Government Security


tsa checkpoint

TSA Faces Record-Low Numbers of Travelers, Coronavirus Outbreak Among Employees

More than 370 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 as TSA security screeners experience nearly empty airports due to the pandemic.

baltimore downtown

Lawsuit Blocks Baltimore From Launching Surveillance Plane Program to Investigate Crimes

Activists and ACLU lawyers succeeded in stopping a six-month trial run of an aerial surveillance program funded by private philanthropists.

fbi front

FBI Warns Financial Institutions To Beware of Coronavirus-Related Scams

Business email compromise attacks continue to be effective, tricking victims into transferring funds to fraudulent accounts.

david zolet

CentralSquare Names 30-Year Gov Tech Veteran David Zolet as Chief Executive Officer

Zolet brings decades of proven expertise to lead one of the largest public safety and public administration software companies

baltimore aerial

Baltimore Approves Six-Month Aerial Surveillance Program To Address Violent Crime

Three private surveillance planes will take images of Baltimore neighborhoods to be used in criminal investigations, an effort that will be studied to see if it lowers the crime rate.

washington capitol

Washington State Adopts Legislation Regulating, Restricting Facial Recognition Use

The law, which will go into effect next year, will require law enforcement to use facial recognition software only to investigate serious crimes and issue public accountability reports.

Department of Homeland Security Plans to Use Facial Recognition to Track Transnational Gang Activity

The request for proposals for a “gang intelligence application” reflect the agency’s growing ambitions in using facial recognition and other new tech to identify and arrest criminals.

TSA ID checkpoint

DHS Delays Real ID Deadline Until 2021 Due to Coronavirus Crisis

While the extension will provide another 18 months for Americans to obtain the new driver’s licenses, some officials believe the deadline will have to be extended again.



alarm response center

Security Industry Groups Call For Alarm Response, Security Services to Be Classified as “Essential” During Coronavirus Pandemic

SIA, ESA and TMA have penned a letter to public safety officials calling for governments to exempt alarm response centers and companies that serve them from shelter-in-place orders.

justice department

Justice Department Takes First Legal Action Against Coronavirus Scam Websites

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to have a website selling fake vaccine kits shut down immediately.

HHS website

Cyber Attack Hits Department of Health and Human Services Amid Government Coronavirus Response

HHS officials said no personal data was accessed and the attack was not successful. But it could be a sign of things to come during the coronavirus pandemic.

Attorney General Directs Department of Justice to Crack Down on Coronavirus Scammers, Cyber Criminals

In a memo to attorney’s offices across the country, William Barr said that federal law enforcement should prioritize investigating and prosecuting crimes related to the pandemic.

tsa bins

Travelers Can Take Larger Bottles of Hand Sanitizer In Carry-On Luggage, TSA Announces

In response to the growing concerns around the spread of coronavirus in the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration said that passengers can bring hand sanitizer containers up to 12 ounces in size.

department of homeland security flag

ACLU Files Lawsuit Against DHS To Turn Over Records on Facial Recognition Use at Airports

After the DHS did not respond to a January request for documents on how it is deploying facial recognition, the ACLU is now seeking legal recourse.

drone in field

Trump Administration Preparing Executive Order to Ban Use of Foreign-Made Drones by Government Agencies

Chinese manufacturer DJI, which accounts for about 70 percent of the global drone market, stands to lose the most from a ban, which is based on national security concerns.

chicago subway

Lawmakers Warn Cities to Stop Contracting Chinese Companies To Build Transit Systems

Despite concerns about Chinese manufacturers having access to U.S. transportation data, cities continue to move ahead with plans to partner with state-owned companies.

Despite Technical Issues, DHS Claims Victory on Super Tuesday With No Foreign Hacking Attempts

There was no significant increase in disinformation campaigns or hacking attempts like there were in 2016, according to top Homeland Security officials.

Galileo Delivers

ERDC enlisted the services of M3 Technology Group, an audio-visual integrator based in Nashville, Tennessee, to create a unique audio-visual experience not seen in other government facilities.

