IFCPP News — articles, bulletins, and industry updates related to cultural property protection concerns

Ensuring Workplace Safety and Security is a Must

August 28, 2018 3:39 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from BW People

A security and safety policy is a must in modern times for every organization. A good security system works like a series of deterrents which are connected to block all possible points of intrusion.

Workplace thrives on trust and often having a transparent policy on security helps people to understand not only the importance of securing workplace but also the critical role each employee plays in its implementation.

Therefore, while it is important to have a robust network of security solutions in place, it is equally important to have a comprehensive policy that outlines how employees can access the premises, the identification procedures for them, and even the process for visitors entering the area.

To create an effective security system an organisation should outline all these security features and detail out the equipment list that is needed while preparing to upgrade the security at the premises.

To give you a broad understanding, the security solution can be categorized into two broad segments of solutions –Premises Security Solutions (PSS) and Physical Security Products (PSP).

In the first category, consultants conduct a threat and risk assessments for clients and recommend solutions. The assessment report spells out specific security measures that can be implemented to ensure better safety. These include monitoring and surveillance systems, which are basically CCTVs, and perimeter intrusion detection systems covering the external walls. Access control is another system we offer for car parks and entrances. It also includes baggage scanners and attendance systems.

Increasingly, many organisations (including SMEs) are deploying security cameras across their establishments to ensure workplace control. They deploy CCTV cameras to prevent unauthorized access, burglaries and theft, and ensure peace of mind during operational hours – and even beyond.

A large number of organisations still have hard copies of important documents. In the wake of recent fire tragedies, the importance of fire and document protection has gained a lot of traction. In a city like Mumbai, where space is a constraint, a fire-resistant record cabinet can be an effective document-securing solution.

Another aspect of security is access to systems, electronic devices, and other sensitive equipment. Organisations following best practices, frame adequate guidelines about this and sets up necessary restrictions on access to sensitive files and information.

State-of-the-Art Systems

Organisations are increasingly realizing the need for a modern security system since a secure work environment makes for a productive one. Employees also demand safety that is seamless and, importantly, non-obtrusive.

Our experts are often asked if installing a camera tantamount to privacy violation. It is legal in most cases to use camera surveillance in public areas. Of course, if a company opts to deploy both video and audio surveillance, in the interest of transparency, it is expected to also put up signs indicating where audio is being recorded and make a mention of these in the security policy.

As security threats evolve, it is important that security systems in place are upgraded to ensure a high sense of security in the workplace environment. In the last few years, security systems have become sophisticated and innovative. Organisations now use an ecosystem of security solutions comprising fire alarm and detection solutions, monitoring and surveillance systems (including cameras and video recorders), and perimeter intrusion detection systems.

An interesting aspect about security these days is that even though it was once thought to be ‘a dead investment’, organisations have realized that it imperative to build trust and reputation, which is impossible without providing a safe and secure working environment.

Ensuring Peace of mMind

A key aspect for a company like Godrej Security Solutions (GSS) is that we constantly use technology at the core of our security solutions. These state-of-the-art systems are continuously optimized and upgraded to suit the needs of consumers while also being receptive to softer aspects such as employee sensibility and safety.

‘Neutronics’ is a new concept which uses a combination of analytics and intelligence. In case of a gun attack, the safe allows access to the unit, while simultaneously sending out silent alert messages to the authorities and owners. This feature ensures that the life of a human is not put at undue risk by raising loud caution.

In summary, comprehensive workplace security has several direct and indirect benefits, not just limited to employees. A secure work environment is one of the key aspects of better employee efficiency, which directly affects customer satisfaction and retention.

The other aspect of having robust workplace security means a reduction in liabilities, insurance, etc. to be paid to stakeholders. It comes as no surprise then that organisations are increasingly paying attention to workplace safety and security.

