The SIGNAL Blog

Next Generation Biometrics to be a Boon for Law Enforcement

February 27, 2013

By George I. Seffers

The FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system will improve law enforcement’s capabilities as much as DNA analysis, according to Dave Cuthbertson, assistant director, Criminal Justice information Services Division, FBI.

The NGI advances the FBI’s biometric identification services, providing an incremental replacement of the current system while introducing new functionality. The NGI improvements and new capabilities are being introduced across a multiyear timeframe within a phased approach.

Increment three, which will be deployed in April, will improve accuracy in part by adding palm prints. About one-third of prints recovered from a crime scene are from the palm rather than the fingers, Cuthbertson reports, while serving on the Biometrics/Identity Management panel at AFCEA’s Homeland Security Conference in Washington, D.C. “NGI will be to crime solving almost like DNA processing,” he stated.

The agency already has implemented the first two increments, which increased accuracy from 92 percent to 99.6 percent. Additionally, increment two allows officers in the field to use mobile devices to send back biometric data to be checked against information in the repository.

The fourth and final increment will add more than 13 million mug shots, which will be matched against fingerprints. Cuthbertson said the facial system likely will not provide law enforcement with one definite match but will instead provide a list of possible matches, which law enforcement officials will then have to analyze and investigate further.

Eleven states currently participate in the system, and 13 are working toward participation.

Departments:

Chinese and Iranian Cyberthreat Growing

February 27, 2013

By George I. Seffers

Gen. Michael Hayden, USAF (Ret.), former director of the CIA, indicated an astounding extent of Chinese cyber espionage and said he believes the Iranians are attacking U.S. banks with unsophisticated but pervasive cyber attacks.

Regarding the Chinese, Gen. Hayden said he believes the government solution to cyber espionage should be economic rather than cyber. “We have cyber espionage coming at us, and they’re bleeding us white. The reason the Chinese are doing this is economic. I think the government response should be economic. We can punish China in the economic sphere,” Gen. Hayden told the audience at the AFCEA Homeland Security Conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

He added that some believe we cannot punish China economically because the Chinese own too much U.S. debt. Gen. Hayden indicated he disagrees.

The general also said the U.S. engages in cyber thievery as well, but he indicated that it is more for security reasons than economic reasons. “We steal other people’s stuff, too. And we’re better at it. We’re number one. But we self-limit—we and a small number of other countries around the world, all of whom speak English,” Gen. Hayden said.

Regarding the Iranians, Gen. Hayden said the number of attacks on the U.S. banking industry has ballooned. “My sense is that we’ve seen a real surge in Iranian cyber attacks. The Iranians have committed distributed denial of service attacks against American banks. I’ve talked to folks in the game here, and they’ve reported to me there’s nothing sophisticated about the attacks, but they say they’ve never seen them on this scale,” Gen. Hayden revealed.

Departments:

Cyber

Defense

Event Coverage

Storms Teach Important Lessons About Infrastructure Protection

February 26, 2013

By George I. Seffers

Senior leaders in both industry and government have learned their lessons from major storms, such as Katrina and Sandy, and are working together to improve the nation’s ability to bounce back from natural disasters.

As a member of the Critical Infrastructure Protection panel at AFCEA’s Homeland Security conference in Washington, D.C., William Bryan, deputy assistant secretary for infrastructure security and energy restoration, reported that in the aftermath of Sandy, a major storm that wreaked havoc in the Northeast, industry and government senior leaders worked closely to solve problems.

He added, however, that after the 9/11 attacks, “A lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of energy was spent on physical protection—gates, guards and guns, bio-readers at facility entrances and crash barriers and on and on and on. None of that worked during Katrina. The money invested by industry to protect their facilities did nothing to protect against the storm. So, the nation started looking at the concept of resilience,” he said. He added that the recently signed presidential directive addresses resilience.

Departments:

Event Coverage

Homeland Security

NIST Seeks Industry Information for Cybersecurity Framework

February 26, 2013

By George I. Seffers

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a request for information on Tuesday, February 26, for the cybersecurity framework demanded by the recent White House executive order.

Speaking on the cybersecurity panel at the AFCEA Homeland Security Conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jeff Voas, a NIST computer scientist, said he received his first briefing on the executive order about a week ago and NIST already has begun putting together working groups. The request for information process should be concluded in about 45 days. “We’re only a week or two into this,” Voas said.

The panel included Darren Ash, deputy executive director for corporate management and chief information officer for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates the civilian use of nuclear power. Ash said that most nuclear power plants in this country were built decades ago in an analog environment, whereas more recent applications to build nuclear facilities are grounded in a digital environment.

“We know that cyber is important. What we expected and required of these licensees was to establish their plans on how to address cyber,” Ash said. “What’s important is what we do with it.” Recent nuclear license requirements have been accepted, he reported, and just this fiscal year, the commission has begun to inspect the cybersecurity capabilities to ensure they are meeting the requirements.

Richard Puckett, chief security architect for GE, argued that the term “cyber” is too vague, meaning different things to different sectors. To private sector clients, for example, cyber refers to protection of credit card numbers and other personal information, whereas government and military customers are more concerned with the cyber activities of other nation states and the protection of critical infrastructure.

