's Note: This article continues our series excerpted from AC360°'s contributor David Gewirtz's book, How To Save Jobs, which is available now. AC360° viewers can download it for free at HowToSaveJobs.org. To learn more about the book, follow David on Twitter @DavidGewirtz.

David Gewirtz | BIO
AC360° Contributor
Director, U.S. Strategic Perspective Institute

There’s no doubt that as we move through the next few decades, the planet simply won’t be able to support as many people as will be born. In America alone, we need to create 2 million more jobs every year, simply to keep up with the population.

The problem of supporting a growing population becomes doubly true of hugely populous countries like China and India, which are pursuing goals to move the bulk of their population into the middle-class. China and India alone will need to consume more than 50% more energy than actually exists in the entire world.

Like issues relating to climate, population is really a world-wide issue and somehow needs to be addressed across national boundaries.

There are a variety of approaches that can be taken. These include scientific advances in generating new sources of fuel and renewable energy so our growing population doesn’t run out of power.

But, without a doubt, the planet needs to produce less people. No one likes the idea of government-imposed population control, and yet this is what China has been attempting since the late 1970s, with less than positive results.

In 1979, China instituted the jìhuà shengyù zhèngcè, unofficially known as the one-child policy. The policy restricts the number of children couples can give birth to and raise. While China claims that the program, in its first 30 years, has prevented as many births as there are people in the United States, the program is not without its serious problems.

Chinese parents who ignore the one-child policy are subject to enormous fines and heavy-handed government prosecution. As you might imagine, the rate of abortion and infanticide is off-the-charts, in part because prospective parents are often faced with no other choice than to terminate the pregnancy.

Parents who do actually go through with giving birth are often required to “dispose” of the newly born baby, according to testimony by Gao Xiao Duan (a former Chinese population control administrator) to what was then the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations human rights subcommittee in 1998.

A disturbing culture of kidnapping and black-market selling has grown out of the one-child policy. Gender roles are still strong through much of Chinese culture and some families value having a boy far more than having a girl.

This has resulted in a reduction in female children and, as Nobel Prize–winning economist Amartya Sen described, more than 100 million women are “missing” from what would have been a normal population – through abortion, infanticide, or starvation as a result of poor nutrition.

Depending on how coldly you measure it, China’s one-child policy has either been a measured success or a horrible, gruesome failure. In a country overwhelmed by population, preventing hundreds of millions of births may well have helped China manage scarce resources with more effectiveness.

But, the cost in terms of simply life itself is hard to ignore. Children being kidnapped, never to be seen again by their parents, infants being put to death, families forced to starve in order to pay the fines required to keep a beloved child - all of these are chilling effects that no one wants to see in a civilized world.

Follow David on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz.

Editor’s note: David Gewirtz is Director of the U.S. Strategic Perspective Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines. He is a leading Presidential scholar specializing in White House email. He is a member of FBI InfraGard, the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism & Security Professionals, a columnist for The Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, and has been a guest commentator for the Nieman Watchdog of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He is a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley extension, a recipient of the Sigma Xi Research Award in Engineering and was a candidate for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Letters.

John Honovich tests Vitamin D Video Analytics

http://ipvideomarket.info/report/testing_vitamin_d_video_analytics_software

Spain takes down Botnet that infected 13M computers with spyware

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish criminals who stole bank details from computers around the world did not realize the power of the illegal network they had created which could have paralyzed an entire country's computer systems, police said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6214ST20100303

Cyber Czar Howard Schmidt

San Francisco
On Tuesday, the White House declassified cybersecurity somewhat when cybersecurity czar Howard Schmidt pulled back the curtain, at least a bit, on the Bush administration’s secretive plan to defend the nation’s computer networks. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0302/White-House-declassifies-parts-of-US-cybersecurity

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/us-declassifies-part-of-secret-cybersecurity-plan/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/cybersecurity/comprehensive-national-cybersecurity-initiative



-plan

Spike in power grid attacks likely

February 19, DarkReading – (International) Spike in power grid attacks likely in next 12 months. There is a ‘window of opportunity for malicious intent’ as energy firms roll out smart-grid pilot programs. Attacks against the power grid are likely to rise and intensify during the next 12 months as smart grid research and pilot projects advance, according to utility security experts and a recently published report that analyzes threats to critical infrastructure. The so-called Project Grey Goose Report on Critical Infrastructure points to state and/or non-state sponsored hackers from the Russian Federation of Independent States, Turkey, and China as the main threats to targeting and hacking into energy providers and other critical infrastructure networks. The principal investigator for Project Grey Goose and founder and CEO of GreyLogic says he and other researchers working on the report initially focused on answering the question of whether there have been any successful cyberattacks on the utilities. “Some companies say there’s never been a successful attack against the grid, but that’s not true,” he says. “There have been at least 120 instances” of successful attacks, some of which are documented in the report and date back to 2001. Several utility security experts agree that utility security administrators will have their hands full during the next year, as the transition from isolated, closed energy-generation and transmission networks to IP-based and wireless ones begins to take shape in the form of pilot smart grid projects. The Grey Goose report calls out Russia, Turkish hackers, and China as the top threats to the power grid. “I perceive Russia as the most serious threat [of the three] and China last,” says the report’s principal investigator. That is because hackers
- 3 -
from China are more likely to hack for espionage purposes than to disrupt the grid, he says. Source: http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223000369

2010 International Conference on Cyber Security -Fordham University & FBI NYC

The 2010 will cover a variety of topics - Enabling Technologies, Operations & Enforcement & Real Life Experiences.

Last year more than 500 people from 40 countries gathered at ICCS to discuss the worlds greatest emerging cyber threats. This August the FBI and Fordham University will partner again to host the 2nd annual International Conference on Cyber Security (ICCS 2010) in NYC, the information center of the world.

With the number of cyber threats escalating worldwide, the need for a comprehensive security analysis, assessment, and actions have reached a critical juncture. Join us at ICCS 2010 for a first-hand opportunity to discover and share crtical intelligence on issues shaping the future of cyber security.

visit www.iccs.fordham.edu - for registration and program information
contact me for sponsorship opportunities at venditti@partnerforsecurity.com or call me at 917-596-3037.