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The State of Cybersecurity at Small Organizations

August 28, 2018 3:34 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from CSO

ESG recently completed a research survey of 400 cybersecurity and IT professionals working at small organizations (i.e. 50 to 499 employees) in North America. As you can imagine, these firms tend to have a small staff responsible for cybersecurity and IT, reporting to business management rather than CIOs or CISOs. (Note: I am an employee of ESG.)

How are these firms doing with cybersecurity? Not so good.

Two-thirds of the organizations surveyed experienced at least one cybersecurity incident (i.e. system compromise, malware incident, DDoS, targeted phishing attack, data breach, etc.) over the past two years.

Nearly half (46%) of survey respondents said security incidents resulted in lost productivity, 37% said disruption of business applications or IT system availability, and 37% said disruption of a business process or processes (note: multiple responses were accepted).

So, small organizations are being targeted and compromised, and security incidents tend to result in a measurable financial impact.

The biggest contributors to cybersecurity incidents at SMBs

ESG also asked survey respondents to identify the issues that represented the biggest contributors to these security incidents. The data reveals that:

35% of respondents believe the biggest contributor to security incidents is human error. This makes sense, as small cybersecurity/IT teams tend to be made up of IT generalists not cybersecurity specialists. This results in things such as misconfigurations, ad hoc processes, and haphazard controls.

28% of respondents believe the biggest contributor to security incidents is a general lack of understanding about cyber risk. This is a big one, as too many small organizations believe they can’t possibly be a target so they under invest or ignore basic security preparation and hygiene. The "it won’t happen here" attitude can be the kiss of death. Small business executives must realize that it can and does happen everywhere.

27% of respondents believe the biggest contributor to security incidents is new IT initiatives, such as cloud and mobile computing or SaaS adoption that have been implemented without the proper security controls. This could be the result of a lack of knowledge or perhaps business people signed onto SaaS without alerting the security/IT team. Either way, there is an absence of thorough oversight around IT and cybersecurity policies.

24% of respondents believe the biggest contributor to security incidents is a lack of adequate cybersecurity training for non-technical employees. Small businesses don’t believe they are targets, so they don’t invest in cybersecurity awareness training. That’s a real problem for these organizations and everyone who does business with them.

20% of respondents believe the biggest contributor to security incidents is that those tasked with cybersecurity can’t keep up with their workload. When it comes to cybersecurity, many small businesses are understaffed and lack advanced skills. These firms should seek out help from managed security service providers (MSSPs) as soon as possible.

In my humble opinion, it’s time SMB executives realize that small businesses represent an easy mark for cyber adversaries. Criminals target SMBs to extort money or steal valuable data, while nation states use small businesses as a beachhead for attacking connected partners. Hopefully, this ESG research will help small businesses wake up to the dangers they face every second of every day.

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How Two Thieves Stole Thousands of Prints From University Libraries

August 28, 2018 3:27 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from Atlas Obscura

In the summer of 1980, Robert Kindred was a 35-year-old high school dropout with no plans of going to college. Despite that, scattered in the backseat of his newly leased Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham were half a dozen guides to American college and university locations, each representing a region of the United States. He also had a single volume covering the entire country in his briefcase. A former Boy Scout, he liked to be prepared.

No major American crime requires as much travelling as that of stealing rare books from libraries, a fact Kindred knew from experience. Thanks to wealthy Americans, poor Europeans, two hot wars, and one cold one, the fruits of 500 years of printing came to be scattered across the United States in the second half of the 20th century. And almost all of it could be found on the shelves of some college or university library.

Of course, by the late 1970s, the most precious books and manuscripts in American collections had been put behind locked doors, libraries having learned that lesson the hard way. So Kindred, an antique print dealer, was not in the market for big ticket items, such as a Gutenberg Bible or Shakespeare First Folio. He was interested in the low hanging fruit of the rare book field: 19th-century scientific illustrations. In publications like Ibis and Ferns of North America and Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, the greatest natural history artists of the 19th century—including J.G. Keulemans and Joseph Wolf—had done their best work, contributing hand-colored lithographs and engravings of the world’s flora and fauna for the sake of science. Even after more than a century between the pages, the illustrations were as bright and vivid as the day they were created.