Departments:

Defense

Event Coverage

Hotels Hot Target for Terrorists

February 26, 2013

By George I. Seffers

The hotel industry has seen a greater increase in terrorist attacks than any other industry in recent years, according to Alan Orlob, vice president of global safety and security for Marriott International. Orlob offered a first-hand account of the attacks on two hotels in Jarkarta, Indonesia, in 2009.

Orlob, the luncheon keynote speaker at the AFCEA Homeland Security Conference in Washington, D.C., was staying at a Ritz Carlton hotel, which is owned by Marriott, at the time of the attack.

He said that as he stepped out of the shower, he heard at an explosion at the hotel across the street. “I looked out my window, and I could see the front of the JW Marriott, and I saw smoke coming out of the back and people running,” he said. Moments later, another explosion occurred at the Ritz Carlton.

“I followed the broken glass and the destruction into the restaurant. I don’t know how many of you have been involved in improvised explosive device attacks, but it tears clothes off people and separates extremities. That’s what I was seeing that morning,” he said. “I remember feeling that sense of anger that morning.”

Orlob said he studies the tactics, techniques and procedures used by terrorists, and he offered lessons learned, including training first responders to decide which victims should be treated first, only evacuating a building if the evacuation area has been cleared first and ensuring evacuation plans are current.

Departments:

Defense

Event Coverage

Cool App-titude: Google Authenticator

February 26, 2013

By Rachel Eisenhower

Attacks on private email accounts are on the rise, but a simple added security layer could help keep your personal messages safe from hackers. Gmail account holders can download the Google Authenticator app for iOS or Android, which generates a numeric code for users to enter in addition to their passwords.

How does this help? It drastically reduces the risk of having your personal information stolen, because someone would need access to both your password and your phone to sign into your account.

With 2-step verification, you will sign into your email as usual using your password. You will then be prompted to enter a code, which will be generated by the Google Authenticator app. Simply input the code and access your emails. A new code will be generated each time.

If you're using a trusted computer, you can then check a box asking Google not to require a code again when you sign into that particular machine. Gmail will still ask for the code if you or anyone else tries to sign into your account from another computer.

The app can still send a verification code even if you don't have an Internet connection or mobile service.

Download the free app from the iTunes App Store or Google Play.

These sites are not affiliated with AFCEA or SIGNAL Magazine, and we are not responsible for the content or quality of the products offered. When visiting new websites, please use proper Internet security procedures.

The Fiscal Cliff is Here Again Along with Cyber Insecurity

February 2013

Joe Mazzafro

Greetings Fiscal Cliff Dwellers! By the time you read this there will be less than two weeks before automatic sequestration cuts take effect - - - a week of which the Congress will be in recess! What was meant to be a “poison pill” to force the legislative and executive branches to compromise on rational budgets so the government could reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years now appears inevitable. Since January we have been fed a steady stream of increasingly dire consequences from Navy aircraft carriers not deploying, to Army readiness declining, to Air Force airplanes not being maintained, to civilian workers being furloughed, and to contracts being canceled unless there is some relief from the automatic 9.4% sequestration of funds scheduled for March 1st. Yet none of this doom and gloom was in evidence as late as Thanksgiving of 2012 when the reflexive answer from DoD consistently was “the Congress won’t allow sequestration to happen!”

Departments:

Intelligence

Cool App-titude: Feedly

February 19, 2013

By Rachel Eisenhower

Surfing the Web can be a pain on a smartphone or tablet, but the Feedly app helps you organize all your favorite blogs, news sites and YouTube channels in one convenient place.

The RSS news reader app from DevHD is a fast and stylish way to read and share content from sites. It transforms websites, making them easy to load and browse on a mobile device.

You can save articles across devices and share them with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and more.

Download the free app from the iTunes App Store for iOS or from Google Play for Android.

Cool App-titude: Quora

February 12, 2013

By Rachel Eisenhower

Ask any question, and you shall receive an answer, thanks to the free Quora app. The social question-and-answer service lets you get real replies from people with first hand experience. It puts the power of crowdsourcing in the palm of your hand—opening up inquires to a large community to find the best answer.

Simply add or browse any question and find the answer from other knowledgeable users. Then vote on the best response or blog post on the topic. For example, post a question about the best restaurant for brunch in Washington, D.C., and watch answers come in from people in the area.

The popular app has become known for its high-quality participants offering true expert opinions.

The app is only for English-language content at this time, and Quora asks everyone to use their real full names to promote transparency.

Download the free app from the iTunes App Store or Google Play.

Homefront Help: Plan My Deployment

February 21, 2013

By Rita Boland

Deployments and mobilizations are hard. To help combat the challenges, the U.S. Defense Department has released Plan My Deployment—a series of tools, checklists and tips to help military families as they deal with separation. The offering applies to active duty, Guard and Reserve troops. Visitors will find resources for the various phases of deployment, from the preparation stage through reintegration.

Homefront Help also has a Facebook page where visitors can gather and share information. If you know of a program that is helping service personnel, veterans or their families please submit that information to Rita Boland, SIGNAL’s news editor.

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