Reposted from MidHudson News

An eight-year-old boy was arrested and charged by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office with damaging the museum at Swan Lake Park in the Town of Liberty.

Old photographs had been ripped off the walls, a billboard had been knocked over and a visitors’ log had been scribbled in. A fire was also started that caused damage to a gazebo.

The vandalism was reported on Thursday, September 20 at about 4:30 p.m. Investigation by the sheriff’s Youth Division led to the arrest of the child on Wednesday, October 10.

The boy admitted to causing the damage to the museum and told deputies that when the first fire went out, he returned to the location and started a second fire. He was charged with two counts each of arson and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors and was released to the custody of a parent and ordered to appear in Sullivan County Family Court.

Deputies were assisted by Liberty Village Police.

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Reposted from The Columbia Chronicle

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for 2017 was released Oct. 1, showing an overall decrease in the majority of  reported incidents.

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is issued by the college in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, as amended by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization of 2013. The reporting period is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2017.

The report showed decreases in the following areas: burglary, domestic violence, dating violence and rape. 

However, the report showed an increase in some categories including: fondling cases, from four to seven, on campus property and student housing; an increase in robberies from five to 10 on public property; and an increase in aggravated assault from zero to two on campus and zero to one in on-campus housing.

Ronald Sodini, associate vice president for Campus Safety and Security, said a possible reason for the increases in fondling could be that more victims are comfortable coming  forward.

Sodini said the increase in robberies occurred in public spaces instead of on campus property, therefore some reports were made by the general public and not necessarily Columbia students. 

“We know that in 2017,  as a whole, there was a general increase in crime in the area, and we’re not immune to that—we’re part of the city,” Sodini said. “But relatively speaking, when you compare our area to the [entire] city, we’re in one of the safest areas. So the city is seeing decreases in crime and we’re hopeful that we’ll see those as well.”

Junior cinema art and science major and President of Student Government Association Jazmin Bryant said she’s seen campus security improve a lot over the years, particularly with the added blue light emergency system and new addition of the Security Escort Program.

The Security Escort Program was implemented during the summer to provide students with escorts from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week during the Fall and Spring semesters. It officially started Sept. 4, 2018. Students can be escorted to various CTA train stations as well as select Metro stations in the Loop.

“If you have the Columbia app, they have a new section where the escort program is on there, there’s fire safety notifications [as well as] safety alerts,” Bryant said. “Students have 24-hour access to those types of opportunities.”

The college could improve its security outreach by updating its website to be more user-friendly, she added. The project is currently underway with updated videos, and separately, there has been an inclusion of safety alerts on the Columbia app to keep students aware of incidents on campus, she added.

“A cool tip for me is just always [to make sure] someone knows where you are, whether it’s a roommate, a family friend, or someone from class,” Bryant said. “Just making sure you’re always communicating and you’re never by yourself late at night.”

Freshman photography major Julia Sudie said overall, she feels a sense of safety  on campus.

“It feels like a very safe place, I’ve never felt like I’m not safe,” Sudie said.  “Even if it’s super busy or it’s super barren, there’s always someone there who has your back.”

Sudie, who is a commuter, said she does wish there were security guards placed at train stations near campus as added security measures that would ensure safety.

“It just gives you that sense of comfort that there’s someone there since it is bigger and downtown,” Sudie said.

Sodini said he does believe the new safety measures  have allowed the reports to decrease.

“We believe that those are wise investments, and that they’re the right thing to do to help make our community safer,” Sodini said.

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Reposted from Security Magazine

According to a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. office workers, traditional access control methods are costly and becoming more vulnerable by the minute.

The survey, commissioned by NexKey, found that nearly 60 percent of people surveyed would prefer to use their smartphones to access spaces over more traditional methods such as keys or cards.

Those traditional methods have been proved vulnerable in modern workplaces; 17 percent of respondents said an ex-coworker or employee has stolen from their workplace using their old key, and more than a quarter of respondents have had to replace their locks within the last year because an employee lost their key or failed to return it. Of respondents who had to replace their locks, 25 percent said they had to do so four to six times in the last year.