Policy Bill Includes Cyber Investments

Data on OTAs and prototypes. The House proposed an annual reporting requirement on how the Defense Department is using OTAs.

Reconsidering Used Equipment

Reconsidering Used Equipment

Once you have made the decision to install a security entrance, you may find that your search for a provider brings you to used turnstiles, revolving doors or portals for sale. Naturally, these tend to be cheaper than new products.

cyber command center

Documents Reveal Why U.S. Military Publishes Malware Used by North Korean and Russian Hackers

CYBERCOM has created a Twitter account with thousands of followers to publicize malware samples it shares with cybersecurity companies. Internal documents explain that it’s part of a defensive (and offensive) strategy.

capitol hill building

Lawmakers Plan Bill That Would Endanger Tech Company Efforts to Implement Full Encryption

The legislation reflects growing frustration from the Justice Department about the encryption practices of tech companies, particularly when it comes to investigating child abuse or terrorist activity.

california state capitol

California’s Consumer Privacy Act Affects How Companies Will Store Data Nationwide

CCPA (officially called AB-375) incorporates some of the elements of GDPR and takes a broader view of private data and protecting PII. The storage, transportation, and management of sensitive consumer and company information have become critical issues for companies of all sizes to lock down and secure.

TSA Plans For Hiring and Overtime Freeze Ahead of Spring Break Travel Season

TSA Plans For Hiring and Overtime Freeze Ahead of Spring Break Travel Season

The agency faces pressure to cut costs in the face of a pay increase for federal workers, but DHS officials say they will expand hiring after the freeze ends in April.

police body camera

Cincinnati Police Become First City To Install Body Cameras With Live-Streaming Capability

Police officials hope that the new software will allow them to better handle crisis situations in real time and speed up the filing of police reports.

Washington State Senate Adopts Legislation To Regulate Facial Recognition Statewide

While a senate bill would largely ban government agencies from using facial recognition for ongoing surveillance, other legislators are pushing for a full moratorium on the software.

dod pentagon

Pentagon, FBI Release Report on New Malware Attributed to North Korean Hackers

The new trend of public disclosures by government agencies about cybersecurity threats has led to the latest report about North Korea’s newly developed malware used to spy and steal data.

maine capitol

Maine Legislators Working On Bill To Make Law Enforcement Use of Surveillance Tech More Transparent

Law enforcement in Maine have cited a 2013 law stating they are not required to disclose if they are using facial recognition or cellphone signal interceptors. Two lawmakers hope to change that.

new hampshire polling place

MIT Study Finds That Mobile Voting App Could Pose Cybersecurity Issues For Voters

Tech company Voatz is fighting back against research critical of its security protections, stating that researchers used an outdated version of the app and never examined Voatz servers.

Capitol Hill at sunset

New Senate Bill Would Place Moratorium on Federal Use of Facial Recognition

Two Democratic senators want to temporarily pause the government’s use of facial recognition technology while a commission develops regulations.

Orthodox Jews in New York City

After Rise in Anti-Semitic Incidents, New York City Adds Cameras and Officers in Jewish Communities

The increase in video surveillance has not come without criticism, but many Jewish leaders are supporting the increased security efforts.

south dakota capitol

South Dakota Lawmakers Decline to Pass Legislation Regulating Police Body Cameras

The state is only one of a few not to have a statewide law regulating how police body camera footage is maintained and released to the public.

capitol hill building

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Expresses Opposition To Moratorium on Facial Recognition

At a Thursday hearing, Rep. Bennie Thompson said he is not on a “moratorium route” but supports regulation of the software, which has been found to have accuracy issues for people of color.

McAfee: Lack of Verified Election Websites Could Pose Cybersecurity Issues For 2020 Election

McAfee’s survey of 13 states considered “critical” in the presidential election found that 83 percent lacked .GOV validation, which verifies websites as being run by official local governments.

iowa judicial branch

Security Testers Charged With Breaking Into Iowa Courthouses Cleared Of All Criminal Charges

The two men, who worked for Coalfire Labs, were caught up in a miscommunication between local law enforcement and the Iowa judicial branch, which hired the security firm to conduct testing.