Remote Surveillance Camera from Frontgate

Remote Surveillance Camera from Frontgate http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=20857&k=ZZ50875 $249

This high-resolution Remote Surveillance Camera sends live video and audio of your home to a secure, password protected website that you can view from anywhere in the world via your smartphone or any Internet connection. Don’t wonder what’s happening at home while you’re away — see for yourself.
Simple to set up and operate
The camera’s 10x zoom functions can be controlled remotely
Built-in motion sensor immediately sends you email alerts when movement is detected
Includes night-vision LED lights, AC adapter, and mounting stand
Requires Windows XP/Vista

Don't buy HP 4780 Wireless Printers All in One

I recently purchased the C4780 HP wireless printer and have had nothing but problems with trying to connect it to my wireless network. I call the tech phone support 2x and had 5 online chats, installed and uninstalled the software on my Windows 7 operating system 12 x. This entire process has cost me days of time and troubleshooting. I kept record of the online chats. Phone tech support and online chat support at not integrated systems. So when I was told to call the 800 technical services number by the online chat representative, the phone tech support rep said that they would have no way of accessing my chat history, nor did they care because they were two separate areas. Not what I wanted to hear after being online with 5 different chats each about 2-3 hours long! I was told on 2 occasions that my issue was escalated to Level 2 support and told I would receive a phone call within 24-72 hours. Never received a single call from HP. Today, they tried that again, but I said it was unacceptable and I wanted a Return Authorization number. Their policy is not to send a RA number but rather to send a (new/refurbished) printer in its place. They assured me that the printer that is coming within 5-10 business days will be new but the box was opened before and treated as overstock from a stores inventory. I ask why if the box had never been opened would HP even need to open the box to insure that it was in working order? I feel I am being mislead and will see what actually shows up. They needed my credit card to insure that I return the printer that is defective. I just hope that they don't charge for this next printer.

I recommend that you do not buy HP Printers until they get their act together!

My feeling is they haven't dealt with the integration of Windows 7 yet.

DHS: Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Meeting with Faith-Based and Community Leaders

DHS: Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Meeting with Faith-Based and Community Leaders

"In times of crisis, leaders of faith-based communities and other grassroots organizations often play a critical role in the borad and timely dissemination of accurate information." said Secretary Napolitano. "Strengthening our partnerships with faith- and community-based groups will allow improved information sharing and better coordination in preparing for, assessing and responding to threats."

Child pornography fight gets new weapons

Centered in cyber-forensics labs at the offices of the Louisiana attorney general and State Police, special investigative units can detect computers throughout Louisiana that are exchanging sexually explicit images of children online. During a recent typical month, the systems identified more than 5,600 such Internet computer addresses in the state.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/11/post_72.html

Domestic Preparedness - Executive Briefing for All Hazards Consortium AHC

On September 24, 2009, DomPrep hosted an Executive Briefing for the All Hazards Consortium (AHC), a 501c3 non-profit guided by eight regional states - Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia - and the District of Columbia. This by-invitation-only meeting was held from 8:00am to 11:00am (EST) in the First Amendment Lounge on the 13th floor of the National Press Club (529 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20045).

The purpose of this important meeting was to brief new administration appointees, the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) leadership, congressional aides, and other federal decision-making officials - representing the Departments of Defense, Energy, Health, Justice, and Transportation - on the region’s multi-state efforts, accomplishments, and future as well as current needs in the broad areas of homeland security and emergency management. Short presentations were made by the member states, several of the federal partners involved, and private-sector representatives on the numerous ways in which they have collaborated over the past four years on regional efforts. Of particular importance was a discussion on how they are forming a new model for regional collaboration at the state level.
a listing of the speakers with a link to their audio presentations - http://www.domesticpreparedness.com/WebConferences/Conference_Detail/All_Hazards_Consortium_Executive_Briefing/

First-Person Report - Forecast 2010: A New Model for Disaster Management

- Mark Merritt
http://www.domesticpreparedness.com/Commentary/Viewpoint/First-Person_Report_-_Forecast_2010%3a_A_New_Model_for_Disaster_Management/

The nation’s fifth largest recent disaster has affected the citizens of Iowa for the past 18 months but, thanks to an innovative approach to disaster management, that state’s weather problems have been almost unknown to the outside world. One result is that, as we begin 2010, the most significant change in disaster management is probably going to be the way in which other states handle their own long-term disaster-recovery programs.

In 2008, Iowa experienced the most devastating series of natural disasters in the state’s history, when severe floods, tornadoes, and storms hit Iowa – resulting in 85 of the state’s 99 counties being declared federal disaster areas. Initial statewide estimates for damages were between $8 billion and $10 billion.

Coordination – The Key to Sustained Progress - The RIO’s most important role is to coordinate work among the many state and federal agencies and local entities involved in disaster-recovery decision-making and program administration.

FBI cites thousands of hate crimes in '08

(CNN) -- More than 9,000 hate crime offenses -- more than half of them motivated by racial bias -- were reported last year, the FBI announced Monday.http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/23/hate.crimes.fbi.report/


.....There were 105 anti-Islamic incidents reported in 2008, about one-tenth the amount of anti-Semitic incidents, which totaled 1,103 in 2008, according to the agency.

Health Net's loss of 1.5 million patient records

November 19, Wired – (Connecticut) Health insurer loses 1.5 million patient records. A health insurer lost 1.5 million patient records last May but waited six months to disclose the incident. The data, which was stored on a portable disk drive that disappeared from the insurer’s office, was unencrypted and included patient Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and health data, according to the Hartford Courant. The disk also contained personal information on at least 5,000 physicians. Health Net discovered the loss in May but never informed patients, law enforcement or government entities, despite data breach laws in some states that require data spillers to notify victims and state officials when residents are affected by a breach. The insurer finally sent a letter to Connecticut’s attorney general and the state’s Department of Insurance this week. Health Net claimed it took six months to determine what data was on the missing disk. It said that data on the disk was compressed and stored in an image format that required special software to view, which was available only to HealthNet. Source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/healthnet

ShotSpotter Video - GOOD magazine feature

ShotSpotter Video - GOOD magazine feature

Quote

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." - Thomas Edison

Ronald S. Gray Memorial Service Set For September 26th

RONALD S. GRAY MEMORIAL SERVICE - Was held with a funeral mass at St. Francis of Assissi Church in Belchertown, MA on September 26th and a Dedication by the MA State Police of Belchertown at the Windsor Dam.

The Marines Honor Guard gave tribute to this great man.  Nancy, his loving wife was presented the American Flag on behalf of the President.

http://www.findrongray.com/?p=92#more-92

17 Minutes of Silence in Remembrance of September 11 event will be Forman Park in the city of Syracuse.

The city of Syracuse held its annual Commemoration Ceremony at the site of the Police Memorial in Forman Park, on Friday, September 11,2009 in memory of the victims of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001.

