​BUSINESS NEWS

The AMBER Alert program has helped recover more than 500 missing children since 1996. Because the first three hours after a child is abducted are the most critical, AMBER Alerts are designed to reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible so they can be on the lookout for the child.

Radio, television, and electronic traffic sign notifications have been around since the early days, and people can also register to receive the alerts via cell phone. Now, the AMBER Alert program is available on Facebook. Users can sign up to receive statewide bulletins, which will be delivered via the site’s News Feed feature.

AMBER Alert is a voluntary partnership involving law enforcement agencies and broadcasters. It was conceived following the abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman, and the acronym stands for America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. The program is overseen by the U.S. Department of Just ice, and the wireless initiative is enabled by the wireless industry, including CTIA-The Wireless Association, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Find out how to sign up for cell phone and Facebook alerts via www.securitymanagement.com.

PARTNERSHIPS AND DEALS

An AvigilonHD surveillance system provides security as well as training and performance validation at Damar Services, a residential care facility for developmentally disabled children in Indianapolis.

Confidex is supplying its specialty RFID tags to IBM Denmark for use by Container Centralen as electronic seals to authenticate its CC Container shipping trolleys and reduce counterfeiting.

Matrix switchers and fiber-optic modems from Infinova are transmitting video images within the Yiwu International Commercial Center in China.

Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota has chosen NaviGate from Lauren Innovations to improve its emergency and safety plans and coordinate with local first responders.

Mobile Tornado Group plc announced that NECO will deliver its push-to-talk mobile communications services in South Africa.

OSS, Inc., has contracted with Grubb & Ellis Management Services Inc. to provide security guard services for offices at Lakewood Centre North and Tower East Commercial Building, both located in Cleveland, Ohio.

Raytheon Company and the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) are establishing the UCLA Center for Public Safety Network Systems, which will bring together academia, industry, and public agencies to provide leadership and establish standards for public safety networks.

Thales has provided its hardware security modules to North Dallas Bank & Trust Company to enable in-house PIN verification for ATM and debit transactions.

Bavaria, S.A., is implementing Nextiva IP video management software from Verint Systems Inc.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

ADT Security Services has installed surveillance cameras and other security equipment in a new public housing community built and managed by the Houston Housing Authority in Texas.

Atlantic CommTech Corporation was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for procurement and support of electronic security, fire, and other infrastructure systems worldwide for Department of Defense and other agencies.

MIC Cameras from Bosch Security Systems were selected for a coastal remote monitoring program for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Ballarat, Australia, has deployed an IP video surveillance system from IndigoVision, which is monitored by Victoria Police.

ManTech International Corporation has won a contract to provide cybersecurity services to the FBI.

MOBOTIX has an agreement with Berkeley County, West Virginia, to integrate surveillance infrastructure across multiple buildings.

Salient Stills announced that its VideoFOCUS Pro has been adopted by the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Polish Police as the standard for video forensics systems.

Smiths Detection has received an order from Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority for advanced x-ray systems for use at airport baggage checkpoints.

AWARDS AND CERTIFICATIONS

Digital Defense, Inc., has received formal revalidation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for conforming to the Security Content Automation Protocol standard.

HID Global has earned global certification of compliance with International Organization for Standardization ISO 9001:2008 specifications.

The Asian Games Organization Committee recognized Infinova with its Outstanding Safeguard Award for keeping stadiums and venues safe during games held in Guangzhou, China, last fall.

NABCO, Inc., announced that its explosive containment vessels and magazines have received approval from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as qualified anti-terrorism technologies under the SAFETY Act.

TeleEye Group received the 2010 Award of Excellence in Intellectual Capital Management from the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Intellectual Property Department.

Toshiba Surveillance & IP Video Products was recognized by the iF International Forum with a product design award for the Toshiba IK-WB16A IP network camera.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Accuvant, Inc., has established a Canadian subsidiary in Toronto, Ontario. The new business is called Accuvant Canada Inc.

Axis Communications has created an official examination for the Axis Certification Program. Open to security professionals who wish to validate their competence in IP video surveillance, the test is offered at Prometric testing centers.

CipherOptics is changing its name to Certes Networks. The company is relocating its headquarters to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the former headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, will remain open, supporting engineering, operations, and marketing.

