Critical Infrastructure

The SecurityInfoWatch.com Critical Infrastructure category is a collection of news, analysis, and other information relevant to security professionals who work in or provide services to the Critical Infrastructure market. It covers issues pertaining to security management as well as security technology deployments at utilities, airports, transit operators, oil and petrochemical facilities, and other critical infrastructure operators.

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Video: TSA's top 10 most bizarre finds of 2019

A look at some of most unusual items found at airport security checkpoints last year

Look back at three of 2019’s biggest developments in the security industry, with analysis on how they will impact the industry in the months and years to come.

2019 Trends to Shape 2020 Security Business Outlook

Security Business Jan. 2020 Cover Story: Analysts identify the top three trends of the past year, along with their potential impact in the months and years to come

Explosion-proof cameras can help integrators provide value in the emerging oil & gas vertical.

Surveillance Technology Creates Opportunities in Oil & Gas Market

How explosion-proof cameras can help integrators provide value in this emerging vertical

The FLIR Elara DX-Series.

FLIR Systems’ Elara DX-Series, Saros, DM-series and Quasar 4K IR PTZ Cameras

Three new PTZ cameras provide long- or short-range perimeter protection in all conditions

Over the past year there has been a major escalation in incidents involving Iranian forces including the alleged bombing of ships within the Arabian Gulf, support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and the alleged drone attack on the Aramco oil refinery at Abqaiq; the chance that Soleimani was not involved would appear to be slim.

Where do Middle East tensions leave global businesses?

With the recent assassination of Iranian General Qaseem Soleimani, global organizations wait for more fallout

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Sunday called for the TSA to quickly roll out technology designed to thwart terrorist attacks at transit hubs.

Schumer bumps heads with TSA over stalled bomb-tracking tech for NYC transit hubs

Senator accuses feds of keeping technology in 'testing limbo'

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating another security incident at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, regarding a possible access control violation. It is at least the fourth security incident at the airport since October 2018. Time for a culture change, writes the editorial board.

Latest security breach at Cleveland airport highlights need for culture change

Details regarding recent access control violation at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport remain sparse

A privacy group is suing the MTA over its apparent use of facial recognition technology at a busy Manhattan subway station.

Privacy group sues MTA over use of facial recognition at Times Square subway station

STOP decries use of alleged 'spy tools,' seeks release of records on use of tech

In the wake of rising tensions, recent military strikes between the U.S. and Iran and a Ukrainian jet crash, the Federal Aviation Administration has barred U.S. civilian flights over Iraq, Iran, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

FAA bars U.S. civil flights over Iran, Iraq amid rising Middle East tensions

Notice comes as Ukrainian jet crashes after taking off from airport in Tehran

The coffins of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and others are carried on a truck through Tehran during a funeral procession on Monday, Jan. 6, 2019. Suleimani and the others were killed by the United States on Friday in Baghdad in a drone strike.

DHS issues terror threat bulletin in wake of Soleimani killing

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf says there is 'no specific, credible threat against the homeland'

Honeywell acquires gas monitoring solution provider

Public Transportation infrastructure faces a diverse threat environment that ranges from attacks against individuals by mentally unstable actors to cyber threats from common criminals or state actors - or state actors posing as common criminals.

Public transportation threat matrix evolves with geo-political climate

Delta Air Lines begins to allow passengers to use facial recognition cameras to confirm their identity at an LAX boarding gate on Sept. 6, 2019. Sea-Tac in Seattle is the first airport to resist the federal push for biometric identification technologies.

Wash. airport resists federal push for facial recognition, other biometric technologies

Passive counter-drone systems typically leverage some form of RF scanning, radar, Lidar, video-based object recognition, and detection of drone connectivity suites.

Counter-Drone Tech

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Video: Leading the charge in smart/safe city tech deployments

A conversation with keynote panelists at the 2019 BICSI Fall Conference and Exhibition

A traveler reaches for his bag as luggage moves around a baggage claim at Gate C on March 10, 2017, at DFW International Airport in Dallas.

Former airline employee sentenced for trying to smuggle meth onto commercial flights at Dallas airport

Man one of 12 people charged in plot that exploited employee access at DFW

New details about the man accused of sneaking onto the Logan International Airport tarmac and into a plane’s cargo hold were released Tuesday as the suspect missed his scheduled arraignment because he was in a mental health facility.

Man sneaks onto tarmac, enters plane's cargo hold at Boston airport

Suspect misses arraignment after being hospitalized at mental health facility

A former CTA computer programmer has sued the agency, alleging that he was forced to resign for pointing out a security flaw in the bus alert system.

Ex-CTA employee claims he was fired after reporting security glitch

Man files whistleblower complaint against transit authority, technology company

Although the FAA Reauthorization Act signed into law late last year gives the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to disable drones that pose a threat to buildings or other assets, the use of counter-drone technology is still limited to the federal government and military, leaving end-users and the vast majority of law enforcement agencies in a tough position. Even the limited authority given to DHS is now be called into question by lawmakers as recently released details on how the agency plans to mitigate the threat has raised concerns.

Federal, local use of counter-UAS solutions still up in the air

Despite rising threats, lawmakers have yet to settle issues surrounding the technology’s deployment

A man was caught Friday trying to bring two sticks of explosives through security at Hancock International Airport, according to a spokeswoman for the Transportation Safety Administration.

TSA: Man tried to board flight at N.Y. airport with C-4 in luggage

Man also reported had a knife, empty machine gun clip in checked bag

Delta Air Lines, Sea-Tac’s second-largest carrier, is implementing facial recognition to use with international travelers at its gates by year-end.

Delta to use facial recognition system at Wash. airport

Technology to be used on passengers traveling internationally

Once again, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the agency whose central role is to efficiently shuttle around hundreds of thousands of people a day, is struggling to fulfill a more basic mandate: making customers feel safe.

Fatal stabbing exposes rider safety challenges faced by Calif. transit authority

Violent crimes have more than doubled at BART over the past four years

Ste Connect Transit

Transportation sector ripe with security threats

An in-depth look at why the sector is a disaster waiting to happen

Sku E3 Cabinet 1200

Elemec3 (E3) Public Address and General Alarm (PA/GA) system from Gai-tronics

Systems ideal for Oil & Gas Platforms, FPSOs, Power Generation Plants, Refineries, Chemical Plants and industrial facilities

NanoLock Security joins with Mekorot to deliver cyber protection for water and energy utilities

NanoLock and Mekorot collaborate on device-level cyber defense solutions to protect critical infrastructure from outsider, insider and supply chain cyberattacks.

Hackers-turned-activists, environmental extremists, unscrupulous competitors and hostile foreign governments are among a “laundry list of actors” targeting the U.S. energy sector online, FBI agents warned this week.

FBI warns energy sector about cyber threats

Security official says U.S. energy sector remains 'extremely vulnerable' to cyberattacks

A major security operation was unleashed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday evening over a false alarm that an Air Europa plane had been hijacked.

False hijacking alarm triggers major security response at Amsterdam airport

Pilot reportedly set off alarm mistakenly during boarding procedure

Managing Director Jack Cabasso and his wife Frances, along with four other Adventura employees were arrested and later arraigned before a United States Magistrate on a criminal complaint charging the surveillance and security equipment company with selling Chinese-made equipment with known cybersecurity vulnerability to government and private customers while falsely representing that the equipment was made in the United States and concealing that the products were manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Aventura executives arrested for fraud and money laundering in Long Island raid

Seven defendants, including managing director Jack Cabasso, charged with selling Chinese-made security products falsely claiming them as U.S. made