Minneapolis FBI Agents Raid Travel Agency

FBI raids Minneapolis travel agency in connection with terror probe
by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
August 7, 2009

Minneapolis ? FBI agents raided a Minneapolis travel agency earlier this week in support of a broader investigation into the disappearances of about 20 Somali-American men.

Plane, copter collide over Hudson River, killing 9

Saturday, 8/7/09 Noon
NEW YORK ? A sightseeing helicopter carrying five Italian tourists collided with a small plane above the Hudson River on Saturday, sending debris into the water and forcing people on New Jersey's waterfront to scamper for cover. Authorities believe all nine people aboard the two aircraft were killed.

The accident, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg called "not survivable," happened just after noon and was seen by hundreds and maybe even thousands of people out enjoying a crystal clear summer day.

The two aircraft went down just south of the stretch of river where a US Airways jet landed safely seven months ago. But this time, there was no miracle.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090808/ap_on_re_us/us_hudson_mid_air_collision%22

FBI Intelligence Directorate Head - Kevin Favreau

"We need to know about the threat more than anyone else does because we need to go head-to-head with it"
-- Kevin Favreau, HEAD OF THE FBI'S INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE

Twitter, Google, Facebook cyber attacks article

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10305200-245.html

Graphic Photo Posted on Facebook

Graphic Photo Posted on Facebook at <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535461,00.html> Center of Pending Lawsuit
FOXNews
A responding EMT, retired NYPD detective Frank Musarella, 46, allegedly snapped a photo of Wimmer's body using his cell-phone camera and posted it on his ...

Laurie Venditti
PartnerForSecurity
NYC
917-596-3037

A Cyber-Attack on an American City

Bruce Perens

Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported.

That attack demonstrated a severe fault in American infrastructure: its centralization. The city of Morgan Hill and parts of three counties lost 911 service, cellular mobile telephone communications, land-line telephone, DSL internet and private networks, central station fire and burglar alarms, ATMs, credit card terminals, and monitoring of critical utilities. In addition, resources that should not have failed, like the local hospital's internal computer network, proved to be dependent on external resources, leaving the hospital with a "paper system" for the day.

http://perens.com/works/articles/MorganHill/

In Jakarta, A New Terrorist Tactic Revealed

How hotel attacks are changing.

According to Indonesian Security Minister Widodo Adi Sucipto, nine persons were killed and at least 42 injured in two powerful blasts that hit the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in the Mega Kuningan business area in Jakarta early on the morning of July 17. Widodo told reporters that six of the victims were killed at the Marriott hotel, two others at the Ritz-Carlton hotel and one died in the hospital. Of the 42 injured, 13 were foreigners.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/17/marriott-hotel-attack-jakarta-opinions-contributors-terrorism-indonesia.html

How New York Became Safe: The Full Story

A citywide effort, involving many agencies and institutions, helped restore order.

....By the early 1990s, these highly visible successes, especially in the subway, had begun to express themselves politically. Better than any other politician, Rudy Giuliani understood the pent-up demand for public order and built his successful 1993 run for mayor on quality-of-life themes. Once in office, he appointed Bratton, who had orchestrated the subway success and understood the importance of order maintenance, as New York?s police commissioner.

Under Bratton, the NYPD brought enormous capacities to bear on the city?s crime problem?particularly Compstat, its tactical planning and accountability system, which identified where crimes were occurring and held local commanders responsible for their areas. Giuliani and Bratton also gave the force?s members a clear vision of the ?business? of the NYPD and how their activities contributed to it. In short, a theory previously advocated largely by elites filtered down to?and inspired?line police officers, who had constituted a largely ignored and underused capacity.
http://www.city-journal.org/2009/nytom_ny-crime-decline.html

Ron Gray Missing Person - 9-8-08 Idaho

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1641975849/m/45819700101

Data Breaches: The Cost of Being Unprepared- Thought Leadership Panel Perspectives

Data breach incidents have seen a 47% increase since 2007. Breached companies can suffer devastating reputational effects; can lose valuable business; and become inundated with expensive lawsuits. But unless more companies and financial institutions increase their focus on data protection, there's no telling where - or if - this crime will ever end.
http://www.csoonline.com/webcast/491387/Data_Breaches_The_Cost_of_Being_Unprepared_Thought_Leadership_Panel_Perspectives?source=CSONLU_nlt_securityleader_2009-07-20_1

man arrested for allegedly stealing 500 identities -- by dumpster diving

Low Tech Hacks All Too Common

It was just May when we blogged about thousands of medical records being dumped in plain sight by someone, apparently, employed at the Hutcheson Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was not only a clear HIPAA violation, but also placed people at risk to medical identity theft.
From channel CBS13, Sacramento:
The criminal complaint filed against 30-year-old suspect Jonah Nelson claims that he made more than 1,000 fake ID cards that he used to rip off people, stores and banks. Nelson also allegedly admitted to stealing the identities of more than 500 people all across Northern California, ranging from the Bay Area to the Central Valley.
Published Jul 09 2009, 12:13 PM by George Hulme
Filed under: incident
https://www.hitrustcentral.net/blogs/ht/archive/2009/07/09/low-tech-hacks-all-too-common.aspx

FBI: Newest 'Most Wanted' Terrorist Is American

A fugitive animal rights activist believed to be hiding outside the United States has become the first domestic terror suspect named to the FBI's list of 'Most Wanted' terrorists. (April 21)
http://www.blinkx.com/video/fbi-newest-most-wanted-terrorist-is-american/r8YW17B4ppXG8TAyr5G39g

Murder: New York City

http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map
Each day, the New York Police Department announces major crimes, including most homicides, in the five boroughs. This data is compiled from those reports, in addition to news accounts, court records and additional reporting. The map will be updated as new information becomes available.

