SecurityInfoWatch.com Blogs

Today on the newswire I saw a story announcing that FEMA is adopting a new symbol for emergency management “to call on America not to become complacent about preparedness.” (I’m sure many Americans would like to turn around and tell FEMA exactly the same thing.) The symbol is meant to replace the old “civil defense” triangle-in-a-circle icon that appeared on fallout supplies in the 50s and 60s.

Anybody else think there are some skewed priorities here?

The announcement suffers some unfortunate timing, without a doubt. It comes the same day news outlets picked up on a federal judge’s ruling that FEMA unconstitutionally stopped payment to Katrina victims in February without stated cause.

I’m not saying a new icon is useless. The press release states that “not since these cold war relics (the civil defense symbols) has there been any universal visual associated with the field that is so critical to life, safety and security.” They’re right. Everyone knew the civil defense symbol. Everybody knew what it meant. But it was also bolstered by a massive PR campaign of ads, radio announcements and now notorious grade-school filmstrips.

People were afraid of the unpredictable then, and they trusted the government to show them what to do when the unpredictable happened. People are afraid of the unpredictable now. Period.

The slogan that appears under the new icon is “Public Safety, Public Trust.”

Note to FEMA: Make sure you have the goods before you start advertising them. 

Marleah

NB: Thanks to Fark.com for making my headline writing easy.

Yesterday I came across an SIW article saying rumors are swirling around IBM possibly acquiring Verint. Time will tell if this becomes a reality, but it got me to thinking once again about convergence in the security industry, especially when it comes to IT big boys like Cisco, IBM, and others.

We are undoubtedly in an era where technologies are converging in the security industry at an unprecedented pace with major ramifications for all involved.  Yes, we know that “everything is going onto the network,” and ultimately the network will be wireless at the user level.  However, which companies will settle into the driver’s seat and which will become–for lack of a better phrase–road kill?

It’s fascinating to think about, but like they say, the future isn’t what it used to be.  Some of the industry’s changes are already taking place, and some technologies will be upon us much faster than anticipated whereas others will take longer.  Some will never pan out, and some will come out of absolutely nowhere to take the industry by storm.

One thing that has become clear is the demand for video analytics.  Consumers are starting to demand it and the manufacturers have shown an increasing willingness to supply it.  Currently, there are many manufacturers battling for video analytics supremacy; and I remember ADT this past August saying that its keeping a sharp eye out to see which video analytics technologies bubble to the top.  I’m sure other companies (and governments) are doing the same. 

For all the latest developments in video analytics, keep your station tuned right here to the synergy of the Cygnus Security Group.  We’ll keep you in the loop.

-Greg

It’s that time of year, folks. Wal-Mart’s garden department has evaporated to make room for plastic wreaths and tacky inflatable elves, Target and Gap commercials have become (amazingly) more annoying than usual, and even though I haven’t bought my Thanksgiving Tofurkey yet, my mailbox is filled with red-and-green flyers. Yes, we’re entering into that cornerstone of capitalism, that green-eyed, debt-soaked time we call The Holiday Season (insert soap-opera-style dramatic swell here).

Besides the T.M.X. Elmo and the PlayStation 3, one of the most hyped product releases of this year’s spend-o-rama is Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player, which was released Tuesday with more of a splat than a bang. Critics have attacked the Zune’s looks, size, controls, and download services in comparison with its target competitor, the Apple iPod. I have no opinion on this one way or the other. One thing that did catch my eye, though, was a report on Mary Foley’s ZDNet blog (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=104) claiming that the Zune has been shown to be incompatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Vista. (This report was confirmed by Microsoft this morning, according to VNUNet.com.)

Since Vista is going to be released to the general public as a stand-alone or standard preinstalled OS in January, the lack of compatibility is puzzling. You’d think it would have been a no-brainer for Microsoft. Perhaps both projects just got so big, the compatibility issue escaped them.

Now switch gears and think about your own security systems planning. When you’re looking at a major upgrade or installation, or even a minor one, it can be easy to focus only on the project at hand and its immediate requirements. But take a moment to consider other plans in the works and other systems already in use. Gather all the stakeholders in your organization and talk with them to make sure you’re not making an omission that someone might, after-the-fact, consider a no-brainer. 

-Marleah

It’s only appropriate that I address this odd bit of news, since this blog is somewhat appropriately titled The Security Check. And since the most common “security check” that American citizens go through is the TSA security check before they can go to airport gates…well, you get the point.

There’s a company called Dentakit.com that registered on my security radar this morning. It makes and sells a lot of speciality dental hygiene products, including the original Dentakit for braces. They just started selling an item that is a curious shoe-in for TSA security. The company is selling toothbrushes that come pre-loaded with dry toothpaste powder. Ok, I’ll admit, the idea is a bit over the top, since TSA doesn’t exactly prohibit air flyers from bringing a small amount of toothpaste on the plane. And toothbrushes aren’t prohibited either. But maybe, just maybe, this odd little product can knock back a little of the suspicion that a passenger would be aroused if Joe or Jane Flyer took their “zip-top quart-size clear plastic bag” to the airplane lavatory.