Dunbar BankPak, a subsidiary of the Dunbar Companies, has changed its name to Dunbar Security Products, reflecting its wider range of product offerings.

The Financial Services Technology Consortium, a division of the Financial Services Roundtable, has released best practices and technical guidelines for RFID tracking in the financial industry.

Fire-Lite Alarms by Honeywell has expanded its 2011 training offerings to cover three courses and even more locations. Descriptions, schedules, and registration are available at www.firelite.com.

The National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc., has acquired the Workplace Violence Prevention Reporter. The publication will be combined with the Special Report on Work place Violence in the Health Care Industry and will be called the Workplace Violence Prevention eReport.

Securitas has acquired the Netherlands-based Interseco, a consulting, investigation, security, and training firm. Securitas has also acquired Chubb Security Personnel, a guard services provider in the United Kingdom.

Shred Right and Document Destruction Service Ltd., both of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, have merged to create the largest locally owned information destruction company in the upper Midwest.

ASIS NEWS

LELC Hosts Panel on Partnerships
There’s no more asking why public-private partnerships matter, the only question now is how to create effective ones, Richard C. LaMagna, CPP, a retired drug enforcement officer, told a gathering of ASIS International’s Law Enforcement Liaison Council (LELC). LaMagna was one speaker during a panel discussion at the ASIS Annual Volunteer Leadership Conference held in Alexandria, Virginia, in January.

The 27-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a former security director for Microsoft, explained that necessary ingredients for successful public-private partnerships between law enforcement and the private sector could be multiplied and strengthened. Also among LaMagna’s insights were the importance of mutual understanding and respect between collaborating entities as well as the need for candor and openness. He also stressed that a partnership must be just that—information and support cannot flow primarily one way.

The DEA’s Chief Inspector James M. Kasson told LELC members that law enforcement needs help from voluntary organizations like ASIS. “We want to partner,” he said.

Timothy Gallagher, a section chief at the FBI’s Cyber Division, agreed. “The more we work together, the better off we are,” he said.

LaMagna, head of his own consulting firm, described how collaborating with law enforcement was smart business and simply the right thing to do. Recounting his days at Microsoft, he told of how the company actively began building public-private partnerships between the software industry and law enforcement to tackle issues such as counterfeiting and child exploitation.

To facilitate trust and collaboration among the company and law enforcement agencies across the world, Microsoft helped to train 3,400 police officers and prosecutors in online investigative skills and provided technology, such as the Child Exploit Tracking System, to enable different law enforcement agencies to coordinate investigations across jurisdictions.

LaMagna called the Microsoft initiatives he helped guide an act of “good corporate citizenship.”

During the question and answer period of the discussion, panelists and participants focused on how public-private partnerships could help prevent the exploitation of children online in the workplace. Two best practices that companies should implement immediately, according to panelists, are Web filtering and crafting HR policies to make looking at child pornography on company networks a firing offense.

The FBI’s Gallagher told the group that Web filters bring other benefits besides stopping employees from looking at objectionable material. They also promote network security since many pornography sites carry malware.

Steve Chupa, CPP, director of worldwide security for Johnson & Johnson and past president of ASIS International, said companies should not hesitate to terminate employees who look at child pornography. At Johnson & Johnson, not only are employees caught looking at child porn fired, but the company also passes on the information to the police and the person faces criminal charges, he said.

The discussion frequently touched on how the Internet has revolutionized society, both for good and evil. Unlike a decade or two ago, the rise of online communications makes communication and collaboration easier for law enforcement. LaMagna said today that nothing’s stopping a San Francisco cop from directly contacting police in Hong Kong because of the Web, whereas in an earlier era that cop would likely have needed federal law enforcement’s help to establish a relationship.

Throughout the discussion, panelists stressed the necessity of law enforcement and the private sector working together and using new technologies to fight crime and terrorism.

Kathleen Kiernan—who is the chair of InfraGard, an FBI-led public-private partnership, and a former assistant director at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives—challenged LELC members to facilitate even more productive partnerships between private and government security professionals. Quoting the noted cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, Kiernan noted, “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

She also called on the LELC to spread the word to the rest of the ASIS community that InfraGard is always looking to expand its ranks. Created by an FBI field office in 1996, InfraGard is a cooperative effort between law enforcement and the private sector designed to facilitate the sharing of information and intelligence to prevent hostile actions against the United States.

