It's the battle cry of today's chief security officer: "We need to be able to show ROI." Well, at QT gas stations, they're getting security and ROI in the same card. The company has begun implementing a fuel card that records a person's driver's license data into the QT database and provides them a card that allows the consumer to start the fuel pump without entering the store. Do the math: More secure pumps + Less drive-offs = Security & ROI. Necessity still proves to be the mother of invention.
We've always thought of CCTV as "closed circuit television" but what if it stood for "community controlled television"? That's what a Pennsylvania developer has been attempting when he made the community's CCTV footage available over the Net. The goal is that if the community knew the rest of the community could be watching their streets at any time, crimes would be less likely. It's an idea that ruminates, but unfortunately, the web-based system seems to have collapsed since the developer's CCTV system made the news.
In Connecticut this week, there was a sign that we may be getting complacent in these years after September 11, 2001. The state capitol, which had increased security, controlled extra doors and manned detection systems following Sept. 11, is having to drop some guards and re-open some access points. The move comes as the state budget for the facility is shrinking, causing the state to need to cut $400K quickly. Connecticut officials stressed that the areas still had camera surveillance.
There's other fall-out for Sept. 11 still happening. The NIST released a set of standards on high-rise facilities, which dealt primarily with terror attacks at facilities like the World Trade Center. These standards, which propose improvements in structural integrity, fire systems and more, are detailed in the article. Other standards made the news this week, including ones on homeland security (from ANSI), RFID (from the RFIDba) and port security (from the World Customs Organization).
Speaking of port security... Those of you who have been following our "Detection Systems" and "Transportation" news sections closely have undoubtedly noticed the number of stories announcing radiation detection system installations at U.S. port facilities. These systems are still in their early stages, as the port of New York/New Jersey is finding out. Scores of false positives plague the systems, which are sometimes trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack when it comes to potential nuclear materials entering via our ports.
On Thursday, SecurityInfoWatch.com, together with Marconia and ADT Security Services, presented a highly-informative webinar on school security issues and networked systems. From finding security funding to bandwidth management, this webinar covered it all. Our technical team is busy editing the webinar into its final version, so look for an update next week on where to find this archived webinar.
We wrap up the week with a little sports talk: The folks at Dedicated Micros announced that the company-sponsored car took first place in its prototype division at the 24 Hour of Le Mans race. A blown out gearbox, a bad bearing and a broken suspension part nearly spelled disaster on the way to the winner's circle, but the mobile camera-and-DVR system held strong.
Finally, here's what your peers have most enjoyed on the site this week:
