GSN: Government Security News

The black market in which criminal hackers steal credit card and bank account information from hundreds or thousands of innocent victims, and sell that data to thieves throughout the world, has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years.™It's not about becoming famous, or destroying your information, like in the old days,™ explained Travis Wilkins, a product marketing manager with Symantec Corp., who served as a guide at the ™Black Market Tour™ assembled by Symantec and transported to cities across the U.S., including Washington, DC, where this reporter saw it. ™It's now all about making money.™

Clearly, the new U.S. intelligence-community emphasis on cyber-security will be very good for the economy of at least one state. The State of Utah expects to see $1.5 billion worth of construction, and 4,000 to 5,000 construction and related jobs, from the new Camp Williams Data Center, according to Utah Governor Gary Herbert, who spoke at the recent announcement of the new facility.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has honored the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with its Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer Memorial Foundation Award, citing the DEAâ€s and the U.S. Attorneyâ€s efforts to “bring a notorious terrorist to justice.” The award, given out the ADLâ€s recent annual meeting in New York City, is named for Leon Klinghoffer, the wheelchair-bound American tourist who was murdered aboard the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985, when it was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

McLean, VA-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) reports that it has been awarded five task orders by DHS to support the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of the Chief Information Officer. The task orders were awarded under the DHS EAGLE contract and have a total value of more than $189 million if all options are exercised. Work will be performed primarily in Washington, D.C.

Bedford, MA-based VideoIQ and Pearl River, NY-based On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc. (OnSSI) report that they have integrated the VideoIQ iCVR with OnSSIâ€s intelligent IP video surveillance management platform. This integrated solution enables OnSSI customers to realize the security, reliability and infrastructure benefits delivered by the VideoIQ iCVR, the family of intelligent video cameras and encoders with a built-in DVR, the company said in a statement.

Lenexa, KS-based ICOP Digital, Inc., the digital surveillance specialist, reports receipt of a $244,000 order for 46 ICOP 20/20 VISION systems for Big Sky country. Forty units will go to the Billings Police Department and six units to the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office, says ICOP.

Farebrother Chartered Surveyors has deployed the Avigilon HD Surveillance System at the building at 20 Old Bailey in central London, located across from the UK's Central Criminal Court. The Center Criminal Court, a high-profile location, has created a heightened understanding of threat for the tenants at 20 Old Bailey, and the Avigilon HD Surveillance helps address their security needs, says a statement from Vancouver, BC-based Avigilon.

Ashburn, VA-based Telos Corp. has named retired Air Force Maj. Gen. John Maluda to the companyâ€s board of directors. Maluda recently retired as director, Cyberspace Transformation and Strategy, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Warfighting Integration, and chief information officer, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

ASIS International, the trade organization for security management professionals, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the nonprofit organization of police executives, have signed an agreement to promote cooperation and partnerships between the two groups for public and private safety and security, and to develop collaborative information-sharing programs. 

In February, hackers broke into the Federal Aviation Administrationâ€s computer systems and stole private information on more than 45,000 people; in August, a laptop containing Social Security numbers for 131,000 National Guard soldiers was stolen from an Army Guard contractor. These are just a few examples of data breaches that have affected the United States government in 2009 alone. Securing sensitive data is imperative for any entity â€" be it a corporation with trade secrets, a small business with a recipe for the secret sauce or a healthcare provider with thousands of patient files. However, when it comes to the government and branches of the military, sensitive data takes on a whole new meaning â€" everything from homeland security to terrorist watch lists to critical codes and passwords need to be guarded by the most secure methods available.

McLean, VA-based Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) reports that it has formed a strategic alliance with Pittsburgh, PA-based BPL Global, Ltd. (BPLG), a smart grid technology company that develops and deploys solutions to improve the efficiency and reliability of utility networks. As a part of the alliance, SAIC has acquired a $10 million minority stake in BPLG.

UK-based CNL Software Inc., the physical security information management (PSIM) software developer, has announced further expansion plans in the US.  The company intends to build a full-service U.S. technical center with customer support and administrative offices in Washington DC, and it has hired Darren Chalmers-Stevens to help oversee the setting up this facility, which will also include the companyâ€s demonstration and client implementation operations.

At the first of a series of recent roundtable meetings with private sector leaders to discuss critical infrastructure security, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled a new Web site designed to inform the public about critical infrastructure protection, readiness and resiliency efforts. During the meeting with leadership from the Sector Coordinating Councils of the Energy, Nuclear, Water and Chemical Sectors, Secretary Napolitano also promoted “vigilance, preparedness and risk reduction.”

The device looked somewhat incongruous sitting in a meeting room at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel â€" in fact, John Meyer, president of BioDefense Corp., described it as ™a cross between a safe and a washing machine™ â€" but the ungainly appliance could mean the difference between life and death if a terrorist tried to send you a piece of mail containing anthrax or another lethal bio-agent.

Purveyors of anti-terrorism technology to the government and others might want to take notice: The DHS Science and Technology (DHS S&T) directorate intends to continue collecting information in order to evaluate and qualify anti-terrorism technologies beyond the current January 31, 2010 deadline for doing so. Specifically, DHS S&T would like to continue using several data collection forms for its Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act program.

Eight years after 9/11, the question needs asking: Have we developed a flexible and effective network for responding to a major attack or disaster? Ingrained cultures of insularity As fires raged unchecked on the twin towers' upper floors, an NYPD helicopter reported an inward bowing of the columns, signaling they faced imminent failure. Yet the NYPD and FDNY didnâ€t have compatible radio systems, and their insular cultures precluded close coordination, even on something so significant. According to a report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), “The NYPD aviation unit reported critical information about the pending collapse of the building,'' it reported, quoting Sivaraj Shyam- Sunder, a NIST investigator. ™Any time that information could have been communicated faster to the emergency responders in the buildings, it would have helped save lives.™

Fairfax, VA-based SRA International, Inc. reports that it has been awarded two contracts totaling $55 million, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). SRA will work with CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) on a span of services including needs identification; strategic program planning; monitoring and evaluation; training and capacity building; technical support; and formative research and technology transfer, the company says.

Pompano Beach, FL-based Point Blank Solutions, Inc., a protective body armor specialist, reports that its wholly owned subsidiary, Point Blank Body Armor, has received a $2.4 million award from the Defense Supply Center, of Philadelphia, PA. Under the terms of the contract, the company will supply its Vision concealable vest and plate carriers for the U.S. Army's military police.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate saluted emergency management students this week, speaking at Savannah State University, in Savannah, GA, at an event sponsored by the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Student Organization (HSEMSO). The FEMA Administrator praised students for choosing to study emergency management and recognized the administration of Savannah State, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), for joining the growing number of schools offering a bachelorâ€s degree in emergency management.

The next step in the evolution of the nationâ€s network of fusion centers is the integration of emergency-services and public-health officials into their personnel rosters. So said the head of the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis (DHS I&A), Acting Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Bart Johnson, in a speech delivered to the National Homeland Defense Foundation Symposium VII, held earlier this month in Colorado Springs, CO.