Blog Archives
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Watching RSA from afar
By Geoff Kohl - Friday February 9, 2007So, I'm not in San Francisco this week attending the RSA Conference, despite my wishes. But I have been enjoying some of the blog reports coming out of this IT security show. Now some might be asking why I should pay attention to an IT-focused show like the RSA conference when our industry is still (despite all the buzz) heavily focused on gates, fences, analog cameras, guards and old reed-style contacts for intrusion detection. The answer should be obvious. While yes, mag stripe cards and security fencing may still define much of commercial security, it's rapidly moving beyond that and I'm watching our industry as a whole pay a lot more attention to what's happening at the RSA Conference versus the FenceTech show. Some of the things I... -
Beware the Mooninites
By Geoff Kohl - Wednesday January 31, 2007This security business is serious stuff, but sometimes you just have to have a bit of a laugh. That was my reaction to the news on CNN that the city of Boston had rolled out its Homeland Security counter-terror team today. The dangerous opponent? Turner Broadcasting's marketing department. The marketing department, it seems, had hung some lightboards around town featuring a cartoon character (the Mooninite from Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon show) a few weeks ago in a number of U.S. cities. Apparently our highly trained counter-terror intelligence staff at the Boston PD decided that Mooninite = Jihadist and decided to send the department into turmoil for 12 hours as they negated the marketing threat and tracked down nine... -
Believing in Biometrics
By Geoff Kohl - Thursday January 11, 2007Robert LaPenta believes in biometrics. After all, you don't put your money where your mouth is if you don't believe. This is the guy who just today has offered $1.05 per share for each share of ComnetiX, a Canadian biometrics company that does fingerprint recognition, especially ones for police departments. Of course, LaPenta (via his biometrics investment arm L-1) isn't the only one going after ComnetiX . BIO-key, another fingerprint recognition player is also making a thirsty offer for the shares of Comnetix. So, who are they after? Well, Comnetix has been around for quite sometime. I dug up some earlier info on this company and it seems that back in the summer of 2004, for every 2 dollars they brought in, 3 dollars went out the... -
Rolodexing Your Way to Lower Security Costs
By Geoff Kohl - Wednesday January 10, 2007Since the title of my blog is The Security Check, it's only appropriate that I address a topic of marginal importance at the TSA's security checkpoints. A great story from USA Today (now posted on SecurityInfoWatch.com at this link ) makes note of how the TSA is selling advertising space in the bottom of the security bins that we all deposit our laptops, shoes and belongings in as we make our way through metal detectors and X-ray machines at U.S. airports. Now at first, I'm a bit miffed by this idea. If TSA has me captive for a security check, should I be treated like a captive audience and shown marketing messages? ( Rolodex was the first advertiser -- who knew that company was even still in business since the age of the computer... -
Residential Security in Afghanistan
By Geoff Kohl - Monday December 18, 2006I have a very good friend of mine who has been employed in recent years trying to help rebuild Afghanistan. He tries to create collaboration, improve education, and assist a war-torn country to move beyond that devastation and into the 21st century. I'd say he has a tough job, and he'd probably agree. We spent some time going though a couple hundred of his best photos of Afghanistan, and afterwards our talk turned to security, as four of us -- my friend, myself, my friend's brother (who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army) and a former CNN.com reporter who covered the middle East extensively -- burned the midnight oil to talk about the situation in Kabul. My friend turned from time to time to discuss the... -
A Story of Toothpaste and the Airport Checkpoint
By Geoff Kohl - Friday November 10, 2006It'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... -
In false alarms, enough is enough
By Geoff Kohl - Thursday November 2, 2006A 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... -
Facial recognition goes mainstream
By Geoff Kohl - Wednesday October 11, 2006I found this very interesting piece of news the other day. It pertained to Picasa , which is Google Inc.'s photo management system (kind of like iPhoto from Steve Jobs/Apple). This software basically finds all your photos on your PC in the same way that Google's core web search engine finds pages like this one on the Net.  [Incidentally, I was thinking how this is pretty similar to what Steve Russell at 3VR is doing with its searches for surveillance video, but that might be a bit of a stretch.] So, the fact that Picasa can organize your photos is nice, but so what? Here's the "What" -- the next version of the Picasa software is reportedly designed to use facial recognition to help you sort the photos. So if you want to see all... -
Live from ASIS 2006
By Geoff Kohl - Tuesday September 26, 2006The crew from the Cygnus Security Group of publications -- SecurityInfoWatch.com, Security Technology & Design and Security Dealer -- are out here in San Diego, Calif., where the weather's awful. Ok, we're pulling your leg on that last part. We just wrapped up Day 1 of the 2006 ASIS International Seminars and Exhibits, and I think after reviewing all the technology, we're on a little bit of a buzz. From new digital signal processing in cameras to analytics systems, to PoE switches, to Ethernet managed door hardware (yes, right to the door itself), we've seen a bit of everything. Look for our show reports over on www.securityinfowatch.com/asis2006 , and if you're out here, please stop by at booth 1029, drop off a business card and say... -
The South American Security Tour
By Geoff Kohl - Friday September 15, 2006I just returned from approximately two weeks in Peru, and while I was there for a little R&R, I can never seem to take off my security hat. While most of my time was spent in rural areas slinging a camera and enjoying the natural wonders of the Incans, I couldn’t help but bump into a bit of "security" along the way, so I want to share some observations: 1) Security lines are better than ever. I flew out on Labor Day weekend, a pretty popular weekend as far as flying goes, but TSA security lines seemed faster than ever at the Atlanta airport. I chalk it up to more checked luggage as people are putting items like hair gels and shampoo bottles into their checked luggage, and only bringing the on-plane essentials through the...
