Security Director News Top Stories

New York seeks to bring hammer down on professional shoplifters

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

ALBANY, N.Y.—The New York State Senate this week passed legislation that makes it felony to use "booster bags" and other anti-security devices to steal merchandise from retailers, according to a press release from the bill's sponsor, Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr.
Booster bags are crafted to prevent security devices at store exits from detecting stolen merchandise. The bags can be as rudimentary as a simple shopping bag lined with aluminum foil. "Current penalties are inadequate in deterring professional shoplifters from using booster bags to plunder store shelves," Fuschillo said in a statement. "That needs to change, and that’s exactly what this legislation would do."
Currently, shoplifters caught using booster bags face misdemeanor charges unless the value of the stolen goods is more than $1,000. Sen. Fuschillo's proposed law would make shoplifters who use a booster bag or other anti-security device to steal merchandise guilty of grand larceny in the fourth degree, a class E felony punishable by up to four years in jail. In addition, the legislation would raise the penalty for criminally possessing a booster bag or other anti-security device from up to three months in jail to up to one year in jail, in addition to any other applicable charges.
The legislation is “strongly supported” by the Retail Council of New York State, which said organized retail crime is the most serious security issue facing merchants of all sizes.
The legislation has been sent to the New York State Assembly for consideration. The Senate approved the same piece of legislation in 2011, but the Assembly failed to act on it that time.

Schools seek 'easy-button' approach to mass notification systems

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

After the 2007 Virginia Tech incident, colleges and universities in the United States and Canada rushed to implement more robust mass notification systems to better communicate with students and staff in times of emergency.
Initially, those systems sent text messages, emails and automated phone calls. But they were often slow and clunky, susceptible to failure or reliant on unreliable platforms, such as an over-burdened local cellular network, according to experts who spoke to Security Director News for this story.
Over the years, as money became available, schools invested in their mass notification systems, adding layers of communication that ensure redundancy on top of their existing systems, such as digital signage in classrooms and meeting areas, outdoor and indoor sirens, and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
However, more robust mass notification systems have created their own challenges, according to Berkly Trumbo, a national business manager for enterprise solutions and an emergency management specialist at Siemens. Schools added layers to their mass notification systems "without having a roadmap," Trumbo said, which has led to problems integrating them all into one solution.
While the need for multiple layers is very real, the reality is the more non-integrated layers there are, the longer it takes to send an alert, according to Dave Bujak, emergency management coordinator at Florida State University. Imagine having to open multiple user interfaces to activate each layer. Shaving time off that process is a major trend in colleges and universities, Bujak told SDN. "Because when seconds mean the difference between life and death, you can't afford minutes to issue warnings."
Reducing the amount of time it takes to activate its mass notification system is the driver behind Florida State University's "easy-button project," which it has been developing with Siemens for the past two years, Bujak said. The project is "days away" from its launch, Bujak said.
FSU is among the country's most aggressive schools when it comes to developing an integrated mass notification system, Bujak said. The school now identifies 32 layers as part of its system. (To compare, FSU had six layers at the time of the Virginia Tech shooting.) Those 32 layers are broken down into 10 "primary" modes of contact, including the FSU website, desktop alerts, emails, text messages and indoor and outdoor sirens; nine "secondary" modes of contact, which include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FSU's mobile app, and voice messages; and a dozen "tertiary" modes of communication, such as "television media" and "word of mouth."
When the school has done surveys following tests or legitimate uses of its mass notification system, Bujak said the responses to the question about which delivery method the student or faculty member received first are across the board. "No one system truly dominates," he said, highlighting the need for a multi-layered approach. "There's a Catch-22 to that—the more systems you have the longer it takes to activate them."
In a best case scenario, such as when Bujak is sitting at his desk getting reports of a tornado warning and wants to activate the school's mass notification system, it would take him about 10 minutes to utilize all 19 primary and secondary layers, he estimated. The new easy-button, which is literally a box with eight buttons, one per scenario, that would sit with the campus police dispatchers, would allow for a one-click solution. "Two years ago I would push buttons in 10 minutes with full delivery in an hour," Bujak said. "Now, within days, I will be able to push a button in five seconds and have delivery in three minutes."
The new "easy-button" system is built on top of FSU's existing infrastructure, which was a project requirement, Bujak said. He looked at many options for an integrated mass notification system, but many required FSU to flush its existing systems and build from scratch, something he refused to do. Since the new "easy-button" solution is built on top of FSU's existing infrastructure, if it fails Bujak will still have the old manual activation method to fall back on.
Many schools will be watching what happens at FSU. "The desire to be there is universal, and while we're one of the first, I can name off dozens of schools who are intimately watching this project and close to slapping down money and signing contracts," Bujak said.
Beyond mass notification systems, the large schools (25,000 students and more) will look to integrate all safety and security elements—mass notification, surveillance cameras and access control—into one "total campus safety and security solution … for enterprise-level situational awareness," according to Trumbo. "That's the true tip of the spear—where everything is evolving towards," he said. "It doesn't change the culture of the university from the student perspective, but it gives safety and security folks a lot more command and control, real-time actionable intelligence and situational awareness."

