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San Francisco To Test Drinking Water Security System
Improving the security of U.S. drinking water systems has gathered urgency since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced an $8 million grant to San Francisco to help the city develop and evaluate a contamination warning system for its drinking water supply....
User Access A Common Concern In Health Care
During the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) 2008 conference in February, 64 percent of those who took part in a survey said compliance and user access control were their top security concern....
2008 ASIS Conference Brings Specialized Sessions To Attendees
ASIS International 2008 will offer several sessions related to convergence....
Unexpected Crises Spark Opening Of Training Facility
ESi, Augusta, Ga., a provider of crisis information management solutions launched ESi University, a training center for emergency management professionals....
AirDefense Conducts Comprehensive Study Of Wireless Security
AirDefense, a company in the wireless LAN security market, has unveiled results from its comprehensive study of the wireless airwaves at hundreds of Las Vegas retailers and hotels/casinos....
Health Care Benchmarking Study Points To Areas For Improvement
GE Security Inc., Bradenton, Fla., has announced the results of its Health care Benchmarking Study, the first survey to assess security in the nation’s hospitals in nearly a decade....
Cyber Defence: National Security In A Borderless World
Are you working in an environment where the disclosure of sensitive and classified information could be life-threatening? If so, then National Security in a Borderless World, an event from Cyber Defence taking place on May 14-15 at the Marriott Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, may benefit you. ...
Electronic Security Systems Demand To Reach $15.6 Billion By 2012
According to Electronic Security Systems, a study from The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm, the U.S. electronic security products and systems market is expected to increase 7.8 percent per year to $15.6 billion in 2012. ...
Market Study Covers The Future Of RFID
According to the latest Market and Policy Overview from the Security Industry Association (SIA), the Stanford Washington Research Group (SWRG) says that most of the excitement and promise of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) supply chain adoption is still three to five years away....
Emergency Preparedness Certification Standard Has Not Emerged
The majority of U.S. companies have a formal, written plan for emergency preparedness, according to a report released by The Conference Board. But a widely adopted certification standard for such plans does not yet exist....
Technical Training Courses for Secura Key Access Control Products
Secura Key is offering a comprehensive Product Technical Training Course, available to technical and sales personnel on a bi-monthly basis. ...
European Retail Rolling Out More Security Pilot Programs
Retailers in Europe are beginning to warm to the idea of network video surveillance and video content analysis, with a number highlighting 2008 as the year that they will begin rolling out new installations and pilot programs. ...
Are IT Security Budgets Recession-Proof?
IT security budgets remain stable despite an impending economic recession, according to a survey conducted at the recent RSA Conference in San Francisco by Astaro Corp., a vendor of integrated security appliances. ...
Schneider National Security Summit Covers Supply Chain Solutions
According to the International Cargo Security Council, $12 billion worth of cargo is stolen in the United States every year....
2008 ASIS Conference To Offer Specialized Sessions To Attendees
Among the session topics at ASIS International 2008 will be emergency notification and crisis management....
Unsecured USB Flash Drives Still A Risk, Survey Shows
A survey by SanDisk Corp. of both end-users and corporate IT managers, which demonstrated the risks of unsecured USB flash drive usage within enterprise organizations, found that IT executives are unaware of the extent to which unsecured flash drives are brought into their organizations.
Seventy-seven percent of corporate end-users surveyed have used personal flash drives for work-related purposes. However, when asked to estimate what percentage of the workforce uses personal flash drives, corporate IT respondents said only 35 percent....
Mental Health Addressed At Annual College Security Summit
Mental-health experts have encouraged college officials to create campus atmospheres where mental illnesses are regarded the same as other medical issues: as treatable and not shameful.
The deadly shootings at Virginia Tech a year ago have brought attention to mental illness among students, along with deficiencies in colleges' emergency plans.
About 200 college officials convened recently at the University of Central Oklahoma for the second National Campus Security Summit, where experts in law enforcement, mental health, education and the law offered advice on how to make campuses safer, according to Tulsa World. ...
Smart Card Alliance Spearheads CTST 2008
The Smart Card Alliance is bringing its industry knowledge and experience to CTST 2008 - The Americas Conference and Exhibition. A combination of the Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference and SourceMedia’s CTST Conference, CTST 2008 will feature more than 120 speakers, 40 conference sessions and 30,000 square feet of exhibit hall space from May 12-15 at the Orange County Convention Center West, Orlando, Fla.
The Smart Card Alliance developed the conference program around the theme of “The Future of Payments and Security,” building six tracks that cover the convergence among technologies and the markets deploying contactless payment solutions, mobile financial services, secure physical and digital access and the expanding world of secure identification technology. The Alliance has used its presence and experience in Latin America to create the Latin America Spotlight on the agenda, making CTST 2008 an international event for the first time. ...