As workplaces shift towards more open, fluid, coworking atmospheres, access management must evolve, and quickly. Forty-four percent of coworking tenants use traditional keys to access their space, and this group is nearly four times as likely (32 percent compared to 8 percent) to experience theft from an ex-coworker or employee as non-coworking tenants.

Coworking spaces are extremely popular with millennials in particular (68 percent of coworking tenants are millennials), and two-thirds of coworking tenants in this age group are interested in unlocking doors with smartphones over traditional methods.

The survey also found that:

• Almost 40 percent of millennials have duplicated a do-not-duplicate key.
• Three-fourths of respondents have lost or misplaced their keys.
• Around a third of respondents have needed to grant someone access to their office building from a remote location.

Reposted from UNM Newsroom

Campus safety at The University of New Mexico is an issue most everyone’s minds as the greater Albuquerque-area continues to grapple with crime in general. In compliance with the federal Clery Act, the UNM Police Department publishes annually the Campus Security and Fire Safety Report.

The report contains crime statistics and other safety information for the calendar year 2017 using comparisons of the previous two years and offers a glimpse into overall crime issues as they pertain to the campus community specifically. It provides law enforcement officials with an opportunity to review crimes that have occurred on campus and trends that might be associated with them with the ultimate goal of preventing future incidences through the implementation of new safety initiatives and programs designed to improve the safety of one and all on campus.

The recently released report for 2018 includes areas where UNM experienced a slight increase in crime as well as areas where reported crimes decreased. Several factors can affect yearly statistics including changes in reporting criteria that have led to the slight increases in certain categories and decreases in others.

A review of the statistics from 2017 show an increase in auto thefts with 222 compared with 174 in 2016, burglaries with 39 reported, up from 28 in 2016 and 29 reported dating violence incidents compared to 23 in 2016. However, reports of domestic violence dropped to six reported incidents in 2017 compared to 11 in 2016.

UNM officials attribute the increases that reflect modifications in the reporting of auto thefts and incidents of domestic violence in which dating violence was added as a reporting requirement. Clery also requires attempted auto thefts to be reported as auto thefts whether the vehicle was taken or not.

It’s still an issue taken very seriously. Campus safety, including property crime, quickly became a prime initiative for new UNM President Garnett Stokes.

“President Stokes has made campus safety one of her top initiatives and in doing so has secured funding to increase lighting and cameras around campus,” said UNM Police Chief Kevin McCabe. “We believe adding the cameras will aid law enforcement in apprehending offenders and make the campus a less attractive target for property thefts and other crimes of opportunity.”

In other categories, aggravated assaults were up by seven (19), reported rape incidents were up by four (19) and fondling cases by one (12).

Initiatives such as LoboRESPECT, facilitated through the Lobo Respect Advocacy Center, continues to educate the campus on healthy interpersonal relationships and behaviors. The University credits this program and others such as Think About It, a new education and mandatory training program for students rolled out earlier this year by the Lobo Respect Advocacy Center.

UNM officials hope these initiatives and others lead to an increase in proper reporting of sexual assault cases. Last year, the University was able to reach more than 25,000 students with its in-person sexual assault prevention program, The Grey Area.

UNM PD also recently launched a new crime-fighting initiative of its own titled #UNMStrongerTogether designed to encourage more awareness of and participation in community policing on all UNM campuses.

“We have 40 sworn officers on our force, from the Chief to patrol officers,” said McCabe. “Those officers patrol UNM’s nearly 800-acre campus 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That’s a lot of ground to cover, right in the heart of Albuquerque. UNMPD is dedicated to taking proactive measures to increase the safety of our community, and we hope the community will help support that mission.”

As part of the report, the UNM Police Department requests crime statistics information from the City of Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Bernalillo Police Departments to include. The complete report also includes information about crime prevention programs, ways to report criminal activity, and campus policies on sexual assault, drug, alcohol and weapons.

In accordance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, the annual report additionally includes details on fire statistics and fire safety information for UNM Student Residential Facilities as well as the University’s policy and procedures for resident students to provide a contact person in case a student is determined to be missing.