ASIS elevates Women in Security to full council

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The ASIS Women in Security Group will become an official ASIS Ad-Hoc Council beginning in February 2012, according to the international organization for security professionals.
The group, which was originally formed in 2009 with a few dozen members, now has nearly 2,000 female and male members.
The new Women in Security Council will be chaired by Linda Harmon of Accenture, along with co-chair Normadene Murphy of Guardsmark.
The move to a council will allow more female leaders throughout the organization and the industry to become involved with the group at the national level. It also means the group is being transferred from ASIS’s strategic operations department to its education department.
As it moves into a council, the group retains its original mission statement: “The ASIS Women in Security Group's mission is to foster discussion of issues particular to women in the workplace and, through tailored programming and mentoring, develop career paths for women in security.”
The group will continue to support programming and mentoring for women in the industry, and plans to again have specialty sessions at the 2012 Seminar in Philadelphia.

Sentry360 integrates cameras with Genetec VMS

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

PLAINFIELD, Ill.—Sentry360 has announced the integration of their FullSight and Insight family of multi-megapixel surveillance cameras with the Genetec Security Center enterprise video management software.
“This partnership represents a major leap for Sentry360’s business and empowers Genetec customers to utilize our advanced products on their existing system," Thomas Carnevale, Sentry360’s CEO, said in a statement.
The collaboration will allow Genetec customers access to Sentry360's cameras, which include those with resolutions up to 10 mega-pixel and 360-degree omni-directional cameras. “Our clients have been requesting we add 360-degree video surveillance cameras to our supported hardware list," Morgan Pasnon, senior technology alliance manager at Genetec, said in a statement."Sentry360’s product line is the first of its kind which has image dewarping integrated into our Security Center.”

TSA report: Video analytics at Buffalo's airport 100 percent accurate

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

BUFFALO, N.Y.—After testing the Buffalo Niagara International Airport’s perimeter security system more than 900 times, evaluators working for the Transportation Security Administration have confirmed that the airport's video analytics were 100 percent accurate, according to a recent TSA report (pdf download).
In early March 2011, National Safe Skies Alliance, performing independent verification and validation services for the TSA, conducted more than 900 test scenarios to challenge the SightLogix SightSensor thermal camera system throughout several regions of the Buffalo Airport. The TSA report states that “each alarm prompted the system to display the alarm video, location information, nearest camera reference numbers, date and time, and an audible alarm signal.”
The SightLogix system included Thermal SightSensor video analytics cameras for detecting and tracking intrusions over large areas and SightTracker PTZ controllers to automatically steer Pelco cameras to zoom and follow detected targets, according to a press release from the company. Fixed Thermal SightSensors were installed to protect critical regions of the perimeter and to provide automated monitoring to detect people or vehicles moving from the public side toward the runway. Cameras were positioned to provide additional surveillance across multiple access gates and portions of the perimeter that are adjacent to public roadways. Video and alarm data was networked to a central monitoring station via fiber-optic cable.
“Achieving effective outdoor security comes down to detection accuracy, intrusion assessment, and solution cost,” John Romanowich, president and CEO of SightLogix, said in a statement. “This TSA test validates that the selection requirements have been met and can be replicated at other airport perimeters.”
Additionally, the TSA report states that “SightSensor target tracking capabilities were available and 100 percent functional throughout the evaluation period” and that integrating the SightSensors into the existing video management system was “smooth and without issue.”

