Site Map - Physical Security

11/13/2007 - 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.

11/13/2007 - Survey respondents cite problems with container tracking, such as a lack of standards.

11/08/2007 - Radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies are evolving to meet a growing list of applications that range from tagging livestock to tracking pharmaceuticals to securing shipping containers. To understand the many aspects of RFID technologies, security professionals can turn to Radio Frequency Identification Technologies: A Workshop Summary. This 39-page document, from The National Academies Press, provides an overview of RFID technologies and applications, and it outlines common objections, such as privacy concerns, and responses--including strikes, boycotts, and protests against businesses such as Benetton that have decided to implement RFID. The book was written after a workshop held by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, which brought together industry, academic, government, and other organizations to explore RFID and the technological, social, and policy issues surrounding it. @ Read the book online or purchase PDF copies of it via SM Online.

11/08/2007 - One manager shares the lessons learned in leading personnel into Iraq to help rebuild the country's infrastructure.

11/07/2007 - A federal appeals court has ruled that an off-duty crew member of a cruise line was acting within his scope of employment when he raped a passenger who had gone ashore. The court also determined that the cruise line,as a common carrier, is liable for crew member assaults on passengers. (Jane Doe v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 03-15321, 2004)

11/07/2007 - Everyone agrees that certain sectors of society—energy, telecommunications, water supply—are critical infrastructures. But what about monuments and icons? Key industry buildings? Sports stadiums and other large gathering places? More and more sectors are being included under the rubric of critical infrastructure, according to a review of presidential orders and directives, federal statutes, and government reports. The various documents mentioned here are on SM Online.

11/06/2007 - One possible step on the road to converging the physical and IT security functions within an organization is investing in smart cards to secure physical access to a facility as well as logical access to critical systems. But is there a good return on investment (ROI) to do so? There is, according to The ROI Case for Secure Access, which reports the findings of a 53-company survey from IT research firm Datamonitor. The report estimates an annual savings of close to $2.5 million for an enterprise with 2,000 employees (of course thats not including the cost to deploy smart cards in the first place). Savings are realized by, for example, managing PKI certificates through the cards, cutting the number of password-related IT queries, and saving time via faster access to facilities.  @    The full Datamonitor report is accessible at no charge through SM Online.

11/06/2007 - One possible step on the road to converging the physical and IT security functions within an organization is investing in smart cards to secure physical access to a facility as well as logical access to critical systems. But is there a good return on investment (ROI) to do so? There is, according to The ROI Case for Secure Access, which reports the findings of a 53-company survey from IT research firm Datamonitor. The report estimates an annual savings of close to $2.5 million for an enterprise with 2,000 employees (of course thats not including the cost to deploy smart cards in the first place). Savings are realized by, for example, managing PKI certificates through the cards, cutting the number of password-related IT queries, and saving time via faster access to facilities.@ The full Datamonitor report is accessible at no charge through www.securitymanagement.com

11/06/2007 - A bill (S. 376) introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) would require that the government develop a system to increase the number of shipping containers physically inspected, monitored, and tracked within the United States. The bill would require that at least 50 percent of all ocean-borne shipping containers be inspected by 2007.

11/06/2007 - Nonlethal weapons have been under the microscope since a woman was shot in the eye and killed by a pepper-spray-filled ball after the Boston Red Sox clinched the American League pennant last year. And the once-high-flying stock of Taser International plummeted back to earth at the beginning of this year when it announced that it had received an informal inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission about the safety of its products, which helped trigger a spate of lawsuits. The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, an independent research body, has now released a paper concluding that “when stun technology is appropriately applied, it is relatively safe and clearly effective.” Examining the 72 cases identified by Amnesty International in which stun weapons have been associated with deaths, the authors found that “the probability of death after stun device administration to the body is from one in a thousand to one in one hundred thousand.” The report also notes that there is no federal regulatory oversight of nonlethal stun weapons, with the result that there are no widely accepted engineering standards for these weapons. The Potomac Institute, whose paper can be found via SM Online, calls for “industry-driven, government-endorsed standards.”

11/02/2007 - Incorporating more security into New York's Freedom Tower.

11/01/2007 - How one company built in security features when its headquarters was redesigned.

10/31/2007 - At first glance it may seem odd that this month’s “Worth a Look”  item is not a computer accessory or high-tech gadget, but rather a jacket. But it’s no ordinary jacket; it’s made to meet all the needs of cybersavvy travelers as well as physical security professionals who need a way to stow all their gear, from PDAs and cell phones to anything else that needs to be holstered.