Kindred knew these books and journals were nearly impossible to find for sale, and prohibitively expensive even when they could be found. So for the sake of his business he turned to the open shelves of academic libraries. The irony is that the easy access granted him by libraries that summer was heir to the spirit of scientific inquiry in which these magnificent prints were created in the first place.

In addition to the college guides, Robert Kindred had a second important reference source in his car: a road atlas. On its largest map, he had circled a series of towns starting just south of Dallas, where he had a storefront. Linked by the Interstate Highway System, the circles went across the south, up the East Coast, and back through the Midwest. It looked like an oblong chain of pearls, clasped in north Texas.

The first circle on that map was College Station, home to Texas A&M University. The Evans Library there housed a world-class collection of 19th-century prints—but not for very much longer. Kindred and his partner Richard Green spent half a day and a handful of razors there, destroying one publication after another for the sake of their illustrations. In one afternoon they destroyed what had taken decades to gather and a century to create. The only thing left behind were the ghostly impressions on the pieces of tissue paper put between pages to preserve the illustrations—and the razors the two men dropped on the floor, dulled from use. The rest went into the hot trunk of the Cadillac, which they then pointed toward Houston, and Rice University.

At Rice their destruction was even worse. That school’s collection of 19th-century scientific illustration was more robust, for one, and the stacks more secluded. From Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London alone they cut out 1,300 prints. But quite beyond their favorites, the Rice collection was so impressive Kindred managed to find dozens of publications he had never seen before. Once he took them, no one at Rice would ever see them again.

After only two days, Kindred and Green had several thousand prints in their possession—enough inventory for several years, if Kindred wanted to turn back to Dallas. But their plan was to be on the road for several weeks, and open a new store in Washington, D.C. Plus, Kindred had already made those circles on the map. So the next day, the two men headed east, toward New Orleans, and Loyola University.

In fits and starts, the pair eventually made it to the nation’s capital. They lingered there for several days, while Kindred looked for a new storefront location, hitting the illustration collections of several local libraries along the way, most notably the University of Maryland, where the pair’s focus took a turn toward the strength of the collection, 19th-century news periodicals such as Harper’s Weekly and Illustrated London News. These were a nice change from natural history, offering a host of other types of illustrations, from ballerinas to baseball to battles of the Civil War. Then they pointed their big car west, toward what they thought was home, but was actually the end of their crime spree.

The third reference source Kindred kept with him was the Union List of Serials, a monumental work detailing the periodical holdings of more than a thousand U.S. libraries. It was the Union List that was most indispensable for the trip, as it was responsible for which towns got circled on his map. Kindred would look up his favorite publications and make a list of which universities owned them. If a certain university had enough of his favorites that it warranted a stop, he found its location in a college guide, called the library to find out its summer hours, and then circled it on the map. And that’s how the two men, weathered by weeks of travel and with a trunk full of stolen prints, decided to spend several days at the end of June in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

They would have stopped at the twin cities anyway—Kindred was from nearby, and had family in the area—but they would not have lingered. The prairie of east central Illinois has little scenic appeal in high summer, unless you’re into humidity and vistas of cash crops. But according to the Union List of Serials, the enormous University of Illinois library had nearly everything Kindred desired and a great deal more. What it did not have, however, was open stacks.

So instead of loitering in the library all day, cutting at their leisure as they had done everywhere else, Kindred and Green devised a different plan. Departing from a theretofore successful criminal formula would seem to most thieves to be a bad idea, especially if they were driving a car bursting with evidence of their prior success. But the theft of rare books from libraries has traditionally been so easy that it instills in even the least talented thief the idea that he is a criminal mastermind. So Kindred thought his plan was flawless. He broke in late at night, found a spot in the stacks with the largest concentration of books with prints, picked out his favorites, and then lowered them by rope out a window to Green below.

