Qylur Wraps up Operational Pilot at Amusement Park; Expanding Use at Stadium
Qylur Intelligent Systems, which has developed the self-service automated security screening Qylatron system, has concluded a four-month operational trial of the system at a large amusement park in Europe. The system was deployed last fall and used to screen portions of the general population entering the park. The deployment enabled the collection of further data, particularly in the area of verifying the accuracy of its automated threat recognition capability, Yair Dolev, vice president of marketing and product management at Qylur, tells HSR. Qylur can’t provide the name of the amusement park, Dolev says. He also says that the five-month old deployment of a Qylatron to Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, continues and has expanded to include additional populations. The long-term deployment began with a focus on screening daily visitors to the stadium through the regular tour program and has expended to private events and one large event where vendors, contractors and employees had small bags and parcels screened. This year the system will be used at the stadium for multiple large events to provide guest security for targeted populations, he says. The specific target population and how the system will be used will be up to the stadium authority, he says.
Georgia Tech Researchers Developing Techniques to Identify Devices on Electric Grid
Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed techniques to identify devices on electrical grid control networks to determine whether the signals are legitimate and if they might be from cyber attackers. “We have developed fingerprinting techniques that work together to protect various operations of the power grid or minimize spoofing of packets that could be injected to produce false data or false control commands into the system,” says Raheem Beyah, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Beyah is quoted in a recent issue of the school’s magazine, Horizons. “This is the first technique that can passively fingerprint different devices that are part of critical infrastructure networks. We believe it can be used to significantly improve the security of the grid and other networks.”
NIST Forms International Working Group in Smart Cities Architecture
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and its partners are forming an international public working group that will help future communities take advantage of networked smart technologies, often called the Internet of Things. The goal of the working group is to analyze existing technology to discover both the “harmonizing architectural principles and the vocabulary that will be necessary to create this infrastructure,” says NIST. The kick off workshop for the initiative will take place at NIST’s campus in Maryland on March 24-25. The workshop will be followed by another in Rome in April.
Honeywell Acquires Firm Providing Intrusion Detection Systems
Honeywell [HON] has acquired France’s RSI Video Technologies, a provider of intrusion detection systems for commercial and residential security applications, for $123 million. RSI provides it video-based security systems under the brand Videofied. RSI has about 110 employees in France and the U.S. Honeywell says the acquisition addresses the growing demand for video verification to reduce false alarms. It also says that advanced motion detection technology with integrated cameras delivers live video streaming of indoor and outdoor intrusion alerts. RSI provides battery-powered motion detectors with built-in cameras to provide live video over the cloud to central monitoring stations and end users.
DHS S&T to Use Hi-G-Tek Cargo Security Solution in Supply Chain Pilot
The Department of Interior, on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, plans to award a six-month sole-source contract to Hi-G-Tek for participation in a U.S., European Union Global Supply Chain Pilot Project. Hi-G-Tek will provide technology for a Container Security Device Technology Demonstration as part of the pilot. The Maryland-based company provides tanker truck monitoring, cargo tracking and monitoring, and other related tracking and security solutions for transporting of goods. The company’s products include readers, seals, locks, and tags as part of wireless solutions for validating asset integrity during shipping.