5th Avenue Skyscraper Center of Iranian Mystery

When anyone enters the gleaming stone skyscraper on New York's Fifth Avenue, they have no idea they have walked into the middle of an international mystery. Just blocks from Rockefeller Center , 650 Fifth Avenue is at the center of a federal probe, involving the FBI, two firms linked to Iran 's national bank and a wealthy U.S. foundation that supports Islamic charitable causes ? whose former president has been accused of obstruction of justice. In December, the Department of Justice charged the building's co-owners, the Assa Corporation and Assa Limited, of being front companies for Iran 's national bank, Bank Melli. The bank had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly helping fund Iran 's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The other owner of the building is the Alavi Foundation, which was founded by the Shah of Iran and has been operating as a New York state charity for 35 years. Alavi owns 60 percent of the building and bills itself as a charitable effort to "support Interfaith harmony and promote Islamic culture and Persian language, literature and civilization." It claims assets of more than $121 million.A look at its donation list from tax records shows some of America 's most prominent institutions have benefited from Alavi's largess, from Harvard and Columbia universities, to former President Clinton's work. Tax records show the William J. Clinton Foundation was given $30,000 in 2006. Alavi has also distributed millions to schools, mosques and Islamic Centers through the years... But others have accused the Alavi Foundation of doing Iran 's bidding right here in America , and even alleged it is "controlled" by Tehran ?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526766,00.html

Training cleaning staff on security awareness

Reliance launches integrated shopping centres solution

23 Apr 09

By Anthony Hildebrand

Reliance Facilities Management has launched SecureClean, a new solution for shopping centres integrating the management of security and cleaning services.

Reliance says SecureClean ?meets retail landlords? need to reduce costs whilst maintaining a focus on increased security threats?.

The results of the 2008 Reliance Shopping Centre survey, demonstrated the changing demands and pressures on retail landlords, the company says. It says SecureClean enables shopping centre owners and managers to reduce service costs and efficiently manage large scale assets.

A launch statement said: ?Integrating the management of services reduces costs, creates operational efficiencies and increases productivity. SecureClean combines the delivery of security and cleaning to shopping centres, providing a dedicated service manager across both service streams.

?This one dedicated service manager presents shopping centre managers? with one single point of contact for all security and cleaning operations, reducing service costs and driving quality through integrated management.?

Reliance says that all cleaning personnel will receive basic security awareness training and familiarisation with anti-terrorism initiatives such as Project Argus, as well as customer service training.

Along with Reliance?s security training and Security Industry Authority (SIA) licensing, security personnel will also attend on-going ?excellence in customer service? courses. This one team approach leverages manpower to protect shopping centre interests, improve the environment and enhance the customer experience.

Paul Crilly, Reliance Facilities Management deputy chairman, said: ?We have developed the SecureClean approach in response to shopping centres? evolving requirements. SecureClean is a solution that allows shopping centre owners and managers to achieve significant financial and operational efficiencies through a managed approach to integrated services.?
http://www.info4security.com/story.asp?sectioncode=10&storycode=4122163&c=1

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Moss' background as a computer hacker (aka "Dark Tangent") and role as a luminary among young hackers who flock to Defcon in Las Vegas every summer might seem to make him an odd choice to swear allegiance to the government. (Although before running his computer conferences, Moss also worked in the information system security division at Ernst & Young.)

I'd like to hear some of the banter as he rubs elbows with the likes of former CIA (Bill Webster) and FBI directors (Louis Freeh), Los Angeles County sheriff, Miami mayor, New York police commissioner, governors of Maryland and Georgia, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, and the president of the Navajo Nation.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss, who is 39, said he was surprised when he got the call and was asked to join the group.

National Recall

June 5, U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service ? (National) Recall notification report: Class I recall ? wholesale level. Cameco, Inc., a Verona, New Jersey, establishment is recalling approximately 79,312 pounds of various fully cooked, readyto- eat meat and poultry products because the products may contain under-processed ham components after contacting surfaces of equipment. The fully cooked, ready-to-eat meat and poultry products were produced on May 29, 2009 and June 1, 2009, and were distributed to wholesale distributors in Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The distribution of the products was limited only to wholesale distributors; none of these products are available to consumers. The problem was discovered by the company. Source: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/RNR_029_2009/index.asp

Orgnaized Retail Crime Video

http://www.cagrocers.com/files/RetailCrime.wmv

CIA, FBI push 'Facebook for spies'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook and MySpace, you might suspect those workers are slacking off.
A social-networking site for the world of spying officially launches for the U.S. intelligence community this month.

A social-networking site for the world of spying officially launches for the U.S. intelligence community this month.

But that's not the case at the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, where bosses are encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying.

"It's every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it's much, much more," said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis.

The program is called A-Space, and it's a social-networking site for analysts within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

Instead of posting thoughts about the new Avenged Sevenfold album or Jessica Alba movie, CIA analysts could use A-Space to share information and opinion about al Qaeda movements in the Middle East or Russian naval maneuvers in the Black Sea.

The new A-Space site has been undergoing testing for months and launches officially for the nation's entire intelligence community September 22.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html

Twitter To Offer ?Verified Accounts?

The post also said that Twitter would be launching ?Verified Accounts? later this summer:

The experiment will begin with public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes, and other well known individuals at risk of impersonation. We hope to verify more accounts in the future but due to the resources required, verification will begin only with a small set.

Twitter could easily verify a larger number accounts by providing automated verification in a variety of ways. My Time For Verified Twitter Accounts & An Easy Way To Do It covers some options on this.

Still, it?s a start, and a welcome one. Verified Accounts will have a special seal that shows, as illustrated in the screenshot above.

http://searchengineland.com/twitter-to-offer-verified-accounts-20620

EBay arms smugglers jailed

The three breached British arms embargoes by arranging deals to export to the Middle East nation after importing a host of military parts to the UK via the bidding website.

Their complex plot involved an attempt to supply Iran with equipment for F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, similar to those which featured in the Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Cruise, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Mohsen Akhavan Nik and his son Mohammad Akhavan Nik, who were granted political asylum in the UK having apparently fled from Iran in 1995, together with Nithish Jaitha, were caught after HM Revenue and Customs officers stopped a consignment of oxygen cylinders at Heathrow Airport which were bound for Tehran.

Mohsen Nik, 49, and Mohammad Nik, 26, of Ascot, Berkshire, were jailed for five years and two and a half years respectively while Jaitha, 43, of Chalgrove, Oxford, was sentenced to two and a half years for the conspiracy to export controlled goods.

Iran's ageing jet fighters, including the F-14 Tomcat, F4 Phantoms, F5 Tigers and Cobra Attack helicopters, can only be kept in service through parts purchased in the United States and then illegally shipped to Iran using fraudulent paperwork.

The items were sourced on eBay in the US and shipped to an address in Florida to avoid the need for an export licence.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5445615/EBay-arms-smugglers-jailed.html

Baby formula a costly commodity for families and a hot item for thieves

TORONTO ? It's not just parents of hungry infants that are seeking out baby formula - the product has become a hot commodity for thieves on both sides of the border.

Police recently arrested 21 suspects and dismantled a theft ring in Florida allegedly responsible for stealing thousands of cans of the powdered product.

