Even four years after the anthrax attacks, the public doesn’t have a good sense of the types, symptoms, treatment, and lethality of biological agents. The National Academies and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have released a fact sheet that includes a grid depicting the characteristics of various agents. For example, tularemia has a typical incubation period of three to six days; is characterized by fever, cough, pneumonia, and headache; is not contagious; is moderately lethal if not treated; lasts for months in moist soil; lacks an up-to-date vaccine; and can be treated by antibiotics
“Coordinated Terrorist Attacks: Implications for Local Responders,” an article in a recent FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, explores these types of attacks and provides advice for first responders. The prospect of coordinated attacks makes it advisable for responders to decentralize equipment and personnel, say authors Brian K. Houghton and Jonathan M. Schacter. Further, responders should avoid deploying all their resources after an attack, lest they be targeted by a secondary attack or be needed elsewhere. Responders should also anticipate being attacked, say the authors, and work with law enforcement to establish a secure perimeter far from the site of the first attack, to sweep for secondary devices, and to monitor bystanders who may be witnesses or terrorists themselves.
The oft-quoted Sun Tzu urged warriors to know their enemy. “Soldiers” in the war on terrorism would thus do well to get into the minds of Islamic terrorists. To that end, the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, has issued Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, which pulls together the thoughts of various Islamist leaders and groups. For instance, the war in Iraq has melded together elements of Islamist ideology, including anti-Americanism, the excommunication of Muslims perceived to be collaborating with the United States, the view of the Iraq war as a “return home” for Muslim fighters after years in exile, and the transformation of ummah—the brotherhood of Muslim believers—into a political and strategic unit. Other chapters explore the ideologies of South Asian jihadi groups, radical Islamist ideologies in Southeast Asia, the penetration of Islamist ideology in Britain, the beliefs of Al-Jama’ah Al-Islamiya, and more.
At a recent hearing on identity theft, data brokers argued that only limited measures were needed to protect consumers from identity theft, while consumer advocates and identity theft victims disagreed and laid out steps Congress should take. Representatives from companies such as ChoicePoint, Acxiom Corporation, and LexisNexis shared their stories of data breaches and the theft of information from their computer systems.
Lawmakers and witnesses recently discussed port security issues at a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The key issue raised at the hearing was grant funding for the various federal programs enacted after 9-11.
I.D. Checking Guide: United States & Canada Edition and I.D. Checking Guide: International Edition depict driver’s licenses from all over the United States and the world. Most states are in the process of updating their licenses and have two or three styles of valid licenses. The guide depicts each license design that is valid this year. The cost of the U.S./Canada edition ranges from about $13 to $23, depending on the number of copies purchased. The international title ranges from about $22 to $35. @ For more information, go to SM Online.
An Oregon appeals court has ruled that the police search of a citizen’s home in response to a false burglar alarm was illegal.State of Oregon v. Damon Lamon Stoudamire, Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon, No. CR02-0915, 2005)
An Ohio appeals court has ruled in favor of a preliminary injunction barring an employee from using his former employer’s information in his new job. However, the court ruled that some of the information taken by the employee could not be included in the injunction because the company failed to take sufficient steps to protect it. (Liebert Corporation v. John Mazur, Ohio Court of Appeals, No. 1-04-2794, 2005)
A bill (H.R. 285) that would establish a national cybersecurity response team to analyze threat information and provide early warning of attacks on the cybersecurity infrastructure has been approved by the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity. The bill must now be considered by the full committee.
A bill (S. 494) that would protect federal employees who disclose information about government wrongdoing has been approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
A measure (A.B. 6204)under consideration in the New York Assembly would require that private hospital security officers receive 40 hours of comprehensive training in fire prevention, basic criminal law, first aid, and use of restraint. The bill would require that the state develop the training program.
A bill (S.B. 682)introduced in the California Senate would prohibit state agencies from including RFID tags in identity documents—such as driver’s licenses, student identification badges, and medical cards. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joe Simitian (D), indicated in the text of the bill that RFID technology would allow data to be scanned secretly or remotely and, therefore, would greatly magnify the “potential risk to individual privacy, safety, and economic well-being.”
A Washington appeals court has ruled that a bus surveillance tape recorded by a public school cannot be released to the parents of one of the bus riders. In the case, the parents argued that the school was required to turn over the tape—showing their child being hit by another student—under the state’s public disclosure law. The law requires that the state turn over public records unless the release is specifically exempt from the law. The school argued that records relating to disciplinary issues are exempt from the law. The court agreed. (Lindeman v. Kelso School District No. 458, Washington Court of Appeals, No. 31825-3-II, 2005)
The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that a McDonald’s employee, Susan Rizzitiello, cannot sue the company for wrongful termination. Rizzitiello was suspended pending an investigation of inventory issues. However, Rizzitiello resigned her employment and filed a lawsuit. The court ruled that Rizzitiello could not claim wrongful termination if she was not terminated. Also, the court determined that a suspension to conduct a workplace investigation could not be considered grounds for a constructive discharge—a situation in which working conditions are so poor that the employee has no choice but to resign. (Susan Rizzitiello v. McDonald’s Corporation, Supreme Court of the State of Delaware, No. 93-2004, 2005)
A study based on interviews with insiders who had been apprehended after attacks on company networks found that systems were vulnerable to the simplest exploits. The study is called Insider Threat Study: Computer System Sabotage in Critical Infrastructure Sectors.
Government agencies are not taking the proper procedures to ensure that wireless networks are secure, leaving their networks susceptible to attack. That is the alarming conclusion of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of security controls at 24 agencies and assessments of wireless security at six federal agencies in the nation’s capital.Information Security: Federal Agencies Need to Improve Controls over Wireless Networks is on SM Online.
In a new paper, the Business Software Alliance calls on lawmakers to take five steps to deter cybercrime: Ratify the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime; improve cross-jurisdictional cooperation to make investigating cyberattacks in other countries easier; ensure that law enforcement has the proper tools and training to fight online lawlessness; create a presidential commission on organized cybercrime and identity theft that will make recommendations for raising awareness of, and fighting, these problems; and increase enforcement by setting up an inter-agency organized task force to fight phishing, spam, spyware, and other online threats.@ Securing Cyberspace in the 21st Century is available via SM Online.
A quarter of companies surveyed have fired workers for misusing the Internet or e-mail, according to the 2005 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey, cosponsored by the American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute. The survey of 526 U.S. companies also revealed that 51 percent use video monitoring to counter theft, violence, and sabotage (up from 33 percent in 2001), while 85 percent of those who videotape employees notify those employees of the practice. @An executive summary of the surveyis at SM Online.
Governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) have become buzzwords since the passage of legislation like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. But what exactly do they mean? And how should companies promote their effective use? A white paper from The Compliance Consortium, a year-old international group working to create GRC best practices, answers these questions. In the paper the group defines seven operational concerns, from establishing policies, procedures, and controls to implementing continuing process improvement. It also provides a dozen questions for board members and senior managers to consider.@ Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance: An Operational Approach is at SM Online.
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