Unfortunately for him, the books he wanted were enormous, and located on the eighth floor. So gathering them in groups of four and lowering them down the side of the building was more heavy industry than cat burglary. Still, they made the plan work the first night and obtained some $10,000 in books. They were halfway through their second night when bad luck, for the first time in their trip, reared its head.

Once every five nights a university employee came to the large, deserted library in the middle of campus to check the air conditioning unit. Kindred had one packet of four books on the ground and another halfway down the side of the building when that employee swung his car into the parking lot, unaware he was about to put to an end the greatest theft spree of its kind in American history.

Kindred’s capture, and his subsequent prosecution, led to the creation of one more reference source, this one unique: a catalog of the stolen items he kept in the car trunk. Two librarians from the University of Illinois spent the rest of the summer of 1980 in a cramped room in the campus police station trying to make sense of the thousands of loose prints piled and packed in bags and boxes. Before web browsers and online catalogs—and without even access to a telephone to call other libraries—the two men mostly used their bibliographic instincts and a few reference sources to reverse engineer Kindred’s trip and identify the owners of some of the pieces.

Alas, all of their work amounted to nearly nothing. It aided the return of some of the prints to their rightful owners, but the state’s attorney did not use it at all. Kindred pleaded guilty to a single charge in Champaign County, and was sentenced to probation. Green was not prosecuted in Illinois at all, and neither man was prosecuted by any other state, including Texas, where they did the most damage.

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Discover ASSA ABLOY Power

August 28, 2018 3:20 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from ASSA ABLOY

Securitron AQ Series Power Supplies

Power supply selection is often one of the last decisions made when designing an electrified access control solution. However, selecting the right power supply is as important as choosing the right locking devices and accessories that may be connected to it.

Securitron power supplies offer clean, efficient and reliable power solutions for any application, including options for high efficiency sustainable locking solutions. Available in configurations to support the smallest single door systems to the largest enterprise access control systems.

Mix & Match UL Listing

Available in one to 16 Amp variants to support the smallest single door systems to the largest enterprise access control systems
UL listed dynamic field configurable product offering
Combine any of the seven power supplies and nine distribution boards in any UL listed enclosure and maintain UL code compliance

Protection & Efficiency

Heavily filtered and regulated output provides better-than-linear performance
Up to 93% efficiency, which results in decreased operating costs which lengthens the lifespan of electronics
Low battery cutoff protects readers and other sensitive components from under-voltage

Support & Resources

Customer Service and Technical Support offer tools and resources to address questions of all shapes and sizes
Custom drawings to configure complex access control solutions
MagnaCare^® lifetime replacement, no-fault, no questions asked warranty covers installation errors

Click here to learn more and for links to brochures.

Genetec - Simplify Your Investigations

August 28, 2018 3:11 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from Genetec

The increase in the amount of evidence gathered from surveillance systems, body cameras, and civilians can help solve crimes. However, it also presents new challenges for the investigation process. With a digital evidence management system that facilitates collaboration between security departments, outside agencies, and the public, you can overcome these issues and speed up investigations in a cost efficient manner.

Click here for a Video and 45-Day Trial

FBI Seeks Stolen Works of Art Worth More Than Half a Million Dollars

August 28, 2018 3:07 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from FBI.gov

The FBI Art Crime Team is seeking help from the public locating more than 30 items stolen from the home of Gregory Perillo in July, 1983. The pieces are sculptures and painted pictures, featuring southwestern motifs and scenes, and at the time of the theft were valued at up to $700,000.

An anonymous citizen found a piece thrown away in a dumpster several years ago on Staten Island, and called the FBI. Agents believe more of the stolen pieces may be in the New York City area, and the owner may not know they were stolen. Two other pieces were discovered at an art gallery in Manhattan in 1985.

Anyone with information about the theft, or the missing pieces of art, is asked to call the FBI New York Office at 212-384-1000, email NYArtCrime@fbi.gov, or go to tips.fbi.gov. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

Special agents on FBI New York’s Major Theft Squad are investigating this case, serving on the national FBI Art Crime Team. Since its inception in 2004, the FBI’s Art Crime Team has recovered more than 14,850 items nationwide, valued at more than $165 million. Art buyers can review other items on the FBI’s Stolen Art Database at www.fbi.gov.