It does at least get to the core of the TSA liquids mandate. What’s the core, you ask? The point is that, yes, they want to cut back on liquids, but also, the issue is the size of the containers. The theory goes that a 3-ounce container just doesn’t give enough room to mix up a lethal liquid explosive cocktail. We’re not sure a toothpaste tube would have been the preferred mixing container anyway, but, if a pre-loaded toothbrush takes away one more container that a terrorist could use, I’m not going to knock it.

Nonetheless, I still will be taking my reusable toothbrush and my 3 oz. of toothpaste. See you in the security line.

–Geoff

P.S. Check out Frank DeFina’s blog “Think Secure“. Frank, as many of you know, is the president over at Panasonic’s security solutions division.

My wife accuses me of being a Republican when it comes to politics. Of course she has mistakenly taken my fiscal conservatism to mean I support the present regime in Washington. If she had checked my Georgia ballot card in yesterday’s election booth she would have seen it was almost straight-lined Libertarian. I’m sure I share the opinion of many tired Americans who have grown weary of the partisan politics and total lack of concern of today’s elected officials for the public they serve.

OK, so the Democrats have ousted the Republicans in both the House and Senate. What does that mean for the country? Probably not much. We have just seen the most do-nothing Congress in the history of this country accomplish little more than embarass themselves in the media with mudslinging campaign messages to either save their sorry jobs or earn one. How far have we fallen as a nation. As we send men to the Middle East to fight an invisible enemy, our politicians spend more time worrying about who knew what when regarding Mark Foley’s sexual fantasies than the cost of the war.

Now that the Dems have their victory, which was only made sweeter today with the announcement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. They have an apparent mandate from its citizens. Will Congress get off their hindquarters and DO SOMETHING??!! Let’s hope and pray for the sake of our troops and our country that the new party in power takes the high road and really tries to accomplish more than setting the table for the 2008 election.

The ball is in your court Democrats. You’ve moaned and groaned the last 10 years you didn’t have the steering wheel, and now you do. Make the most of it.

 -Steve

A recent news story on Vindy.com,  a news website serving Youngtown, Ohio, and the surrounding valley, is an example of why the burglar alarm industry sometimes can’t get any respect.

 Vindy.com reported about the alarm system at  Lighthouse Ministries in Youngstown — an alarm system that had just given its 46th false alarm in the month of October — not 46 for the year, but for the month!

The police put the location on its non-response list. They should have put it on there months ago, since the article reports that October wasn’t the first month of their high false rate. But the real problem here is that the monitoring company should have identified this long before it left a bitter taste in the mouth of local police responders. Are you doing checks of what locations are your most frequent signal sources? Wouldn’t that be the best indicator of flagrant false alarm violators?

Frankly, when I go to the tradeshows, I hear about tools like video verification and easy-to-program alarm pads, but sometimes a large chunk of the false alarm problems can be located just by doing a simple database query. After all, police will tell you that every town has that one business that is a chronic false alarm source. Are you monitoring that business? What have you really done to address this problem?

[By the way, if you want to read the original story, you can go to the Vindy.com article, but be forewarned, you’re going to need to enter basic demographic info before the website will let you read it. Aren’t you glad we don’t require that?]

–Geoff

For many security dealers, the most important thing about their company is its reputation.  Period.

As in any business, a company that has a good reputation will likely see other good things follow suit, such as happy customers, referrals, and increased profits. Of course, getting that good reputation requires you to communicate well with your clients and do excellent work at a competitive price.  It also means that when things go wrong, you do everything possible to reach a satisfactory solution for the customer.

I’ve had dealers in the past tell me that, in the short term, one employee can essentially ruin years of good PR.  Granted, that might seem extreme, but it’s a legitimate consideration.  Especially considering that we very much live in a “What have you done for me lately?” world.

In order to maintain a good reputation as a security dealer, you obviously need good employees; and when an employee does mess up, you’ll likely be relying on either that employee or another one to help set things right.  If they are unable to do so, either by being rude or incompetent, then that hurts business. (If you’re a small dealer, word can spread through town like a wildfire.  If you’re a big dealer, you could lose a lucrative contract.)    

While there are many talented and dedicated security technicians in the U.S., security dealers will tell you that they can always use more.  A larger pool of talent would mean that security dealers would have an easier time hiring and maintaining a quality staff. 

With this in mind, last week I was heartened to hear that the Department of Labor has approved the NBFAA’s Apprenticeship Program.  I think it will be a major step toward improving the industry’s labor pool by giving somewhat of a plan and guidance for technicians to follow.  One of the best ways that you can show somebody that their career matters is by sharing a “roadmap” that lets them picture how to get from Point A to Point B… and then to Point C and so on.  It gets back to that old adage, “Plan the work, then work the plan.”

George P. Gunning, NBFAA president, said in a news release, “This (Fire/Life Safety and Electronic Security Apprenticeship) program will provide a foundation of knowledge that allows technicians to advance in their profession and improve the ability of the industry to recruit, train and retain the very best technicians from a competitive labor pool.”  

Let’s hope he’s right and the plan works.

-Greg