In another case, one trucker was sentenced to jail and another to probation this week for their roles in stealing US$200,000 in baby formula and other products from a Pennsylvania warehouse. The items were sold on the black market.

And in Toronto, a 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and theft, accused of stabbing a security guard who tried to stop him from leaving a department store with stolen formula.

The cost for baby formula is fairly steep. At a downtown Toronto drugstore, a 680-gram tin of powdered formula containing omega-3s was around $31. For parents without a lot of extra cash to spare, the pricetag can prove to be a barrier.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iWtjC4hU_ITwbdUEyk8tZCU6R-Gg

Secretary Napolitano Announces $60 Million in Operation Stonegarden Grants for Border States

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1244070019405.shtmSecretary Janet Napolitano today announced fiscal year 2009 Operation Stonegarden grants?totaling $60 million?for 13 border states and the Territory of Puerto Rico to enhance the capabilities of federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to jointly secure U.S. borders and territories.

?Operation Stonegarden grants direct critical funding tostate, local and tribal law enforcement operations across the country,? said Secretary Napolitano. ?I am proud to announce that the 2009 funding provides additional flexibility to ensure that our first responders are equipped with the resources they need to confront the complex and dynamic challenges that exist along our borders.?

The 2009 allocations reflect President Obama?s increased emphasis on the Southwest border in response to cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Based on greater risk, heavy cross-border traffic and border-related threat intelligence, nearly 76 percent of Operation Stonegarden funds will go to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas?up from 59 percent in fiscal year 2008.

Fiscal year 2009 Operation Stonegarden funds will be used for additional law enforcement personnel, overtime, travel and other related costs in order to further increase our presence along the borders. This risk-based allocation of resources complements ongoing DHS efforts?including the Southwest Border Initiative and U.S. Border Patrol deployment at the Northern border. By the end of fiscal year 2010, DHS plans to add nearly 700 additional agents at the U.S.-Canada border.

This year, eligibility for Operation Stonegarden awards was expanded to include 39 applicants?24 more than fiscal year 2008?encompassing states with international land and coastal borders.
FY 2009 Operation Stonegarden Grant Program
State

Amount
Arizona
$ 12,774,896
California
$ 11,919,340
Idaho
$ 229,008
Maine
$ 1,524,973
Michigan
$ 2,047,093
Minnesota
$ 1,005,561
Montana
$ 1,813,102
New Mexico
$ 3,981,414
New York
$ 3,558,187
North Dakota
$ 1,138,829
Puerto Rico
$ 529,947
Texas
$ 16,719,377
Vermont
$ 501,079
Washington
$ 2,257,194
Total
$ 60,000,000

Secretary Napolitano made the announcement as part of a two-day visit to the Southwest border, during which she joined U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske to unveil the 2009 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy; announced the formation of the Homeland Security Advisory Council Southwest Border Task Force; and met with state and local law enforcement and first responders to discuss issues affecting Southwest border states.

Operation Stonegarden is appropriated by the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance and Continuing Appropriations Act of 2009. For more information on Operation Stonegarden, visit www.dhs.gov and at www.fema.gov/government/grant/opsg/index.shtm.

U.S., Canada to continue beefed up waterway patrols

Detroit -- The United States and Canada today signed an agreement that allows both countries to patrol each other's waters and to pursue cross-border criminals into each country's territory.

The "Shiprider Agreement" allows the U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Mounted Police to cross-train, share resources and personnel, and use each other's vessels in waters that include the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

According to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Canadian Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan, the agreement will help ensure that criminal organizations no longer exploit the shared border because of the inherent jurisdictional complications that come with cross-border policing.

Advertisement

"We are working together as friends and allies," Napolitano said at the press conference, which was held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility at the Ambassador Bridge.

"We see our common border as a common responsibility. It's a partnership that at the same time respects the sovereignty of both nations."

According to Van Loan, the Shiprider program was first tested for about two months in 2007.

"The results were very encouraging," Van Loan said. "During that time period, we were able to seize 1.4 million cigarettes and 215 kilos of marijuana. I understand that the look of surprise on the criminals' faces when they were pursued across the border was really something to behold."

Napolitano and Van Loan also said the U.S. and Canada were working together to make sure that the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) goes into effect "smoothly" when it is enacted on Monday. Under WHTI, any American or Canadian leaving or re-entering the U.S. is required to have proper documentation of citizenship, including a valid passport, Enhanced Driver's License (EDL), passport card or trusted traveler card such as NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST.

A driver's license and a certified birth certificate are no longer valid for entry/re-entry into the U.S.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090526/METRO/905260401/1409/METRO

EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda eyes bio attack from Mexico Seeks white militias as allies

U.S. counterterrorism officials have authenticated a video by an al Qaeda recruiter threatening to smuggle a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the terrorist group's determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland.

The video aired earlier this year as a recruitment tool makes clear that al Qaeda is looking to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border security and also is willing to ally itself with white militia groups or other anti-government entities interested in carrying out an attack inside the United States, according to counterterrorism officials interviewed by The Washington Times.

The officials, who spoke only on the condition they not be named because of the sensitive nature of their work, stressed that there is no credible information that al Qaeda has acquired the capabilities to carry out a mass biological attack although its members have clearly sought the expertise.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/03/al-qaeda-eyes-bio-attack-via-mexico-border/

FBI looks into calls to Somalia from Erie County line

Erie County Emergency Management Agency officials say they've asked the FBI to investigate more than 120 calls placed last month from a county-owned phone to locations in Somalia.

"This is something I've never seen in my 30-year career," said Bob Hall, telecommunications coordinator for Erie County Emergency Management Agency. "These people know what they're doing."

Exactly who they are remains to be seen, Hall said. There are concerns this could be terrorism related, which is why it was turned over to the FBI.

The calls were made on at least one Sunday about seven weeks ago from a main phone line in the county's Department ofEnvironmental Services. But the calls weren't made directly from that phone.

Someone had actually called the department's phone number from an outside line at an unknown location, then entered into the voicemail system, which wasn't password-protected, Hall said.

From the department's voicemail system, the caller rerouted the call to two phone numbers in Somalia. All told, the unknown talker racked up more than 20 hours of conversation, resulting in a $212 bill, Hall said.

The bizarre incident was noticed by workers at AT&T, the county's phone-service provider, who immediately shut down the long-distance feature and notified the county, Hall said.

Hall contacted Huron police because the Department ofEnvironmental Services offices are in Huron, but he also called the FBI because the calls wereinternational.

Scott Wilson, spokesman for the FBI's Cleveland office, said FBI agents in Sandusky are aware of the phone calls.