The full report is available on the UNM PD website or interested parties can request a copy at the UNM Police Department located in Hokona Hall at 2500 Campus Blvd., Human Resources Service Center at 1700 Lomas Blvd., Admissions Office at the Student Services Center, Student Support and Services Center at 1155 University Blvd. and the HSC Administrative Services Office at the Health Sciences and Services Building.

In a letter to the campus community about the report results, McCabe said, “The UNM Police Department is working hard to make this campus a safe place to live, learn, work and play. We believe that the information in the UNM Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for 2018 is informative and helpful. We hope you will take the time to review it and help us work to keep the campus safe.”

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Reposted from Xinhuanet

Over 1,000 companies and organisations in Britain have signed up for new counter terrorism training course, the National Counter Terrorism Security Office said Wednesday.

Since the innovative training product was first made available, organisations as varied as high-street department store chain John Lewis & Partners, the English National Opera and Manchester Cathedral have enrolled their staff. The training scheme is a measure that could help prevent terror attacks.

Called ACT (Action Counters terrorism) Awareness e-Learning, the training was developed in a ground-breaking partnership between Counter Terrorism Policing and British retail giant Marks & Spencer. It covers how to spot the signs of suspicious behavior and what to do if an attack should take place.

The course can be divided into short sections to suit business needs. However, it takes just one hour in total to complete -- an hour that could save lives.

Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Lucy D'Orsi, national police lead for protective security, said: "All staff working in crowded places -- not just those who have a security role -- can follow the course and be in a stronger position to help protect themselves, colleagues and the public.

"Our officers will still be available to deal with companies on a one-to-one level but this will lead to many more 'eyes and ears' available to help us that could potentially save lives." 

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Reposted from BetaNews

A survey of more than 400 full-time employees in the US shows that, despite having a general understanding of security risks, people still tend towards unsafe behavior.

The study by Spanning Cloud Apps finds many are under-prepared for the increasing sophistication and instance of ransomware and phishing attacks. More than half (55 percent) admit to clicking links they don't recognize, 59 percent say they would allow a colleague to use their work computer and 34 percent are unable to identify an insecure eCommerce site.

Recognition of of unfamiliar URLs from popular sites like Facebook and the New York Times, along with aversion towards potential malicious links, such as bit.ly, is generally high, with 87 percent of respondents demonstrating caution around these URLs. However, 13 percent of employees still do click on short URLs.

More than 52 percent of all employees and 62 percent of admin holders polled say they shop online from their work computer. But when presented with an example of an insecure eCommerce browser window, only 34 percent of employees responded that they felt the site was secure. Under half (49 percent) of all employees polled who indicated the site was insecure were able to correctly identify a broken padlock as being the key indicator of an unsafe site. In addition only 36 percent of all employees correctly identified a suspicious link as being the key indicator of a phishing email.

"While we are encouraged to see that employees are becoming more risk averse, and most can identify unsecure sites or phishing emails, these results show that there is still a concerning gap between what users say they understand and how they actually behave," says Mat Hamlin, VP of Products at Spanning.

 "Organizations need to improve security awareness and training while still preparing for the worst, which is why backup of all critical data, including SaaS, is more important than ever, especially considering that 25 percent of these survey respondents indicated they have lost data in G Suite or Microsoft Office 365 in the past."

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Reposted from ZDNet

Athena Security, a San Francisco-based AI company that utilizes computer vision for security applications, has announced implementation of an AI camera system it says can identify guns in crowds. The system is one of a growing number of technologies aimed at preventing gun crime.

In addition to detection, Athena's cameras can also alert police to the presence of an active shooter, potentially reducing response time, according to the company. Wood High School in Warminster, PA, will be an early testbed for the technology.

Though mass shootings in schools have declined since the 1990s, the threat has never loomed larger in the minds of concerned parents. Information on mass shootings (defined as an event in which four or more people are shot, not including the gunman) is notoriously difficult to track, but the Gun Violence Archive places the overall number of mass shootings in the U.S. in 2017 at 346.

