BioShield is a U.S. government initiative that finances the stockpiling of drugs and vaccines against bioterror agents. A survey of 30 experts in biomedical research or drug and vaccine development, however, indicates that BioShield doesn't do enough to engage the private sector.
Does the free market work when it comes to private-sector homeland security? That's the question put on the table in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The report does not answer the question but lays out the reasons why business might not at first provide adequate security and the ways in which the government might induce better behavior.
If, as the saying goes, a camel is a horse designed by committee, then the only question unresolved by critics of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is whether the agency has one hump or two. But it's not too late to reengineer this domestic dromedary, according to a new paper by the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Forget the Mayberry stereotype. The latest data show that the percentage of students at rural schools that reported being bullied in 2003 (10 percent) was greater than at urban and suburban schools (seven percent each). And that difference has doubled since 1999, according to the 2004 edition of Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a publication of the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Los Alamos National Laboratory has rolled out the Journal of Physical Security, a scholarly, peer-reviewed publication that publishes articles which "use the scientific method or other rigorous approaches to understanding, modeling, developing, testing, or evaluating any aspect of physical security." The inaugural issue offers five papers. Electronic subscriptions are free. SM Online has more information on subscribing.
UPDATE: The Journal of Physical Security is now published by Argonne National Laboratory.
The New York high court has ruled that an employer who has provided adequate safety devices cannot be sued by an employee who failed to make use of these devices. (Cahill v. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, New York Court of Appeals, No. 174, 2004)
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has issued guidelines for employers in the food service industry. The guidelines discuss the basic rights of employees in this job sector and offer examples for business owners in how they should handle disabled employees.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has announced plans to reintroduce identity theft legislation. Feinstein, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, introduced similar legislation in the previous Congress which was approved by the Senate but was not taken up by the House. The legislation would prohibit the sale or display of Social Security numbers to the general public, set national standards for database security, and establish guidelines for companies that send customer information overseas for processing.
A bill (H.B. 1086) currently pending in the North Dakota Assembly would allow private security personnel to carry firearms while on duty in a gaming establishment or a business that sells liquor. Under current state law, private security personnel are not allowed to carry firearms while working in such businesses.
Lawmakers in Maine have enacted a new law (formerly H.B. 735) governing investigators from other states. The new law will allow investigators from other states to act legally in Maine without obtaining a Maine license, but only in certain circumstances.
The California Court of Appeal has ruled that it is illegal for an employer to fire an employee on suspicion that the worker might report safety violations to state agencies. In the case, another employee had already been fired after reporting such violations. During the plaintiff's termination, the employer said "I am afraid that you will be the next one to report me." The plaintiff filed suit and won. The court noted that taking action against an employee in anticipation of a complaint is no less retaliatory than action taken after the complaint has been made. (Lujan v. Minagar, California Court of Appeal, No. B170438, 2004)
A jury in a federal district court has awarded a former Federal Express employee $1.57 million in a workplace discrimination case. The jury found Federal Express liable for retaliation against and termination of Ted Maines, a company manager. Maines, who is white, attempted to promote an African-American employee and a Hispanic employee--both longtime Federal Express workers. Senior managers not only rejected Maines' suggestions, they promoted another person--a white female--instead. When Maines complained that he felt the move to be discriminatory, he was demoted five pay grades and was warned that he faced immediate termination for any other "mistake." (EEOC v. Federal Express, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 6:02-CV-1112-ORL-28DAB, 2004)
If you had no problem understanding that headline (it decodes as "see you later, dude"), you're one of those initiated into the world of instant messaging (IM). And you're a potential source of threats to the corporate network if you use IM at work. But IT personnel now have some new resources to help mitigate threats to the network created by IM or peer-to-peer (P2P) communications. One is a Web site of current threat and vulnerability information sponsored by FaceTime Communications, a provider of tools that secure IM and P2P networks. The information on the Web site comes from the FaceTime Instant Response Security Team (FIRST), which is a group of security pros dedicated to collecting information on new threats and vulnerabilities and then finding ways to mitigate these. Another resource is the IMLogic Threat Center, created by IMLogic, which makes software products that help enterprises manage corporate IM usage. Like FIRST, the Threat Center offers a knowledge base of IM and P2P viruses and worms, and has partnerships with IM vendors and antivirus companies. Much of this knowledge base comes from a honeypot infrastructure designed to catch IM and P2P threats.
The verb "hack" did not start out as a pejorative. In its original sense, it simply meant pushing a piece of hardware or software beyond its intended capabilities, to make it do something it was not designed to do.A personal blog by Ed Felten, a Princeton University computer science professor, called Freedom to Tinker, explores this controversial intersection in regular missives ranging from the use of P2P to what he terms "the weird Orwellian language" of digital-rights-management vendors. Felten's blog is this month's A Site to See.
More than 635,000 complaints were made in 2004 to Consumer Sentinel, a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint database. Of these, 61 percent represented fraud, and the remainder identity theft. The report, National and State Trends in Fraud & Identity Theft, breaks down complaints by state. Consumer Sentinel receives contributions from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, attorneys general offices, and other sources such as Better Business Bureaus. @ Link to the Consumer Sentinel report via SM Online.
A recent report from the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science, and Research & Development of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security has proposed six recommendations for consideration by the Department of Homeland Security. These include the creation of an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security in the department; and the development of a program and budget that will help the nation reach the goals of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. @ Cybersecurity for the Homeland is available at SM Online.
The financial services industry in Chicago is collaborating with city, state, and federal officials to create a regional group that will work together on disaster recovery plans. The initiative, which others can use as a model, is described in a new report by the U.S. Department of Treasury: Improving Business Continuity in the Financial Services Sector: A Model for Starting Regional Coalitions. @ Visit SM Online for the full report.
With identity theft costing Americans billions of dollars each year, financial institutions are under pressure to make account information more secure. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has issued a study of ID theft and account hijacking in which it outlines technological tools and other recommendations designed to mitigate this threat. @ Putting an End to Account-Hijacking Identity Theft .
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