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Waikato Museum Hosts Art Crime Exposé

August 28, 2018 2:30 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from Scoop Culture

The motives, methods and mysteries of art crime will be explored by two of the country’s foremost experts during an eye-opening talk at Waikato Museum this week.

Art historian Penelope Jackson and District Court Judge Arthur Tompkins will share the fascinating stories they’ve uncovered as researchers, writers and teachers of the history of art crime.

Jackson specializes in New Zealand examples of art theft, vandalism and forgery, which are captured in her book, Art Thieves, Fakes and Fraudsters: The New Zealand Story, published in 2016.

“It's not illegal to produce a copy of a painting, but it is a crime to try to sell it as the original,” she says.

“We’ll be revealing the whodunnits of art crime, but also asking, ‘what can we do to stop it’.”

One of Jackson’s favorite cases is the theft of a Solomon J Solomon painting, Psyche, from a Christchurch gallery in 1942, leaving its elegant gold frame behind.

Research for her book, which included Jackson re-enacting the supposed trail of the offender over a wall of the gallery, led to new information about the getaway.

“There is a sense of hope the exquisite gold frame will one day be reunited with the stolen painting, although it is highly improbable now.”

Mr Tompkins’ interest is art crime during war, which he travels to Italy to teach the history of each New Zealand winter.

In 2013, he was alerted that some of his research had been referenced by fiction writer Dan Brown in his novel Inferno, a sequel of The Da Vinci Code.

“It's a small feeling of personal satisfaction that some work you've done has been read by someone else and then turned up in a place that I never would have expected to see it,” he told the Sunday Star Times after the citation was discovered.

Tompkins’ own book, Plundering Beauty: A History of Art Crime during War, was published earlier this year.

Waikato Museum Director Cherie Meecham says Hamilton is privileged to have two of the world’s leading authorities on art crime share their knowledge.

“Penelope and Arthur have traveled extensively in their pursuit of these stories,” she says.

“But the audience will be shocked to find out that Hamilton and the Waikato have art crime skeletons of their own in the closet.”

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Study Examines Why Security Professionals Are Turning 'Gray Hat'

August 28, 2018 2:21 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from Security Magazine

Almost one in 10 U.S. security professionals has admitted to having considered participating in Black Hat activity, according to the report, "White Hat, Black Hat and the Emergence of the Gray Hat: The True Costs of Cybercrime" conducted by Osterman Research. The study polled 900 senior IT decision-makers and IT security professionals in Australia, Germany, the U.S., U.K., and Singapore about the impact of cybercrime on their bottom line, and also looked at all sides of IT security costs from budget and remediation, to hiring, recruiting and retention.

The study also found that Black/Gray Hats aren't hard to find in today's SOCs. More than half of all U.S. security professionals surveyed (50.5 percent) know or have known someone that has participated in Black Hat activity. This was the highest rate of all countries surveyed. The global average was 41 percent.

"The current skills shortage combined with a steady stream of attacks against antiquated endpoint protection methods continues to drive up costs for today's businesses, with a seemingly larger hit to security departments of mid-market enterprises," said Marcin Kleczynski, Malwarebytes CEO. "On top of this, we are seeing more instances of the malicious insider causing damage to company productivity, revenue, IP and reputation. We need to up-level the need for proper security financing to the executive and board level. This also means updating endpoint security solutions and hiring and rewarding the best and brightest security professionals who manage endpoint protection, detection and remediation solutions."