Two surveys expose clashing opinions on physical and logical security convergence

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

YARMOUTH, Maine—The discussion about the convergence of physical and information security is not new, but it seems there's still disagreement among security professionals about its importance.
Case in point: Two recent surveys on the issue show very different results. In InformationWeek's 2012 Physical/Logical Security Survey, which surveyed 334 North American business technology decision-makers, when asked if their corporation's physical and information security departments are integrated, 50 percent answered: "No, and we have no plans to do so."
That result differ significantly from a similar survey recently released by the ASIS International European Security Convergence committee and The Information Security Awareness Forum. This survey asked 216 security professionals from across the physical and information security community in Europe to weigh in on the convergence question. When these individuals were asked a similar question—"Do you think combing security activities is important/useful?"—only 11 percent answered: "No, we do not see combining/convergence as relevant," which, as the survey points out, "still leaves nearly 90 percent who do see it as relevant."
Of respondents in the European survey who said convergence is relevant, the majority (71 percent) said it is important "because of blended physical/digital threats," while 47 percent said it is important "because of new physical security technology" and 46 percent said it is important "because of cost saving opportunities."
One of the reasons for the disparity between the survey results when it comes to the important of convergence could be cultural differences between Europe and the United States, Don Fergus, an independent cybersecurity consultant and chair of ASIS International's IT Security Council, told Security Director News. "In Europe there is much more importance put toward privacy and data protection as a right to the citizenry," said Fergus. "So, as a result there's more of a need for physical security guys and the information security guys to collaborate because privacy data is everywhere, both physical and electronic. So I think that's a key difference between the U.S. and Europe."
The results from the InformationWeek survey prompted its author, Michael Davis, CEO of Savid Technologies, to begin the report with the declaration: "The wheels have officially come off the security convergence bandwagon."
However, Fergus told SDN that the while the term 'convergence' has been discussed for several years now, it means different things to different people. Initially, he said, most security professionals considered migrating IP-based video cameras to a network the extent of convergence. "You didn't have to call it convergence to say you're going to run video over an IP network or bring together physical and logical access control. That's just a natural," Fergus said. "Convergence to me, though, is cultural and organizational as much as it is infrastructural."
The wheels may have fallen off in relation to access control and IP video, Fergus said, but when discussing true organizational convergence, "the wheels haven't really turned too much let alone fallen off."
According to the InformationWeek survey, the 50 percent of respondents who said they have no plans to integrate their physical and information security groups is relatively unchanged since the same question was asked in its 2009 poll. "So what have these folks with internal physical security operations been up to?" Davis asks. "Not much."
Davis goes on to say that 88 percent of respondents "are limiting their efforts to minor upgrades, gradually moving from a legacy to an IP-based system, or just maintaining what they have." Only seven percent of respondents reported plans for major overhauls within the next 12 months.
Both reports go into much more detail about their survey results. The InformationWeek survey can be found here, while the ASIS International European Security Convergence committee/Information Security Awareness Forum survey summary can be found here.

VidSys names new CEO

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

VIENNA, Va.—VidSys last week welcomed Michael P. Jackson as its new chairman and CEO, according to a press release from the company, which offers physical security information management software.
Jackson has been on the PSIM provider's board since 2009, according to the release. “VidSys has established itself as the leader in the PSIM market," Jackson said in the release. "As both the company and market continue to mature, I look forward to being part of this outstanding team, and continuing to innovate and support the security management needs of our public and private sector clients."
Jackson has been an entrepreneur and public official, but he is well versed in the security realm, having served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security between 2005 and 2007. Other past posts include deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation from 2001 to 2003, senior vice president of AECOM Technology Corp., and COO of Lockheed Martin IMS’s Transportation Systems and Services.