TSA ID checkpoint

TSA Breaks Record For Highest Number of Firearms Detected at Airport Checkpoints

In 2019, TSA officers detected 4,432 firearms in carry-on baggage or on passengers, breaking the record set in 2018.

nist building

Federal Institute Releases Guidelines For How To Respond To Ransomware Attacks

The report, prepared by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, tested a variety of cybersecurity solutions in different IT environments to find out which methods were most effective in fighting ransomware.

white house

Coalition Pressures Government Agency To Recommend Ban on Government Use of Facial Recognition

Over 40 groups sent a letter to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Monday asking the agency to recommend that the executive branch put a moratorium on facial recognition.

campaign signs

Technology Companies Sign On To Offer Free or Discounted Cybersecurity Services to Campaigns

Seventeen companies, including Microsoft and Cloudflare, are offering security assistance to federal campaigns that often cannot afford the services themselves.

gun retailer

New Security, Video Surveillance Requirements For Illinois Gun Dealers Go Into Effect

The regulations originally required gun retailers to have a backup of all video surveillance feeds, but has since been changed.

maryland state house

Ransomware Possession Would Become A Crime In Maryland Under Proposed Legislation

Lawmakers are trying to deter would-be hackers from carrying out cyber attacks that have paralyzed companies, hospital systems and local governments, including Baltimore’s city government.

New Minnesota Law Allows Families to Install Internet-Connected Cameras In Senior Care Facilities

The new policies, meant to protect elder privacy, have also drawn criticism because of the requirement that families notify care facilities before they install the camera.

washington state capitol

Washington State Lawmakers Introduce Legislation Regulating Data Privacy, Facial Recognition

The data privacy bill would give consumers the right to access and delete data collected about them, while the facial recognition legislation would regulate government use of the software.

cambridge city hall

Cambridge Becomes Fourth Massachusetts Community To Ban Municipal Facial Recognition Use

A bill is currently before the state House that would ban government use of biometric technology until the legislature regulates how agencies can adopt it.

tree of life synagogue

Pennsylvania Opens Grant Program For Faith Based Organizations Seeking Security Upgrades

Created in the wake of a shooting at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue, the grant program opened its application process last week.

capitol hill

New Bill Would Update Children’s Online Privacy Law In Wake Of YouTube, TikTok Controversies

The bipartisan measure would allow parents to delete information collected by companies about their kids and raise the age of parental consent protection from 13 to 16.

new york subway

Group Sues New York City MTA For Records On Facial Recognition Use in Subway Station

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority maintains that it has not used facial recognition on riders, but privacy advocates want records related to the technology the agency purchased.

fbi seal

FBI Warns U.S. Companies About Recent Scourge of “Maze” Ransomware Attacks

The advisory warned businesses about cyber attacks featuring cryptocurrency sites and spam campaigns impersonating government agencies.

facial recognition system

Majority of Facial Recognition Systems Are Less Accurate For People of Color, Federal Study Finds

Native Americans had the highest rates of false positives, while African-American women were most likely to be misidentified in a law enforcement database.

Housing and Urban Development

Lawmakers Seek Answers on HUD's Use of Facial Recognition

Eight Democrats in the House and Senate want to know if public housing residents are included in decisions about facial recognition use.

washington metro

TSA, Washington Metro Test Out New System That Can Detect Explosive Devices on Passengers

The non-invasive system has been implemented by more transportation authorities around the world to address threats of terrorism in public spaces.

san diego police

Due To New Law, San Diego’s Law Enforcement Facial Recognition Program Will End in 2020

Thanks to a statewide policy banning law enforcement use of facial recognition for three years, several agencies in San Diego will lose access to a database of facial scans.

orbitz site

Orbitz and Expedia Reach $110,000 Settlement with Pennsylvania AG Over 2017 Data Breach

The travel companies were fined for lax data security practices that potentially led to a breach affecting 880,000 payment cards globally.

camera with facial recognition software

Second Massachusetts Town Bans Government Use of Facial Recognition

The vote marks the fourth town that has banned facial recognition this year, following Somerville, Mass. and San Francisco and Oakland in California.

