Commentary & Opinion

A widely held belief in the law enforcement community is that the more information sharing that takes place among different agencies, the better opportunities law enforcement officials have to connect the dots on possible criminal activity. Tips and leads, or Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from citizens, can help piece together what otherwise might remain silos of pertinent clues or data -- never a connection to be made.

With the European Commission poised to announce sweeping data protection legislation, it's imperative that U.S.-based organizations take a closer look at putting reliable, robust systems in place for protecting data. It would be wise for U.S. organizations to commit resources now to protecting data in anticipation of the new EU laws that will soon be unveiled, even if they are not doing business abroad.

Since the commercialization of the Internet, there has been an evolution with how cyber criminals are conducting malicious activities on Websites. They are finding more and more ways to steal information, commit fraud, game Website logic and impact business operations. Central to the explosion of cybercrime in recent years is the continued evolution of rich Internet applications and exposure of critical business operations to the Web.

Despite increased awareness about cybersecurity threats, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. 

It’s a distressing feeling when you’re in the middle of an unfolding disaster, and suddenly it hits you -- your plans and resources are being overwhelmed by the event. At this point or soon thereafter, you’ll likely ask yourself a series of questions: How and when will we re-establish services for customers and employees? What will this disaster cost us in terms of revenue, reputation and recovery expenses? How can we avoid being in this position again?

Protecting data is critical to government agencies and, most important, for the military. Incorporating Transmission Security (TRANSEC) for Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)-based Communications on the Move (COTM) satellite systems is a necessity because, in combat situations, even a small spike in traffic can be a critical piece of intelligence for an adversary or foreign government.

The word tornado came from the Spanish word "tronada" which means a thunderstorm. Also known as a twister, a tornado is a violent spiral-shaped storm with a rapidly rotating column of air rising upward, forming a vortex. The vortex has relatively low pressure at the center and is shaped like a funnel.

When reports emerged from Blacksburg, VA, last Thursday afternoon that a shooter had descended upon Virginia Tech’s campus, confirmation that a campus police officer had been killed and headlines of a possible second victim overwhelmed news channels, Websites and every social media outlet.

Throughout the day, there was a jarring litany of that old cliché by anyone that remembers the unspeakable tragedies of April 2007, which claimed 33 lives on Virginia Tech’s campus:

History really does repeat itself.

From the time it capsized at a refinery dock in Texas City, the listing barge -- loaded with 235,000 gallons of sulfuric acid -- began seeping its toxic, corrosive load into the 30-foot-deep waterway.

The water mixing with sulfuric acid inside the hull had begun to corrode the steel. This process reduced the barge’s structural integrity and created reactions inside the sealed compartment that generated a cloud of highly-flammable, highly-pressurized hydrogen gas -- just one spark away from a calamitous blast.

It was time for new plan.

By Adam Powers
From WikiLeaks to Anonymous, 2011 has been marked by an explosion of high-profile cyber attacks. With so many types of attacks to keep track of, it has become difficult to delineate between various threat vectors and determine which ones should be of most concern.
In the past, attacks were often classified by the method used -- virus, botnet, etc. However, due to their ever-increasing sophistication, it is now more valuable to think in terms of the motivation behind attacks to better evaluate their risk.