The future leaders of the security profession

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Each year, Security Director News takes time away from reporting the news and views of interest to the security professional, and reports on the security professionals themselves.
Our 20 Under 40 list, populated by security professionals under the age of 40, gives us the opportunity to reach out to our readers and ask them: Who are the young, up-and-coming security professionals being noticed? Who's exhibiting the characteristics that will make a future leader of the profession?
We were thrilled to receive more than 100 nominations for this year's list. Hard decisions were made, but we think we've highlighted 20 of the most distinguished security professionals in the business today who are under 40 years of age.
We have security professionals from such high-profile companies like Facebook, Chevron, FedEx Office, Ernst & Young, Thomson Reuters and Office Depot. We also have security professionals from the higher education (Georgetown University), healthcare (Alamance Regional Medical Center) and municipal (City of Toronto) sectors.
The list includes several former police officers, several ex-military personnel and a former FBI employee. However, the majority of the members on this list came up through the ranks of security professionals, from such humble beginnings as being a 17-year-old loss prevention associate at Kmart to having a summer job installing security camera systems. But through hard work, dedication, and a passion for the profession, these 20 individuals have risen up through the ranks and are being noticed. You may have heard of them. They sit on boards, chair committees, and champion causes. They may very well be the future leaders of the security profession.
Without further ado, I present Security Director News' 20 Under 40, Class of 2012, presented in alphabetical order by last name. (Note: Each name links to that individual's profile.)
Kevin Ach, Senior Director of Loss Prevention, International, Office Depot
Stuart Benson, Security Advisor, Corporate Security, City of Ottawa
Jason Carroll, Director of Public Safety, Ivy Tech Community College-Central Indiana
Josh Carver, Associate Director of Corporate Security, Shire Pharmaceutical
Katherine Chadwick Johnson, Senior Analyst, Global Security & Global Compliance, Harsco Corp.
Whit Chaiyabhat, Director of Emergency Management & Operational Continuity, Georgetown University
Christopher Chapeta, Physical Security Specialist, Chevron
Jeffrey Chulick, Director of Workplace & Enablement, Ernst & Young
Ray Cotton, Manager of Physical Security Operations, Facebook
Chris Cromer, Director of Security and Special Projects Lead, Old Dominion Security, serving Alamance Regional Medical Center
Brendan Fitzgerald, Manager of Special Investigations, BJ's Wholesale Club
Carlos Galvez Jr., Manager of Global Protective Services, Cisco Systems
Seth Mecum, District Office Security Manager, U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Nevada
Siomary Melendez, Global Security Manager, Thomson Reuters
Jeffrey Plouffe, Assistant Vice President, Security Specialist, First Niagara Bank
Jonathan Raecek, Managing Director, Security and Loss Prevention, FedEx Office
Michael Ramstack, Senior Security Manager, Covance Laboratories
Andrew Robinson, Supervisor of Buildings Security, City of Toronto
Rob Saxton, Security Technology Supervisor, FirstEnergy Corp.
Jason White, Director of Safety & Security, Hershey Entertainment Complex

