Jamaican Airports to Get Automated Border Control Kiosks
Jamaica’s Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency says that SITA will provide automated border control kiosks to Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport and Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport. The kiosks will use biometrics. The agency expects the kiosks, combined with the biometrics, will increase passenger throughput by about 60 percent.
DHS Mobile App Security Software Transitions to Commercial Provider
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) branch says that a software capability for ensuring that mobile device applications are secure and that was developed through one of its university centers of excellence is now commercially available through a small company called Kryptowire. The software assurance capability allows Kryptowire to offer an application archiving capability to its customers, which include the Department of Justice, so that new applications as well as existing ones that are updated, can automatically be tested before they are installed on users’ devices. “This innovative technology will help identify safe, vetted apps that users can choose from while ensuring their digital security,” says Vincent Sritapan, the program manager for Mobile Security within S&T’s Cyber Security Division. The technology was developed by George Mason Univ. through its participation in the Purdue Univ.-led Visual Analytics for Command, Control, and Interoperability Environment’s Center of Excellence that is overseen by S&T. The software assurance technology is for Android applications and it is expected that it will be expanded to include iOS and Windows applications too. Kryptowire is a three year-old company that provides mobile application software assurance tools, anti-piracy tools, and security analytics.
Stapleton Group Offers Vapor Wake Canines
Stapleton Group says it is the only private security firm offering Vapor Wake Canine bomb sniffing dog services. The bomb sniffing canines, which sniff the air as people pass by to detect explosives in motion, are also used the by the Transportation Security Administration in transportation security. The canine techniques were developed at Auburn Univ.
DoD Fields ABIS Upgrade
The DoD Project Manager for Biometrics says that in October it deployed the upgraded Automated Biometrics Identification System, called DoD ABIS, which is the department’s authoritative biometrics enterprise data repository. The upgraded DoD ABIS 1.2 went through an initial operational test and evaluation to verify system functionality. Additional testing will allow a master recovery system to be fielded in support of continuity of operations. Once this capability is deployed, the milestone decision authority will decide on the status of the system, which will clear the way for DoD ABIS 1.2 to become an Army program of record. The ABIS system allows combatant commander, DoD agencies, and other federal and international partners to use fingerprints, palm prints, iris images and facial images of non-U.S. threat forces to identify known or suspected adversaries. The system can process up to 30,000 transaction daily and hold up to 18 million records. The upgraded system also makes automatic matches more rapidly. ABIS is maintained by Northrop Grumman [NOC].