February 2009
Features
By Brian Daleiden
Drug counterfeiting continues to increase and its global threat to patient safety continues to rise. The FDA estimates that 1 million deaths worldwide are the result of counterfeit drugs. While the United States drug supply is one of the safest in the world, it is not immune to these concerns. It is important for pharmaceutical manufacturers to understand not just the different types of threats they face but also the tools and technologies available today to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the supply chain.
By Beth Welch
Growing up is never easy, but when things get out of hand, there are places where the most vulnerable can find hope. One such place is White’s Residential and Family Services in Wabash, Ind.
By Michael Gaines
While wireless locks have been around for a number of years, wireless locks that store information in the lock itself are brand new. Each stand-alone wireless lock is a panel that contains all information about the lock. Once programmed, the wireless lock continues processing independent of a server or computer.
By Mariann McDonagh
Ask a group of physical security managers what their most critical security priority is, and not many would answer fire detection and prevention. However, according to the National Fire Protection Association, more than 3,000 lives and more than $10.6 billion dollars in damages were attributed to fires in the United States last year alone. A catastrophic fire can cause loss of life, damage to assets and inventory, and lost productivity due to downtime. In fact, according to KPMG, 40 percent of businesses that suffer a catastrophic disaster, such as a major fire, go out of business in less than two years.
By Christa Poss
Courthouses must provide a presence that conveys stability, integrity, and suggests the vital duties of the court while maintaining an open and inviting atmosphere.
By Bill Livingstone, Howard Kympton
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the government instituted increased levels of security planning for critical infrastructures in the United States. Not surprisingly, the petrochemical industry is one of 14 sectors deemed by the Patriot Act of 2001 to be of high criticality and sensitivity.
By Karl Kotalik
The sun has set on the manual emergency operations center.
By Terry Wheeler
With 1.3 million workers at 3,200 port facilities and on 10,000 U.S. flagged vessels, the initial TWIC roll-out seemed like a good place to start securing U.S. transportation locations. The Transportation Security Administration is requiring all port employees to use tamper-resistant smart cards, which include encrypted magnetic stripes, bar codes, and contact and contactless technologies.
By David Lee
High-end estates present a multitude of challenges for the modern security provider or integrator. In addition to the sheer size of many of these compounds, families with children are often in the mix. Issues like broadly varied threats, the wide range of residential locations and the residential nature of the facility all complicate the job of the security professional.
Departments
By Sherleen Mahoney
It’s heart wrenching to put a beloved pet to sleep.
By Megan Weadock
Once the hustle and bustle of the 2008 Olympic Games had left Beijing last year, we were able to fully understand and admire the technological wonders.
By Maurice A. Ramirez
An increasing number of business continuity professionals and disaster recovery experts are discovering that the most vulnerable links in the continuity- of-operations chain are the people a business serves and the people who serve them. While this seems intuitively obvious now, for decades, resolving the fragility of technology had been the exclusive focus of the industry.
By Don Lyman
As global economies struggle, theft and crime tend to increase.
By Ralph C. Jensen
Often chided for his decisions about homeland security and furthering democracy, former President George W. Bush heard numerous disparaging remarks from the media during his eight-year presidency, only to have the last couple of months marred with a shoe-throwing incident in Baghdad.