Benchmarking Survey Requests Participation
Benchmarking against similar organizations can provide security professionals with powerful tools to both analyze their own department’s performance and to gain support from upper management. Since there are no universal standards for security programs, benchmarking provides one of the only reliable ways to measure a program’s effectiveness. It shows upper management how the company stacks up against similar organizations, which can help the security department gain influence in the business and gain support for new programs or underfunded initiatives.
The Security Executive Council’s International Security Research Database helps develop benchmarks in a variety of areas to enable security leaders to measure the performance and business value of their security programs by comparing them to others across the globe. ...
Campus Reactions To Virginia Tech Tragedy Are Surveyed Nationwide
Nearly nine out of 10 respondents to a recent survey indicated that their college or university had conducted a comprehensive review of campus safety and security in the wake of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in April of last year, and a similar proportion indicated that changes had been made to policies, procedures or security systems as a result of the tragedy, according to the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC).
The nationwide survey of student life officers and campus safety directors provides a snapshot of how colleges and universities responded to the tragic events at Virginia Tech and the changes that have resulted from safety and security audits conducted both internally and externally at institutions across the country. The survey included questions about emergency notification systems, security and monitoring systems, communications and training, changes to administrative structure and policies related to student behavior and mental health. ...
ADT Supports University of Arkansas Theft Deterrence Research
ADT announces its support of a landmark study by the University of Arkansas Information Technology Research Institute that tested and compared the effectiveness of both Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for perimeter theft protection in a retail environment.
"This research was important because we believe EAS and RFID are complementary technologies that can provide retailers with several approaches to preventing theft while improving operational efficiency, depending on their needs," says Stanley Kong, vice president, ADT Retail Sales and Services for Asia....
SimplexGrinnell Organizes Symposium To Strengthen Campus Safety
As the nationwide focus on campus protection continues to intensify, SimplexGrinnell has organized a special symposium at Cleveland State University (CSU), set to take place on April 21, to help senior administrators make their institutions safer and more secure.
The day-long symposium, titled A Higher Degree of Campus Safety, will take place almost a year to the day after the shootings that took 32 lives at Virginia Tech. Designed for university presidents, vice presidents, provosts and other senior leaders, it also comes amid a recent spate of college shootings and incidents that have further heightened the attention on this critical issue....
HID Global Partners With Lenel To Merge Solutions
Building on the collaborative theme of open architecture at ISC West 2008, Irvine, Calif.-based HID Global announced April 2 during a press conference that its Edge family of IP-based access control solutions will be incorporated into the OnGuard 2008 Plus (release 6.1) security platform from Lenel Systems International, Pittsford, N.Y. The integration will allow Lenel to expand OnGuard’s capabilities to enhance existing sites, provide comprehensive contactless smart card implementations and meet the needs of users seeking IP-based devices as part or all of their access security system hardware platform.
“We are extremely pleased to have Lenel join HID Global’s OPIN Partner Program,” said Denis Hebert, president and CEO of HID Global. “As industry leaders, both companies share a mutual commitment to providing open platform solutions aimed at shifting the existing physical security paradigm. By leveraging Lenel’s OpenDevice API, and HID’s OPIN technology, our newly combined offering will provide end-users with optimum value based on tomorrow’s infrastructure.”...
Industry Awards Program Honors Excellence
The Security Industry Association (SIA) has awarded NoblePeak's Vision TriWave Camera with the 2008 New Product Showcase Innovation Award at this year's SIA event on April 2, 2008 in Las Vegas. More than 100 new products and technologies vied for top honors at the annual awards program honoring excellence in security product design.
“It is truly a breakthrough product,” says Shayne Bates, principal of Security Consulting for Koffel Associates and 2008 NPS judge. “NoblePeak has applied science to solve the scientific problem of how light is used at night. This product has the potential to change how we see and use cameras in a range of facilities and conditions.”...
Report Says Patients At Risk Of Hospital Security Policy Gaps
The health care industry’s focus on medical privacy and compliance has fostered a lack of awareness around the frequency, cause and seriousness of patient identity theft, according to the 2008 HIMSS Analytics Report: Security of Patient Data commissioned by Kroll Fraud Solutions, a provider of data protection and identity theft response services. The report reveals a significant blind spot that hinders hospital efforts to contain the problem and reduce risk.
“Health care facilities are complex environments where information is stored and shared in a number of ways that are critical to patient well-being,” says Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer of Kroll Fraud Solutions. “Until health care organizations expand their data security measures to address the threat of data compromise as well as privacy and compliance, patients will continue to be at risk.”...



