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by CSO Contributor

Security Run Amok; Military, Private Sector Rush to Adopt High-Tech Security Technology; Expert Warns of Cyberwarfare; Pocket PC Doesnt Make Security Grade

News
Sep 24, 20022 mins
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

Security Run Amok

An article in the Op-Ed pages of yesterdays New York Times describes incidents on an Aug. 31 flight between Atlanta and Philadelphia. Two armed Transportation Security Administration air marshals (part of the U.S. Transportation Department) terrified all the passengers and terrorized one innocent in the process of containing one disoriented passenger. Military, Private Sector Rush to Adopt High-Tech Security Technology Washington Post. Biometrics dominates the new technologies. This field, long mired in controversy, according to the Post, has enjoyed a makeover during the past year. Hand, finger, face and iris scanners account for most of the biometrics products sold, and the biometrics industry is expected to sell upwards of $200 million in devices this year. The report talks to users and vendors about the strengths, weaknesses and appropriate settings for these new devices.

The military and the private sector are rushing in the wake of Sept. 11 to adopt high-tech security measures, according to a special report in todays

Expert Warns of Cyberwarfare

so-called cyberterrorismthe CIA believes, according to a story in yesterdays Melbourne (Australia) Herald Sun. That is the estimated number of organizations looking at or actively developing information warfare capabilities, says American Matthew Devost, director of the counterterrorism consultancy Terrorism.com. The Herald Sun quotes him as saying that although cyberterrorists could target critical infrastructure such as banking and finance systems, transport, water, electricity, gas and other power outlets, there was no evidence yet to prove cyberterrorism had been used in such a way. But that doesnt mean the threat isnt real, or that infrastructures arent vulnerable, or that organizations arent seeking that capability, he says. Todays Register looks askance at this estimate, asking what threats we could expect from number 100 on this listwhoever they may be.

At least 100 nation-states are investigating waging war by computer

Pocket PC Doesnt Make Security Grade reported last night that a recent Gartner research note found that Microsofts Pocket PC 2002 software does not address critical security issues and could make sensitive corporate data stored on PDAs and desktop PCs vulnerable to theft and loss.