According to the study, cybercrime incidents are escalating, security budgets are exploding and security remediation costs are skyrocketing:

U.S.-based businesses experienced a higher number of very serious security events such as ransomware and intentional insider breaches compared to other countries surveyed—an average of 1.8 incidents in 2017.
Based on security budget per employee responses, the average 2,500 employee company in the U.S. will spend more than $1.8 million dollars on security costs. That number is expected to increase to more than $2 million in 2018—nearly twice the average cost of all global responses (more than $1 million in 2018).
Remediating major security incidents is extremely expensive: the average global expenditure for remediating just a single event is approximately $290K for a 2,500-employee organization. In the U.S., the average cost escalates to $429K.
Phishing was the most common cause of major incidents globally (44 percent) with ransomware (26 percent) and spear phishing (20 percent) also in the top five. While the delivery tactics are familiar, the malware has grown increasingly complex and sophisticated.

In addition, midsize companies (500-999 employees) are getting squeezed with massive increases in security incidents and exploding security budgets, but have fewer employees and smaller budgets:

To protect against a high volume of malicious attacks, mid-sized companies' security budgets increased by 36 percent.
Mid-market businesses had the highest percentage of security budget increases from 2017 to 2018 (36.32 percent increase for midsize companies; 20.46 percent increase for large companies; 8.5 percent increase in budget for small companies) to counter the significantly higher levels of adware, accidental insider data breaches and intentional insider data breaches and even nation state attacks.
Mid-sized companies spent 19 percent of their security budget remediating compromises. Fewer staff on-hand in mid-sized companies' Security Operations Centers (SOCs) to handle the volume of attacks resulted in the highest percentage of security budget spent on remediating attacks (18.62 percent of budget spent on remediating compromises) compared with both large (11.3 percent) and smaller (13.97 percent) companies.
49 percent of global mid-market professionals were most likely to suggest that it's easy to get into cybercrime without getting caught.

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Vandals Flood Historic N.J. Submarine, Steal Memorial Plaques to Fallen Sailors

August 28, 2018 2:17 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from NJ.com

Authorities on Tuesday said vandals flooded a World War II-era submarine moored at the New Jersey Naval Museum and stole four memorial plaques from the property.

Intruders intentionally opened hatches throughout the 312-foot U.S.S. Ling, causing the entire inside of the 2,500-ton craft to flood with water from the Hackensack River, according to city police Capt. Brian Corcoran.

The damage reported Tuesday came after officers responded to the Naval Museum in Hackensack a day before, police said. A caretaker found plaques valued at more than $10,000 that honored sailors and the 52 U.S. submarines lost during World War II were pried from a cement casing and stolen.

"The Hackensack Police Department Detective Bureau is investigating this disgraceful incident further, with hopes to locate and prosecute those responsible," Corcoran said in a statement.

The Ling was an exhibit off the Naval Museum located at the former River Street site of North Jersey Media Group, which published The Record newspaper before it was sold to Gannett.

Developers plan to demolish the former Record building to make way for luxury apartments at the 20-acre site, and museum staff were working to relocate. Navy officials collected artifacts from the museum, but the fate of the Ling has been unclear.

Though vandals didn't manage to sink the Ling, the submarine is mired in mud, heavily rusted and in a shallow area of the river, according to NorthJersey.com. The Ling is not included in any redevelopment plan for the property.

The Ling was forced to close after Hurricane Sandy damaged a connecting pier in 2012.

Berthed at the Hackensack site since the mid-1970s, the Balao class submarine never saw combat and was used for training.

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Cornell Police Investigating Art Heist On Campus

August 28, 2018 2:06 PM | Anonymous

Reposted from 14850.com

A piece of photographic artwork went missing “sometime after midnight on August 8” from a stairwell of the Hans Bethe House on Cornell University’s west campus, and police are investigating the larceny according to a statement.

The missing art is a 48×36.5-inch image, “yellow and blue in color,” titled “Particle Tracks,” according to Cornell. The artwork is valued at $550.55 and the photo was taken by Patrice Loiez at CERN of the tracks left by subatomic particles from a particle accelerator.

Hans Bethe House is one of five upperclass dorms on Cornell’s west campus built last decade as part of the West Campus House System, all named for faculty from Cornell’s history.

Anyone with information about the theft or the current location of the stolen artwork is asked to call the Cornell University Police Department at 607-255-1111.

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