Technologies of various sorts have been offered up as potential ways to mitigate gun violence. Schools in many districts around the country are equipped with metal detectors, for example, and there's been recent talk of introducing airport-style body scanners.

After high profile shootings in places like Parkland, Colorado, some schools have also begun to look for more sophisticated safeguards. Earlier this month I wrote about a business analytics company whose technology is being used to monitor students' public social media accounts to watch for threats to life or wellbeing.

The balancing act for administrators and technologists is to introduce new equipment designed to increase safety without militarizing schools or compromising privacy.

"The feeling of safety is palpable on campus knowing that we have the best weapon detection security camera system in the world watching over our children every second of the day," says Gary Zimmaro, President of Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster, PA. "In addition to providing an excellent education, we have a duty and responsibility to keep our students safe."

According to a PDK poll, a full 34 percent of parents worry for their child's physical safety at school. That's a three-fold increase from 2013. Founded by for former Revel Systems cofounders Lisa Falzone and Chris Ciabarra, Athena has emerged out of the current anxious paradigm with a compelling technology product.

"It was around the time of the Las Vegas shooting when we realized that we could parlay our cloud tech expertise with Revel to create an AI-powered system that would accurately recognize any crime or weapon and alert police in real time," says Falzone.

The trick during development was to create a computer vision algorithm that continuously monitors cameras without reporting too many false positives, a weakness of past attempts at AI gun detection technology.

Athena's system is powered by the NVIDIA 2080 RTX graphics card and can be integrated into current camera security networks. Besides schools, the company is marketing its solution to retailers.

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Reposted from the Australian Broadcasting Network

A leading defence expert says the use of artificially intelligent drones to monitor crowds at major events and report "irregular behaviour" to authorities will become widespread, as Victoria Police reveals plans to use the drones as part of its new anti-terror strategy.

Key points:

• Drones will monitor crowds as part of Victoria Police's new counter-terrorism strategy
• Biometric technology can detect 'irregular' behaviour and report back to officers
• Defence expert predicts widespread use of drones equipped with AI within five years

Under the refreshed counter-terrorism strategy, drones which detect unusual behaviour in a crowd will report findings back to officers, who can then investigate the potential threat.

Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther told ABC Radio Melbourne the aim of the drones is not to create a "surveillance state", but to help police prevent attacks occurring.

"Say you went to the Myer Music Bowl, for example, and you took a backpack with you to that," he said.

"You drop the backpack down but then you just returned to the gate and left the property, that would be an irregular behaviour.

"If we had a drone in the area using that sort of functionality it would identify an out of normal behaviour and send that information back to police command post.

"The intention of it is to protect the community and it's not that we're using that technology 24 hours a day at all our meeting places, for example."

AI drone use will increase: expert

The use of drones equipped with artificial intelligence is likely to expand over the next three to five years, according to defence expert Professor Clive Williams, from Australian National University.

"[Drones] are useful and much most cost-effective than using a helicopter," he said.

"The main development will probably be in the area of artificial intelligence because already the technology is out there, it's simply a matter of whether police take up the technology or not.

"What it can do is take out some of the monotony of looking over a large crowd for example.

"Artificial intelligence could say 'have a look in that sector, there's unusual activity' and specify what it is and that gives the human operator the chance then to focus in and make a decision about what to do about it."

Professor Williams said the community generally accepts a degree of surveillance already with the growth of CCTV cameras in city centres.

"There used to be public concern about that but I think now people are more concerned about their security and their safety, and these kinds of surveillance can actually provide more security and therefore I think generally speaking people are accepting of it," he said.

"Facial recognition is of course another aspect, although maybe that's a bit more contentious because of the civil liberty aspects of it."

Risk of drones as weapons

Mr Guenther also said police needed to be prepared for the potential use of drones as weapons in crowd environments.

"Drones have been used in the battlefield and we know that they have got the capability to do bad things in crowded places, so we need to be ready to deal with that," he said.

