GSC Blog: Technology News
Swiss Biometric Start-Up & Siemens Join Forces in Battle Against Online Banking Fraud
July 16 2008 | 0 comment(s)
As the Economist reported, a Swiss security startup company and Siemens AG joined forces to deliver a biometric fingerprint solution that adds another layer of security to online transactions:"Banks in Europe and South Africa are testing a device that authenticates...
New Security Technology: projecting a silent microwave scream inside your head
July 9 2008 | 0 comment(s)
The US military has bankrolled early development of a non-lethal microwave weapon that can cause sound inside the target's head. The Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio ("MEDUSA") is based on a well-known phenomenon, but the link to potential military...
Next Generation of CCTV - Hearing is Believing
July 2 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Research being undertaken at the University of Portsmouth aims at making smarter CCTV cameras that can respond to noise. According to the university's press release, the cameras will use artificial intelligence software to "learn" the "sounds of breaking glass, someone...
More on meta-materials - acoustics cloaking for sonic proof room and stealth vessels
June 27 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Spanish scientists have recently published blueprints for a physically realisable acoustics cloak. This acoustics cloak would channel sound waves around an object, much like flowing water around a smooth pebble. This would essentially render the object impervious to sound. The...
New Materials for Better Antennas...the invisible type
June 23 2008 | 0 comment(s)
US Air Force put out an interesting call recently, it was for antennas made from metamaterials. This seems to be just the beginning of applications for metamaterials, which DangerRoom.com describes as the material that might eventually lead us to invisibility...
Seaglider Research Starts its Commercial Launch with iRobot
June 11 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Yesterday's announcement of licensing Seaglider technology to iRobot is an encouraging example of government funded research at a university that will now be commercialized through the help of a private company. iRobot acquired the exclusive license from the University of...
New X-Ray Technologies for Air-Cargo Security
June 9 2008 | 0 comment(s)
We are all (way too) familiar with the airport screening of accompanied luggage, but this is only a minor fraction of what aircrafts carry. The rest consists of commercial freight, which is more difficult to scan, as the Economist reported:...
Next Generation of Radio Technology Needed
June 5 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Communicating in a city of talkers seems to be a big problem in Washington DC. Not only are there so many problems just in linking up disparate first responder groups but there are also major problems with radios that don't...
Dual-Technology to Broaden Your Technology's Commercial Appeal
June 3 2008 | 0 comment(s)
We at the GSC are strong advocates of dual-use technologies, by which we mean the application of emerging security technologies not only to government clients but commercial entities as well. We wanted to note a recent example of how security...
Placebo Effect in Security Solutions?
May 15 2008 | 0 comment(s)
The Economist reported about a council in London that uses voice-risk analysis (VRA) as a way of identifying fraudulent claims for social-security benefits. "VRA is not new. The version used in this test at Harrow was developed by an Israeli...
London's CCTV Needs Facelift
May 7 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Britain claims to be the country with the highest concentration of CCTV cameras, and certainly every time there is a big profile crime we are shown video footage of the victim and or perpetrators. When a suspected terrorist was shot...
Terminator Come True: Rise of the Machines
April 30 2008 | 1 comment(s)
Researchers from Modular Robotics Lab at the University of Pennlysvannia are working on cool robotics technologies; their latest robot can put itself back together after being exploded. If you dont believe it, watch the movie I found today on Marc...
Turning People into Tools for the War on Terror
April 21 2008 | 0 comment(s)
The ubiquity and advanced capabilities of today's mobile phones have led a few American researchers to the idea of utilizing people and their gadgets as automated bomb sniffers. Professors from Purdue University invented a system that would utilize smart mobile...
Standoff Detection - what are the benchmarks for such technologies?
March 24 2008 | 0 comment(s)
One of the most difficult problems to solve in security technologies in the ability to know whether a person holds or a vehicle contains explosives. As we discuss standoff technologies today let's first make sure that we are talking about...
Rail Security - the Slow Metamorphosis of Trains into Airliners
February 27 2008 | 0 comment(s)
Many aviation experts continue to complain that security controls at airports are inefficient and ineffective. Their arguments are only strengthened by the fact that testing the system usually reveals breathtaking gaps. Nevertheless, terrorists are known to be adaptive by...
Web 2.0 - New Terrorist Threats or Security Opportunities?
February 20 2008 | 0 comment(s)
The (ab)use of emails by terrorists has been a well known issue in the intelligence industry. In the averted train-plot in Germany last year, terrorists tried to (unsuccessfully) outsmart authorities' surveillance of email traffic by not actually sending out...
Emerging Technology Outlook: 2nd generation biometrics
January 23 2008 | 0 comment(s)
As organizers of the largest innovation competition in the security world, one of the Global Security Challenge's tasks is to map emerging innovations, such as 2nd generation biometrics. Below is a quick overview of where we stand with 2-gen biometrics...
An article from the GSC Team about closing security gaps
October 18 2007 | 0 comment(s)
Germany: €123 million. EU: €1.4 billion. Closing Homeland Security Gaps: Priceless.by Janeen Chupa and Simon SchneiderIt started out simply enough - two graduate students with some free time and a desire to do good. What we ended up learning was...
