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"Policies Address Domestic Violence"
Domestic violence has the potential to become workplace violence if angry ex-spouses or paramours begin stalking their exes while they are at work. Current or former husbands and boyfriends have killed 10 women at work in the state of Oregon during the past seven years. Jane Randal, vice president for corporate communications at New York-based Liz Claiborne, recalls an incident involving a Liz Claiborne employee in Pennsylvania that could have turned tragic. In that incident, security guards stopped the estranged husband of an employee from confronting the employee at work. The angry man was carrying a gun and had threatened the employee in the past. The security guards stopped the man because they knew that a court order barred him from contacting the employee; after leaving the Liz Claiborne site, the man was arrested during a standoff with police. Randal says that domestic violence adversely impacts a company's productivity through absenteeism and increased health care costs, part of the reason that Liz Claiborne decided to implement a family violence policy in 1992. Companies committed to ending domestic violence can help in any number of ways, including by changing employees phone numbers or moving their desks, by providing employees with security guard escorts, and by placing posters in the workplace that provide hotline numbers and other information about domestic violence programs.
www.bendbulletin.com
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"Software Gives Cell Customers Say Over Who's Tracking Them"
Bell Labs researchers will detail a network software engine that allows cell phone users to pick and choose when, where, and with whom to share location data, as well as what specific data should be shared, at this week's 2004 IEEE International Conference on Mobile Data Management. This personalized location information sharing can be achieved without overtaxing the network's computing power by utilizing a "rules-driven" programming strategy, the researchers claim. The breakthrough could be an important step toward the introduction of wireless "location-based services" that customers will appreciate for their convenience and non-intrusiveness. Examples of such services include restaurants and other businesses sending text messages to cell phones when users come into close proximity, or customer and co-worker location. Most cell phone owners, however, do not like the idea of their movements being monitored 24/7, which is what makes personalization so desirable. The flexibility offered by such personalization is highly sought after by wireless companies that wish to service numerous customers on a single network. Bell Labs declares that negotiations are underway with wireless operators to test the technology, which could be ready for the commercial market by 2005.
www.seattletimes.com
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"Perdue Highlights Homeland Security Programs"
The federal Department of Homeland Security provided funding for several homeland security initiatives in the state of Georgia during 2003. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue stopped in several parts of the state on Wednesday to highlight those initiatives. The funding allowed the state to purchase protective gear for first responders in Calhoun and a decontamination tent in Paulding County. In Savannah and Thomasville, the state formed Georgia Bureau of Investigation bomb teams equipped with bomb-disabling robots. The Homeland Security Department provided Georgia with $106 million in funding during 2002 and 2003.
www.accessnorthga.com
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Data sharing by federal employees complicates security
The government faces difficulties establishing certain security measures as federal employees increasingly use the Internet to exchange information, according to a government report released last week. The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said security assurances beyond passwords are needed to protect sensitive, financial and personal data transferred via the Internet during communication and transactions among government employees and business partners and the federal government. The survey?requested by the House Government Reform Committee in September 2002 to get a clearer picture of the status of security measures?outlined several obstacles faced by the agencies in employing the necessary hardware, software, policies and people.
www.govexec.com
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Weapons and methods of terrorism
From the ever-increasing insurgency attacks in Iraq - following the US-led military action to effect regime change - to actions by Al-Qaeda in the Far East, Africa, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the chosen weapons and methods of the main terrorist groups in 2003 have been conventional explosives carried and detonated by suicide bombers. The past year saw an increase in frequency and intensification of this deadly form of terrorist attack. Suicide bombers have largely replaced the sophisticated timing methods originally employed by older insurgency groups such as the IRA.
jtsm.janes.com
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"Dealing With the Darker Side"
Plans by Benetton and Wal-Mart to monitor inventory with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags were met with strong protest by privacy advocates worried that the technology could be abused by criminals and the government by keeping track of product purchases without consumers' awareness. Such issues must be resolved before RFID technology can widely proliferate. Privacy proponents have voiced concerns that RFID tags attached to items bought with credit or debit cards would connect purchasers to store or card databases that marketers could exploit; another worry is that RFID technology will automatically generate an audit trail of commercial transactions that employers could use to keep tabs on workers and their activities, while courts could regard the logs of RFID tag readers as evidence. The industrial workforce could also oppose RFID tagging, given the potential of RFID tools to render many jobs obsolete. So that RFID may not be used for surveillance purposes, it is suggested that a kill switch be built into each tag attached to a consumer product, so that the device can be deactivated after purchase. Commentator Declan McCullagh thinks RFID tags used on consumer products should fulfill four criteria: Purchasers must be notified of the tags' presence; all tags should be visible and easily removed; they must be deactivated by default at checkout; and they should be attached to the item's packaging rather than the item itself.