The LELC’s Chair, Brian H. Reich, CPP, said after the meeting that “especially during these challenging economic and tumultuous times, it has become even more important for the public and private sectors to work together and partner. The days where government agencies can provide all things to all people are gone.”

The growing and sophisticated threats presented by terrorism, cyberattacks, and organized crime are simply too much for one sector of society to combat effectively, Reich noted. Everyone must play their part, he says.

Kiernan seconded that sentiment, expressing it more succinctly. “It’s collaborate or perish,” she said.

By Matthew Harwood, associate editor of Security Management and editor of www.securitymanagement.com.

Latin American Summit a Success
The CSO Roundtable’s Inaugural Latin American Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro on December 5th and 6th, attracted more than 100 security professionals to an interactive, thought-provoking conference covering security and business opportunities in Brazil and the region. Held at the J. W. Marriott alongside Copacabana Beach, the program attracted executives from corporate powerhouses around the world looking for insight into the area.

Scheduled keynoter José Mariano Beltrame, head of Rio’s security forces, could not appear because of the security operations that were then underway in the favelas—shantytowns—surrounding the city. These disturbances did not affect the conference, but torrential showers on the night before dropped six inches of rain in the region, causing travel delays by both ground and air from Rio to São Paolo and beyond.

Ambassador Agemar Sanctos, institutional relations director for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, referred to these infrastructure shortfalls when he kicked off the conference. After sketching obstacles to be overcome, he said that the delivery of a safe and successful Olympics would be a coming-out party of sorts for Brazil, just as the Olympics in Japan in 1964 showed the world that Japan was a modern country.

Sanctos said that much of the security effort would focus on intelligence, with Rio police working closely with federal police and the military. He said that the security model would have to change from Brazil’s hosting of the Pan Am games in 2007, for which authorities negotiated a temporary truce with drug lords. “We can’t tolerate that anymore,” he said.

Sanctos added that Brazil will be able to draw upon accrued experience when securing the Olympics. In the years leading to 2016, the country will host the Military Games, the Confederation Cup, the Trade Union Games, and the FIFA World Cup, which will use many of the same venues as the Olympics.

Neil Fergus, chief executive of Intelligent Risks, who has worked on five Olympic games, outlined the old security paradigm of ineffective government security, corrupt law enforcement, rampant crime, gang-controlled favelas, and poor private-sector standards. For the games, a new paradigm is emerging, he said, to include government partnerships, better law enforcement standards, decrease in crime and better crime tracking, and the neutralization of violent gangs, coupled with increased services to favela dwellers.

In another session, attendees learned about the most promising business opportunities in Brazil. Calling Brazil “oversold,” Roberto Teixeira de la Costa, board member of Sul America, SA, said that the country is the third favorite economy for foreign direct investment, after China and India. Still, excellent business opportunities remain in the domestic market, he said, in an economy which has seen a 17.5 percent real growth in gross domestic product per capita between 2002 and 2009 and expects 36 million additional Brazilians to enter the middle class by 2014.

The best opportunities, he said, lie in durable goods, oil and gas, electricity, logistics, agribusiness, and residential construction. Long-term challenges to the economy persist, however, including limited capacity for innovation, lack of domestic savings, an “excessively segmented” political system with 27 political parties, and the absence of long-term planning in areas such as logistics, the environment, and IT infrastructure.

On the same topic, Sergio Breyer of White Martins SA highlighted other lucrative areas of investment in Brazil, including hospitality to serve the influx of visitors, transportation, construction, as well as entertainment, health, and communications technology. He noted challenges in meeting construction deadlines, achieving sustainable development, developing a skilled workforce, establishing and ensuring ethics, and integrity.

Ian Bannister of Critical Corporate Issues laid out the country’s regulatory framework, which is laden with uncertainties. He discussed different types of investigations tailored to the purpose of the due diligence—such as an acquisition, minority investment, or merger, the proper depth of an investigation, and case studies of due diligence failures.

Other sessions during the conference covered building a Latin American business intelligence network, business continuity challenges in Latin America, protecting employees in high-risk areas, e-mail searches and forensic investigations in Brazil, and fraud and brand-protection challenges.