NEWS

Morning Security Brief: Mobile Security, Big Brother Chicago, DIY Militias, and More

By Carlton Purvis
06/15/2011 -

 

►The corporate workplace is quickly warming up to mobile devices to assist in every day tasks, but mobile security is the hard part. Network World reports that one of the main threats to security on corporate mobile devices is downloading apps with embedded viruses. “It’s a struggle with a technology created for individual use that’s ended up being an important tool for the workplace,” Tim Mathias, senior director of IT Security at Thomson Reuters told Network World. The article looks at how mobile devices are being used in the corporate workplace and the steps companies are taking to secure them. 

►The city of Chicago will be adding to its extensive array of surveillance cameras, which includes 3,300 on government buildings and a total of more than 10,000 overall on potential terrorist targets around the city, according to ABC. "The ACLU argued that cameras 'invade the freedom to be anonymous in public places' and that the millions of dollars spent on cameras would have been better spent hiring more police officers to ease a severe manpower shortage," reports the Chicago Sun Times. The new buildings being included are the Board of Trade, the Federal Reserve, and the AT&T Switching Center. The city’s total of 10,000 surveillance cameras is the largest in the nation. 
 
►A piece from Wired examines the phenomenon of DIY militias in international conflict zones with a profile of the residents of a small village in the Central African Republic. The village assembled its own scout force after repeat attacks from Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. Using homemade shotguns and radio transmitters, the militia has held off major attacks from the LRA for three years. “The implications of Obo’s self-defense efforts are huge for vulnerable communities across Africa,” David Axe of Wired writes. 
 
►The United Kingdom’s National Health Service is searching for 12 laptops stolen from a research facility in London. The unencrypted laptop contains sensitive records of 8.6 million people including details of mental illness and abortions, The Sun reports. “This laptop would be a devastating tool in the hand of a blackmailer,” it quotes an unnamed source as saying. Eight additional laptops that were also missing have been recovered. 

►The Pakistan Defence Network published photos showing China’s latest homeland security technology prototypes including a helicopter drone, new nuclear, biological, chemical technology, and riot response gear; And The New York Times reports that Pakistan has arrested the CIA informants who tipped off the U.S. on Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts. 

 

 

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