New Orleans Becomes Latest City To Suffer Ransomware Attack

The cyberattack caused the city to completely shut down its network for several days, but did not affect emergency services.

CBP Sign

ICE, Customs and Border Protection Face Lawsuit Over ‘Stingray’ Cell Phone Surveillance Tech

There is little known about the government’s use of “stingrays,” which tracks the locations of a cell phone and all devices within its range.

seattle tacoma airport

Seattle-Tacoma Airport Becomes First To Resist Government Push For Facial Recognition Expansion

The Port of Seattle Commission approved a moratorium on new biometric technology programs on Tuesday amid concern over data privacy and the tool’s accuracy.

Lindsey Graham

Senators to Big Tech Companies: Build A Back Door For Law Enforcement To Access Encrypted Messages, Or Else

The ongoing debate over Apple and Facebook’s decision to not build “backdoors” for law enforcement to obtain encrypted messages continued to rage during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

cyber attack

Pensacola Government Faces Cyber Attack Hours After Shooting at Naval Base

The government has not linked the attack to the shooting, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

Featured

  • Gaining a Competitive Edge

    Ask most companies about their future technology plans and the answers will most likely include AI. Then ask how they plan to deploy it, and that is where the responses may start to vary. Every company has unique surveillance requirements that are based on market focus, scale, scope, risk tolerance, geographic area and, of course, budget. Those factors all play a role in deciding how to configure a surveillance system, and how to effectively implement technologies like AI. Read Now

  • 6 Ways Security Awareness Training Empowers Human Risk Management

    Organizations are realizing that their greatest vulnerability often comes from within – their own people. Human error remains a significant factor in cybersecurity breaches, making it imperative for organizations to address human risk effectively. As a result, security awareness training (SAT) has emerged as a cornerstone in this endeavor because it offers a multifaceted approach to managing human risk. Read Now

  • The Stage is Set

    The security industry spans the entire globe, with manufacturers, developers and suppliers on every continent (well, almost—sorry, Antarctica). That means when regulations pop up in one area, they often have a ripple effect that impacts the entire supply chain. Recent data privacy regulations like GDPR in Europe and CPRA in California made waves when they first went into effect, forcing businesses to change the way they approach data collection and storage to continue operating in those markets. Even highly specific regulations like the U.S.’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) can have international reverberations – and this growing volume of legislation has continued to affect global supply chains in a variety of different ways. Read Now

  • Access Control Technology

    As we move swiftly toward the end of 2024, the security industry is looking at the trends in play, what might be on the horizon, and how they will impact business opportunities and projections. Read Now

Webinars

New Products

  • Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems, an industry-leading manufacturer of pedestrian and vehicle secure entrance control access systems, is pleased to announce the release of its groundbreaking V07 software. The V07 software update is designed specifically to address cybersecurity concerns and will ensure the integrity and confidentiality of Automatic Systems applications. With the new V07 software, updates will be delivered by means of an encrypted file. 3

  • PE80 Series

    PE80 Series by SARGENT / ED4000/PED5000 Series by Corbin Russwin

    ASSA ABLOY, a global leader in access solutions, has announced the launch of two next generation exit devices from long-standing leaders in the premium exit device market: the PE80 Series by SARGENT and the PED4000/PED5000 Series by Corbin Russwin. These new exit devices boast industry-first features that are specifically designed to provide enhanced safety, security and convenience, setting new standards for exit solutions. The SARGENT PE80 and Corbin Russwin PED4000/PED5000 Series exit devices are engineered to meet the ever-evolving needs of modern buildings. Featuring the high strength, security and durability that ASSA ABLOY is known for, the new exit devices deliver several innovative, industry-first features in addition to elegant design finishes for every opening. 3

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction. 3