Latest Public Sector security News

EYESEC un-cooled thermal camera offers continuous zoom capabilities and crisp clear images
posted on 04/04/2011

OPGAL Optronics Industries has announced the launch of their latest EYESEC™ continuous zoom thermal camera. The new EYESEC™ un-cooled thermal camera now offers continuous zoom capabilities as well as superb performance with crisp clear images. The new EYESEC™ is now available for the very first time in South Africa through Opgal’s’ business partners, C3 Shared Services. C3 have been installing Opgal’s thermal cameras combined with intelligent video analytics as part of their security offering for the last four years. Brendon Cowley, C3 Director, say, “Previously the continuous zoom capabilities were only available in the expensive cooled thermal cameras but now, thanks to Opgal’s very sophisticated R&D, they are now offering this same technology but in a more affordable un-cooled camera”. Brendon goes onto say, “this continuous zoom function with auto focus allows for unmatched ease of use by the control room operators combined with superior detection capabilities. We are very e... [more]

Key guidance for voice evacuation specifiers
posted on 04/04/2011

EN 54-16 is an harmonized standard governing "Voice Alarm Control and Indicating Equipment" (VACIE) products. From 1 April the European Union Construction Product Directive (CPD), also known as Directive 89/106/EEC, requires voice alarm products to be independently tested and certified under this standard. The EU CPD ensures key building technologies meet basic levels of uptime, resilience and ruggedness. Voice evacuation has been found to cut the time needed to evacuate a large building by up to 60%, though manufacturers must meet stringent life safety requirements, embodied in the EN 54 series of standards, which has become European law. Biamp’s Vocia voice-evacuation system was certified against the EN54-16 in June 2010. Biamp Systems has announced best-practice guidance for specifiers and AV installers on implementing voice evacuation (VE) solutions. Key guidance for voice evacuation specifiers • Voice Evacuation systems are there for emergencies, so the system must work... [more]

Targeted malware against distributed control systems
posted on 01/04/2011

We've heard it all before: industrial control systems are at risk; they are vulnerable; our current security measures aren't up to the task of protecting these critical networks. But these systems are secure, right? They're isolated behind an air gap — and besides, nobody's actually targeting the control systems. Even if they did, they'd need to understand how control systems work, and you can't just run out and buy a control system on eBay. Right? The unfortunate truth is that whatever feelings of complacency that might have let us sleep soundly through the night are gone. The air gap started to close when SCADA and fieldbus protocols started to work over Ethernet and TCP/IP. Now, in the wake of Stuxnet, the glimmering hope that nobody would ever bother to create malware just to target a process control loop is as flawed as your enriched uranium will be if your centrifuges have already been infected. The simple truth is: there are attackers out there with the motivation, the ... [more]

Publifor mobile fencing protects Liberal Democratic Party Conference in Sheffield
posted on 01/04/2011

Publifor, made by Betafence, has been used for the first time in the UK as part of a large-scale police security operation. The mobile fencing was used to create a 400 meter “ring of steel” around Sheffield City Hall when it hosted the recent Liberal Democratic Party Spring Conference. The fence was installed as part of the South Yorkshire Police operation to manage thousands of protestors demonstrating against government policy. Publifor is specifically designed to stop unauthorised entry to a designated area on foot or in a vehicle. The fencing system has previously been used outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg and at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, in July 2009. It is also currently installed at sporting stadia across continental Europe including the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the San Siro in Milan and the Udine Stadium in Turin. Publifor combines a steel base unit and uses Securifor welded mesh, which combines an anti-climb/anti-cut mesh aperture of 12.7mm x 76.2mm, eli... [more]

PINsafe v3.8 provides system administrators with a flexible, secure and future-proof authentication platform
posted on 01/04/2011

Swivel Secure's PINsafe v3.8 includes a range of new features, such as in-bound SMS authentication, to further extend the range of deployment options available to system administrators. PINsafe uses a fixed PIN and a patented random security string protocol to generate one-time-codes (OTC) for each login session. Up until now the system required the user to complete the login process by sending the OTC via an Internet connection to the authentication server. PINsafe v3.8 gives the user the option to return the OTC via SMS transport for total, out-of-band user credential protection, especially against the threat of phishing and man-in-the-middle attacks. PINsafe v3.8 also incorporates additional system management enhancements including a new mobile client model, advanced security string delivery options as well as user policy management and a new reporting feature. The changes have been introduced in response to the increased sophistication of the latest breed of security threats and t... [more]

Other Security news and resources