August 2019 SM Online
Print Issue: August 2019
SEVERE WEATHER
The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) keeps track of severe weather and climate events that cause losses exceeding $1 billion.
EXECUTIVE HACKING
Senior executives are 12 times more likely to be the target of social incidents and nine times more likely to be the target of social breaches than they were in 2018, according to the Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report.
RADIATION DETECTION
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security program to help cities train for nuclear terrorism lacks assessment and a clear path forward, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
CLIMATE AND THE MILITARY
The Center for Climate and Security's Military Expert Panel Report: Sea Level Rise and the U.S. Military's Mission finds that a rising sea level will present serious risks to military readiness, operations and strategy.
ASIS BOOK OF THE YEAR
At GSX in September, ASIS will bestow its ASIS Security Industry Book of the Year to Jennifer Hesterman, PhD, for the second edition of Soft Target Hardening.
ESPIONAGE
A U.S. Department of State employee pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States after providing two Chinese agents with internal department documents in exchange for gifts and other remuneration.
RELIGIOUS PROTECTIONS
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule that allows hospitals and healthcare staff to exercise religious or conscientious objections against certain services, including abortion, sterilization, vaccinations, and assisted suicide.
HARASSMENT
Robert Hatfield and the U.D. DOJ agreed to a $600,000 settlement over abusing his position as a residential manager to sexually harass 17 women for more than 10 years.
DISCRIMINATION
In an April ruling, a New Jersey appeals court supported established law that obesity is not protected by the state's Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD).
MOTHERHOOD
A Tucson fire paramedic was awarded $3.8M in a settlement with the city after the department deprived her of an appropriate and private lactation space.
OVERTIME
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division published a notice for a new rule that if enacted will revise the overtime exemptions for white-collar workers, replacing an older proposal.
SALARY HISTORY
Maine became the eighth U.S. state to prohibit private employers from inquiring job applicants about their salary history.
PREGNANCY
Kentucky employers must provide an appropriate environment to any workers limited by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
HACKING
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted members of a China-based hacking group for a series of computer intrusions, including a 2015 data breach of a major health insurer, which impacted more than 78 million people.
PTSD
The Sixth Circuit Court ruled that a plaintiff with post-traumatic stress disorder is not disabled under the American with Disabilities Act.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION BIAS
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is considering a suit where a man married his husband in Illinois but is allegedly facing discrimination from a Missouri employer.
CIVIL RIGHTS
The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019 would reinstate the original 1994 act and include new provisions protecting transgender victims and barring individuals convicted of domestic abuse from buying firearms.
ELECTION SECURITY
Three Democratic representatives proposed the Election Security Act, which would require states to use paper ballots, establish voting cybersecurity standards, and create a National Commission to Protect U.S. Democratic Institutions.
MALVERTISING
A Ukrainian national is charged with participating in various computer crimes and schemes to infect computers in the United States and elsewhere with malware through online ads.
ESPIONAGE
Two men are charged with economic espionage and conspiring to steal General Electric's trade secrets on turbine technologies for China.
TERRORISM
A Canadian man was sentenced to life in prison for committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and two other offenses related to his attack on a Bishop Airport police officer in June 2017.
DRUG CARTEL
A Mexican national pleaded guilty to international money laundering in connection with his operation of a currency exchange house that received the proceeds of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin smuggled into the United States by the Sinaloa Cartel.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERATION
The ASIS Law Enforcement Liaison Council (LELC) took a look at public-private partnerships and developed a booklet to assist local agencies and security entities in creating goal-oriented partnerships.