"But we can't comment on anything that we're doing," Wilson said. "The county had supplied our office with some of thesenumbers."

AT&T's fraud department agreed to forgive the $212 charge,Hall said, adding he was expecting the bill to be closer to $1,000 or $1,500.

A 30-year employee with a phone company before his current job, Hall said it'll be almost impossible to trace the origin of the calls because they may have been rerouted through multiple locations before reaching the intended numbers in Somalia.

"It makes it virtually impossible to find out where it's coming from," Hall said.

"The call gets regenerated at one number, then regenerated, then regenerated again."

Most of the county's phones are password-protected, but the Department of Environmental Services' number wasn't until after the incident.
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2009/05/28/front/1373770.txt

DISTRICT ATTORNEY - NEW YORK COUNTY, Robert M. Morgenthau

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment of 18 individuals for operating an identity theft and bank fraud scheme, involving hundreds of victims, thousands of counterfeit checks and numerous commercial banks in Manhattan? The investigation leading to today's indictment revealed that the defendants obtained personal and bank account information belonging to 500 identity theft victims and used it primarily to manufacture thousands of counterfeit checks. By fraudulently cashing and depositing the counterfeit checks, the defendants stole over $1.4 million from one bank's accounts and substantial additional sums from other banks. Victims of this scam included private individuals, corporations, religious institutions, hospitals, and schools, as well as city and state government agencies

Obama: Cyber Security is a National Security Priority

President Barack Obama today pledged to make securing the nation's most vital computer networks a top economic and national security priority, broadly detailing the results of 60-day cyber security review that calls for a range of responses to help improve the security of information networks that power the government and the U.S. economy. Speaking at the White House this morning, the president said he would work to make sure the nation's core digital infrastructure is treated as a national asset? As expected, Obama said he plans to create a new office at the White House to be led by a cyber security coordinator "responsible for orchestrating and integrating all cyber security policies for the government; working closely with the Office of Management and Budget to ensure agency budgets reflect those priorities; and, in the event of major cyber incident or attack, coordinating our response." http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/05/obama_cybersecurity_is_a_natio.html

DHS distributes port and mass transit grants

The Homeland Security Department is distributing $300 million in economic stimulus law funds for port and mass transit grants for projects that include high-tech identification cards and domain-awareness solutions, officials announced.

The department is making available $150 million from the stimulus law available for the Port Security Grant Program, in addition to $389 million already allocated by Congress for fiscal 2009, Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a May 29 news release.

The port program pays for technology and equipment to protect against terrorism, including maritime domain-awareness solutions, risk-management capabilities, protections against improvised explosive devices. It also can be used to support implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, which is an identification card that contains a photo and digitized fingerprint information.

DHS in April completed a rollout of the TWIC to 1.2 million seaport workers. The department is currently testing readers to process the cards.

The department also announced $150 million in economic stimulus funds for the Transit Security Grant Program to support security solutions at mass transit stations and facilities, in addition to the $389 million already allocated by Congress for the year.

Eligible programs include support for explosive detection screening and security improvements to high-density tunnels, stations and bridges.
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2009/06/01/dhs-distributes-port-and-mass-transit-grants.aspx

Sensitive Technology Can Easily End Up In Terrorists Hands

http://www.digtriad.com/news/investigative/2wtk/article.aspx?storyid=125213&catid=19
Washington, DC -- The Government Accountability office found that companies can buy sensitive dual-use and military technology easily, and then turn around and ship the information illegally out of the country to a foreign government.

The GAO used a bogus front company and fictitious identities, then purchased items such as night-vision scopes currently used by the US military. These scopes have special technology to identify targets, detect sensors used in improvised explosive devices and have gyro chips used to help guided missiles and military aircraft.

The GAO then exported a number of dummy versions of these scopes using the mail to a country that is a known to turn around and ship items to terrorist organizations and foreign governments trying to acquire the sensitive technology.

Because of the large amount of packages sent overseas, enforcement officials say it's impossible to search every package or person leaving the US to make sure technology doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

LANGEVIN, ET AL.: Public-private collaboration

The Washington Times

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
James R. Langevin, Mark Gerencser and Charles G. Boyd

COMMENTARY:

Attacks against U.S. computer networks - most of them privately owned - are increasing in number and severity. Let's hope the new administration moves decisively to foster collaboration between the public and private sector so America can become cyberresilient.

The reasons for doing so are manifest. In 2007 alone (the last year for which records are fully tabulated), the Department of Homeland Security tracked more than 37,000 cyber-attacks - a more than 800 percent increase over 2005. The Defense Department's computers are probed hundreds of thousands of times every day, and in 2007, hackers believed to be backed by the Chinese military took down the unclassified e-mail system in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for more than a week.

Meanwhile, U.S. companies lost more than $1 trillion worth of intellectual property last year because of cyber-intrusions. The energy sector is particularly vulnerable, with global utility operations hit by an estimated 1,000 hackers annually. A major cyber-attack could result in weeks-long power outages or cause even more damage to the national economy - a prospect we can hardly afford.

In December, a cyber-attack simulation conducted by the nonpartisan Business Executives for National Security, headquartered in the District, highlighted America's vulnerability and the need for a comprehensive, national approach to cybersecurity. Over two days, more than 230 senior leaders from industry, government, Congress, academia and the military tried to respond to a simulated cyber-attack that decimated telecommunications in the Eastern United States and damaged financial institutions and other targets.

At nearly every turn, the participants encountered difficulty restoring normal operations. Their failure to plan for the attack - and the difficulty they experienced communicating with one another when the simulated attack was under way - prolonged recovery time to the point of major system failures.

The simulation revealed that while parts of the federal government and some private companies are doing a lot to strengthen their own cyberdefenses, the United States is only addressing pieces - and not the whole - of cybersecurity. This approach will fail because cybersecurity is, like a chain, only as strong as its weakest link.

Focusing cybersecurity efforts solely on one's own organization robs attention from the bigger picture. Whether they realize it or not, companies, government agencies and other organizations are part of an interconnected system that cannot absorb a major attack. Narrow-point solutions such as firewalls, anti-virus software and intrusion-detection technology help, but they don't suffice.

True protection requires cyberresilience. That can be achieved only through collective action and cooperation on a scale rarely witnessed before: a national effort involving business, government and society - similar to the way "Y2" - the apprehension about what would occur with the advent of the year 2000 - was approached, but designed for the long haul and not just one event.

No single organization has the capacity to build this resilience. We need to work as a large and inclusive community across government, industry and nonprofit organizations - a megacommunity of sorts.