American Alarm takes on the Brink's robbery

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

ARLINGTON, Mass.—The men behind the Great Brink’s Robbery of 1950 used months of training and calculation to pull off what the media of the day called “the crime of the century.” But could a heist like Brink’s be pulled off today, given the security technologies now commonplace at U.S. banks?
The Travel Channel wanted to find out, so it went to an expert in the field: American Alarm & Communications, based here.
As part of its “Hidden City” series with host Marcus Sakey, the network traveled to Boston last summer to film a segment that aired on Dec. 13. The producers took on the legacies of the Boston Strangler, Whitey Bulger and the men behind the Brink’s caper.
The heist at the North End depository on Jan. 17, 1950 netted more than $2.7 million in cash and securities, which at the time was the largest robbery in U.S. history. While all 11 members of the gang were eventually arrested and eight were sentenced to life in prison, most of the money was never recovered.
To see how bank security technology has evolved in the wake of Brink’s, the Travel Channel reached out to American Alarm, which handles the systems and monitoring for more than 500 bank branches in the Boston area. Sakey and the network’s crew filmed at American Alarm’s command center in Arlington and at its former central station.
Wells Sampson, president of American Alarm, gave Sakey a tour of the command center and described the modern security systems that banks employ. Despite their thoroughness and preparation, the Brink’s robbers likely would be thwarted by today’s technologies, Sampson said.
“Multi-layered security systems in place today would make this kind of robbery extremely difficult,” he told Security Systems News. “The locks on doors now, and the access control systems, are far more sophisticated. It’s not just a question of duplicating keys, because in many cases there are no keys.”
Sampson said the Brink’s gang had to overcome five bank employees—some of them serving as armed guards—and five conventional door locks to gain access to where the money was being counted and stored.
“They planned the job for months and were able to steal the lock cylinders, one at a time, and make duplicate keys, then replace the lock cylinders before anyone noticed,” he said. “So they had keys, walked right in and surprised the guards.”
Locks would be the least of their problems today, Sampson said.
“People need access cards, PIN numbers, and may also need biometric authentication to enter a heavily restricted area,” he said. “Then, the motion detectors and video surveillance would have detected the intrusion in seconds, long before the robbers would have made it up into the (second floor) counting room. Furthermore, there would be panic buttons in various locations, and an employee most surely would have been able to hit one unnoticed.”
All of these systems are covered by 24/7/365 monitoring over multiple communications channels, Sampson said, which means help can be dispatched to the scene in seconds.
“So while it’s hard to say ‘never,’ I think it’s extremely unlikely the Brink’s robbers could have done today what they did in 1950,” he said.
Additional monitoring technologies are coming that will extend protection for banks, with an increased focus on biometrics.
“Megapixel cameras and networked recording will get stronger and more intelligent,” Sampson said. “Facial recognition technologies will be improved and layered in, so the ability to capture images of robbers and push pictures to law enforcement in real time (will be) widespread. Facial recognition systems could also be applied to ATM locations, to verify that the person at the machine is, in fact, the account holder. Remote video monitoring for incident authentication, I think, will also become more widespread, so those are a few areas to watch.”
Visit the Travel Channel's website for more on the Brink’s heist.

ISS expands into Carolinas

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

MIAMI—Propelled by a major job with a financial services provider, Integrated Security Services recently expanded into North and South Carolina.
“We have technicians and management in place in the Carolinas,” ISS CEO Jeffrey Nunberg told Security Systems News, sister paper to Security Director News. “ISS is fully staffed and provides a full suite of security and life-safety systems design and service. … We have complete coverage in Florida and the Carolinas.”
ISS will be opening an office in the Carolinas, likely in the Charlotte region in the near future, and “could end up with multiple offices up there,” Nunberg said.
In business since 1962, ISS does CCTV, fire, access, and life safety and mass notification systems. It specializes in design-build projects and has in-house engineering, consultation, AutoCAD, construction and service departments.
With 60 employees and 2011 revenues of more than $10 million, Nunberg said, “we’re having our best year in over 30 years.”
ISS previously had multiple offices in Florida, but closed those offices when the construction market collapsed in 2008. “About 70 percent of our revenue came from new construction [before 2008] and that turned off like a tap,” Nunberg said. ISS closed its sales offices but retained employees around the state who work remotely. “We spent the next two years rebuilding the business and working more consultatively with end users,” he explained.
ISS landed jobs in the pharmaceutical manufacturing, utilities, health care and financial services vertical and a large fire job for the Marlins baseball stadium. “In the fourth quarter of 2010, we started operating in the black again, and that growth carried over into 2011. We grew 40 percent last year,” Nunberg said.
ISS was hired by an electric utility for a multi-year project to upgrade its analog cameras to IP, many with analytics. “In 2010 we did about 60 percent of their work, now we do about 98 percent of their work,” he said. The utility has about 1,000 unmanned substations and copper theft is a problem. ISS is installing thousands of cameras and Nunberg said the VideoIQ product is working well for that.
The financial services project in the Carolinas involved updating 200 locations that have legacy burglar alarm systems to new DMP systems. “It’s a complete overhaul, a 100 percent redo,” he said. The corporate sites will have their access control systems converted to a Lenel platform. That platform will be integrated to 1,000-plus locations, he said.
That job will be completed in the next six months, but maintenance and service will be ongoing. “My goal is to get a smooth operation moving for this client, and then to grow that territory,” he said.