www.sciam.com
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"Robbery Reduction: When Developing a Security Program, Don't Forget Robberies"
Convenience stores, gas stations, and other businesses can reduce incidents of shoplifting and employee theft, and even protect against robberies, by installing security systems. Statistics show that robberies of convenience stores and gas stations are on the rise over the past five years. Some industry observers, including Rosemary J. Erickson, president of the Athena Research Corporation, believe that companies are skimping on the basics of security--lighting, cash control, visibility, and posting signs about cashier training and cash control. Erickson says that the introduction of security cameras sometimes results in employees being less attentive and alert to theft or robbery because they become overly dependent on security cameras to do that for them. Armed Robbery Training Associates CEO John D. Moore, an expert on robbery prevention, advises companies to conduct a risk assessment that emphasizes violent robberies before incidents such as shoplifting. Following the risk assessment, companies then need to conduct a security survey that focuses concentrically on the area and environment surrounding the site of the business. The environmental design of a site can help prevent crime, says Moore, noting that the location of buildings, keeping stores well lit and windows clear, and minimizing visual obstructions in the areas surrounding the site can help reduce the chance of robbery. Erickson says that when robbers case an establishment, their top focus is the escape route; companies can discourage robberies by keeping this in mind and deploying security fencing, fixing holes in fences, planting shrubbery, and installing lighting.
www.petroretail.net
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Homeland security seen spurring biometrics
A new government policy requiring the fingerprinting of foreign visitors has ignited howls of outrage in many parts of the world, but for the U.S. biometrics industry, it represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. Later this month, technology companies are expected to bid for a huge contract to build a biometrics identification system for America?s embassies and consulates abroad so that travelers can be screened before they reach the U.S. borders. Biometrics-identification companies ? after toiling for years in relative obscurity ? are reporting a growing interest in their products, which typically use details of an individual?s unique physical features ? facial, eye or fingerprint patterns ? to substantiate their identity. The catalyst, executives say, is government spending on homeland security in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The latest project is the U.S.-Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, or U.S.-VISIT, which went into effect on Jan. 5.
www.msnbc.com
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"Intellectual Property Protection Is Critical to Combating Counterfeiting in a Global Marketplace"
Since many patents, trademarks, and copyrights protect intangible ideas, notions, processes, and other items from theft, many critics of the patent system are concerned that the global nature of the marketplace and the ease of Internet use will make it more difficult to protect those assets. Businesses adhere to the notion of free competition and innovative idea development, but critics contend that the extensive use of patents and other protections has limited competition in the marketplace so much that innovation has been stifled. Meanwhile, the U.S. government and several other countries have passed laws to protect patent, trademark, and copyright holders. The Lanham Act, for example, provides victims with damages and reasonable attorneys' fees, and prevents offending companies from moving or continuing the operations to manufacture counterfeit goods. Other legal remedies set forth prison sentences and fines in relation to intellectual property infringements. Foreign treaties have also extended protections for patent holders beyond U.S. borders, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the Paris Convention. Legal experts note that these laws have set forth protections for not only companies' brands and bottom lines, but also for the protection and safety of consumers purchasing goods on the open marketplace.
www.corpcounsel.com
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"Seeds of Destruction"
Some computer security specialists believe effective deterrents against viruses and worms could be developed by studying outbreaks of agricultural epidemics, which have significant parallels. The spread of worms such as MSBlast shares similarities to the Dutch Elm blight, which was a foreign species introduced into an environment that had no defense against it; "People have brought over species that we didn't expect here, just like people have created viruses that Microsoft didn't expect to deal with," notes Jeff Dukes of the University of Massachusetts. The wide vulnerability of computers and networks to malware is attributed to a technological monoculture, in much the same way that ecological monocultures such as the Irish poor's dependence on one species of potato in the early 19th century led to devastating famines. An October report by major security experts warns that overreliance on Microsoft technology has created a computing and Internet monoculture; one of the report's authors, InternetPerils President John Quarterman, wrote that nearly all of the most recent cyberattacks targeted monoculture applications. Just as farmers are recommended to diversify their plantings to avoid famines, computer researchers urge developers to diversify programs so that they are less susceptible to viruses. The October report suggests that the current software environment would be much more secure by introducing non-Windows products made by companies other than Microsoft. An even more critical monoculture than Microsoft technology could be the Internet routing infrastructure's heavy dependence on the Simple Network Management Protocol. Securing technology through diversification is even more essential these days, what with the U.S. economy's growing reliance on computers.
news.com.com
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