Melissa Hathaway, recently named by President Obama to review the nation's cybersecurity policies, was chosen in part for her ability to foster collaboration within government to deal with cyberthreats. We hope her report urges collaboration beyond government - involving business and society as a whole - so America can become cyberresilient.

Resilience is different from risk avoidance (working to ensure nothing happens) or even risk management (choosing what to protect and what not to protect). Resilience assumes bad things will happen and requires advance planning and preparation. "We will need to end a culture where we ignore problems until they become full-blown crises," Mr. Obama said recently when discussing the economy. This is also true of cybersecurity.

A lot is at risk: financial systems, power grids, air traffic control and more. A major cyber-attack will happen, and it will affect more than we think. The question is: Will we be ready - and resilient?

Rep. James R. Langevin, Rhode Island Democrat, is co-chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency. Mark Gerencser is a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton. Charles G. Boyd is president and chief executive officer of Business Executives for National Security.

FBI Explains Its CAIR Cut Off

Bureau says CAIR is not "an appropriate liaison partner"



The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is not "an appropriate liaison partner" for the FBI because of evidence linking the organization and its founders to Hamas, an FBI assistant director said in a letter to a U.S. Senator. "In light of that evidence, the FBI suspended all formal contacts between CAIR and the FBI," Richard C. Powers, an assistant director in the FBI's office of Congressional Affairs, wrote in a letter to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Today, the FBI is unsure whether the relationship between CAIR and Hamas ever was severed, Powers wrote. In February, Kyl was joined by fellow senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) in writing FBI Director Robert Mueller to praise the FBI's policy toward CAIR. IPT News, May 7, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1029/fbi-explains-its-cair-cut-off

Call the Terrorists What They Are

The foiled plot to bomb New York synagogues, disclosed today, highlights the absurdity, and danger, of Obama's avoiding the term "Islamic radicals."

There are several lessons that the U.S. government and public should learn from the foiled plot by four radical Muslims, disclosed today, to bomb synagogues in New York and shoot down a military plane using a Stinger missile.

For President Obama, the "enemy" can no longer be limited to just al Qaeda, as he has insisted in pre- and post- campaign interviews. When asked who the enemy is, he reflexively says "al Qaeda." He has categorically refused to use the term "radical Islam" or "Islamic extremism." But that is exactly what we are facing?and have been facing for the past three decades.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-21/call-the-terrorists-what-they-are/full/

Fox News covers the Explosion on 3rd & 92nd at 3:30am NYC

NEW YORK - Windows were shattered at a Starbucks on Manhattan's Upper East Side early Monday morning.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says an explosive-like device, possibly containing fireworks, went off outside the store at 3:30 a.m.

There are no injuries. Kelly says there are no witnesses to the blast.

The NYPD bomb squad is on the scene at 1642 Third Avenue at 92nd Street.

Speaking at the scene of the explosion Monday morning, Kelly told reporters there was no call to police before the explosion. Seven calls to 911 came in immediately following the explosion.

There is a history of low-order explosions outside Starbucks stores across the country, said Kelly.

The city has experienced other early morning explosions in recent years. Small explosions occurred at the British and Mexican consulates and at a military recruiting station in Times Square.

Police Commissioner Kelly says the only similarity between Monday morning's explosion and other small blasts in New York City is the time. All have occurred between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.

Police investigators say no one was inside the shop at the time of the explosion. There is no damage inside the store.

The explosion left a gaping hole in the bench.

An apartment building above Starbucks was evacuated. Seven people were forced from their homes and returned hours later.

No one was injured in the blast.

Several lanes of Third Avenue near 92nd Street are closed due to a massive police investigation. Expect bus diversions in the area of the explosion. The M 98, M 101, M 102 and M 103 bues are re-reouted.

FBI Makes Arrest

Four men accused in an alleged terror plot to bomb a Jewish center and synagogue in Riverdale, Bronx could face life in prison, as they are arraigned in federal court later today.

Will Marketing Kill Social Media?

Anyone reading this post is likely to be someone who spends some, if not all, of his or her time at work trying to make use of social media to market products & brands. We spend hours trying to maximize the benefit for our employers or clients from sites such as Facebook, YouTube & Twitter as well as the millions of blogs that litter the web. And yet I?ve started to wonder whether these very activities might not result in exactly the opposite result to the one we?re hoping for.
http://searchengineland.com/will-marketing-kill-social-media-18940

US 'should go on cyber-offensive'

"I recommend that we make our botnet - the botnet I propose - public. The whole world knows about it. That we exercise it on ranges that other countries can see electronically, that they know what we're doing and then they are going to be more likely to back off before doing an attack because they have to take this into account," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8026964.stm

BIRTH-CERTIFICATE TERROR ALARM

By LARRY CELONA and ANDY GELLER

April 25, 2009 --

A stack of blank birth certificates has been stolen from the city Health Department's offices, leading investigators to worry that they may have fallen into the hands of terrorists, The Post has learned.

On March 12, an employee discovered that 104 certificates with the agency's stamp on them were missing from the department's offices at 125 Worth St., near City Hall, sources said.

It was the first time in 10 years that blank birth certificates were stolen from the department.

The NYPD and the city's Department of Investigation are investigating.

"It's like hitting the Lotto for a terrorist," one investigator said.

"Forged documents are one of the primary concerns of Homeland Security. After you get that birth certificate, you can get any document you want. This is extremely serious."

The missing documents were in a box of blank certificates that was stacked on other similar boxes.

The employee noticed they were missing because there was a break in the numbers on the certificates.

Investigators believe the theft was carried out by someone who has access to the offices, probably an employee.

larry.celona@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/04252009/news/regionalnews/birth_certificate_terror_alarm_166135.htm

New legislation targets organized shoplifting

The state is losing more than $32 million a year in sales tax because of the rise in organized shoplifters who swipe large quantities of merchandise to resell, retailers told a state Senate committee Wednesday.

The Public Safety and Human Services Committee heard a presentation from retailers, police and prosecutors hoping to encourage the passage of a Senate Bill 1059, which would make organized retail theft a separate criminal charge and a Class 4 felony.

Under current state laws, a shoplifter can be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the value of the goods, and be punished by up to two years in prison. Under the bill, organized retail theft - defined as shoplifting with the intent to resell or trade the merchandise - would be a felony, regardless of the value of the stolen goods. It would be punishable by up to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Committee chairwoman Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, who sponsored the bill, said the legislation will be among the first to go through committee for a vote after the budget is completed. "I think (the response) will be good," she said. "It affects all of us. Those are prices we're absorbing."

The bill would bring Arizona on par with 35 other states that have either enacted legislation or have introduced bills to combat organized retail theft, according to Michelle Ahlmer, president of the Arizona Retail Association. The bill comes at the recommendation of a task force commissioned during the 2007 session to look into the growing trend.

The two-page report also recommended more education and training for officers and a full-time law-enforcement task force that would work with retailers to combat the crime full time.

Retailers insist they're doing their part to work with law enforcement to battle the growing trend by sharing information about suspects and trends and protecting their merchandise.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/04/30/20090430politics-shoplifting0430.html

Cybersecurity Review Sets Turf Battle

>>>>>Congress is moving ahead on cybersecurity. On Thursday, the chairmen of the House and Senate homeland security committees introduced legislation to require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set cybersecurity standards for power companies and to allow it to issue emergency orders if a cyber threat is imminent.

That measure followed two others introduced earlier this week on the electric grid and a proposed White House cybersecurity office. Cybersecurity experts say they expect some version of these or related bills to become law.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113159891774733.html

Low-flying Air Force One lookalike freaks out NYC

Posted By admin On April 27, 2009

Raw Story ^[2]
Monday, April 27, 2009

A number of buildings in New York City were evacuated Monday morning after a trio of low-flying planes flew near the Statue of Liberty.

“An Air Force One lookalike, the backup plane for the one regularly used by the president, flew low over Manhattan on Monday morning, accompanied by two F-16 fighters, so Air Force photographers could take pictures,” the New York Times reports ^[3]. “But a lack of awareness about the flyover led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, N.J., and perplexed officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other authorities were inundated with calls from anxious ferry passengers, office workers and residents in the area.”

“It is pre-planned, pre-coordinated with everyone involved,” FAA spokesman Jim Peters said ^[1]. “It’s a military flight over New York to take photos.”

Peters added, “We’ve gotten reports several buildings in Jersey City were evacuated.”

One eyewitness told the New York Times, “People came pouring out of the buildings, the American Express Building, all the buildings in the Financial District by the water. And even the construction guys over by 100 North End Avenue area, they all got out of their buildings. Nobody knew about it. Finally some guy showed up with a little megaphone to tell everyone it was a test, but the people were not happy. The people who were here 9/11 were not happy. New York City police were standing right there and they had no knowledge of it. The evacuations were spontaneous. Guys from the floor came out, and one guy I talked to was just shaking.”

One NYC television station received a number of phone calls from New York City residents “furious that local authorities hadn’t notified anyone about the fly-over.”

“According to many callers who flooded CBS 2 with their concerns, at about 10 a.m. the aircraft were seen flying at low altitudes over the Statue of Liberty and parts of lower Manhattan,” WCBS reports ^[5].

One sample follows: “We saw a low-flying 747 buzz the Southwest edge of Manhattan, at Battery Park City, with a fighter jet appearing to chase it on its left wing. At about Rector Street or so, it took a hard left and looked to be headed straight for Jersey City. It flew over J.C., turned south, and continued to climb over Newark. It left our sight, only to return on the same path a second time about five minutes later. It was confusing and panicked the office. We dialed 9-1-1 and considered whether to evacuate. We were told by 9-1-1 that it was ‘authorized’ to be there. We later learned, from your website, that it was part of a DOD ‘photo op.’ NotifyNYC advises it was ‘part of an approved federal activity.’ To conduct a ‘photo op,’ unwarned in advance to Lower Manhattan residents and workers, in that manner was completely irresponsible.”

Newsday notes ^[6], “About 1,000 workers gathered along the Hudson River esplanade until a security officer with a bullhorn told them it was a planned exercise.”

“After the incident, New York City released an advisory that the flyover was ‘part of an approved federal activity,’” Reuters reports ^[7].

Data Security Breaches Present Emerging Risks, Opportunities for Agents

By Patricia-Anne Tom
April 27, 2009
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2009/04/27/99922.htm

Excerpts from the news article

Data security represents both a new market opportunity to sell insurance coverage and a new risk ? especially for independent insurance agencies that may not be compliant with data security laws or have plans in place to protect their own companies from data breaches.

While data security is an evolving issue, failing to protect data can have a huge financial impact on a company. The average total per-incident cost of a data security breach was $6.65 million, compared to an average per-incident cost of $6.3 million in 2007, according to the "U.S. Cost of Data Breach Study" conducted by data protection company PGP Corp. and information management research firm The Ponemon Institute.

The PGP/Ponemon study indicated that data breach incidents cost U.S. companies $202 per compromised customer record in 2008, meaning that companies incur additional costs with an abnormal churn in lost customers. More than 84 percent of data breach cases in 2008 involved organizations that had more than one data breach. And, more than 88 percent of all cases in the study involved insider negligence.

The cost of lost business continued to be the most costly effect of a breach, averaging $4.59 million or $139 per record compromised. Lost business now accounts for 69 percent of data breach costs, up from 65 percent in 2007, compared to 54 percent in the 2006 study.

"After four years of conducting this study, one thing remains constant: U.S. businesses continue to pay dearly for having a data breach," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. "As costs only continue to rise, companies must remain on guard or face losing valuable customers in this unpredictable economy."

>>>>Nevertheless, it's important for business owners to get up to speed about how to handle a breach. "If a breach occurs, the ability to respond must be timely," said Shena Crowe, Infragard Coordinator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Companies only have about 30 days or less."

>>>>>Of course, that means agents and brokers must educate themselves. "Our major challenge as an industry right now is educating agents and brokers as to what kind of questions they need to ask their insureds, to get their arms around what kind of information their clients have," Katona said.

Among questions to consider are:

* Does the client transacts business over the Internet?
* Does the client move information to another party over the Internet?
* What are the underpinnings of the client's technology?
* Does the data environment have a firewall?
* What processes and procedures are in place for things like encryption?
* What processes and procedures are in place for people accessing company computers?

"Spend time to manuscript coverage to match the client's exposure," Cisco Systems' Lamb said.

Above all, agents and brokers should take steps to ensure they're covered themselves.

"Insurance agents and brokers, obviously, capture a lot of information to write coverage for their insureds," Katona said. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires companies to have certain security measures in place. For smaller agencies, absorbing the costs of securing doors or having password protection and certain security measures in place can be difficult. But "98 percent of the agents we deal with are not Gramm-Leach compliant," Katona said. "As a group of insurance agents and brokers, we have a responsibility to protect that data."