Police at the Commonwealth Games in Queensland this year were equipped with "drone guns" which have the ability to bring down the aircraft by disrupting electronic signals.

He said despite the importance of adapting to new technology, the links between police and different community groups remained the key to the force's counter-terrorism strategy.

"That engagement with the community is the most important thing we do, and in fact, in this strategy which has four pillars, the first of those is actually prevention, is the community stuff we focus heavily on and will continue to enhance," he said.

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Reposted from Campus Security & Life Safety

At a time when violent events have been woven into the fabric of our memories and lives, we often find ourselves wondering, “What can we do? What should we do?” The debate arises again and again on how best to identify threats and prevent incidents before they occur, but while security measures like access control and video cameras have become standard, schools may lack a more comprehensive, risk-based security plan to adequately protect campus communities. Naturally, a comprehensive campus security plan involves the installation of physical security equipment and personnel, like video cameras and police or security officers, but those measures may not entirely address the shortcomings that come with fully safeguarding our campuses. It is this shortcoming that led Omnigo to adapt the “inside out” approach to campus security. Without this approach, schools are especially vulnerable to threats and crimes carried out by an often-ignored potentially dangerous group of people: trusted insiders.

Many of today’s incidents, including cyberattacks and violent intruders, are devised by those with trusted access to school campuses, networks, and facilities. Insider threats exist at all levels of school and campus administration, and can come from a student, employee, former employee or student, contractor, associate, or any other individual within an organization who has direct access to and knowledge of people, facilities, critical data, and IT systems.

Access to and misuse of these resources poses a significant threat to both the campus and its people. When campuses calibrate their security programs around the people and information they’re trying to protect, administrators can better establish an effective security plan. Countermeasures like prevention training, background investigations for employees and third-party contractors, anonymous reporting, and behavioral intervention/threat assessment teams are key pieces to intervention, detection, and prevention.

The following countermeasures are key to enhancing prevention, intervention, and detection, and thus create a comprehensive security plan for schools to rely on.

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND PREVENTION

When students and teachers are actively engaged in the safety and protection of themselves and their campus, threats can be more easily identified far earlier in the incident lifecycle. Campus administrators should implement steps to help people take responsibility for themselves and the community they live in, employing the successful Department of Homeland Security approach, “If you see something, say something.”

By adapting comprehensive training and microlearning solutions to equip students and employees with the tools they need to make educated decisions and identify warning signs, these campaigns will help raise community awareness of what a real threat looks like, what is doesn’t look like, and how to respond as a member of that community. Instead of one time “acute” training, a microlearning approach provides a more frequent and effective way for these individuals to engage with the training material, allowing for better retention and a more informed and prepared population.

ANONYMOUS REPORTING

A crucial piece of the inside out tactic includes the implementation of anonymous reporting. In addition to protecting a campus’ perimeter with ID badge readers and security cameras, anonymous reporting adds another layer to a school’s comprehensive security plan. By implementing reporting on an anonymous level, concerned members of the community and witnesses can feel more at ease when reporting an incident and will be more likely to do so knowing their identity is protected. To avoid confusion around how and when individuals should anonymously report a concern or suspicious incident, communication campaigns and learning opportunities should be offered to students and employees on campus.

This tactic enables anonymous reports to be sent directly to police and security professionals who then evaluate each report on a case-bycase basis. By integrating new technologies into comprehensive security plans, campuses can offer services like anonymous reporting through easy-to-use apps or websites—encouraging students and teachers alike to utilize these resources to protect themselves and their community.

BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION AND THREAT ASSESSMENT TEAMS

Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment teams are expertly trained to identify and assess any potential threats—including acts of violence or cases of mental health—and to address the threats before they escalate.

These teams are critical to any security response plan, and by regularly monitoring the many moving parts on a campus, they are able to identify risks posed by those intent on doing harm to themselves or others. Campuses must clearly evaluate the risks posed by various types of threats, then prioritize the risks and continuously assess and enhance their security posture and intervention strategies.

Through the inside out approach, campuses can equip themselves with the tools to more effectively identify potential threats and intervene earlier in the incident cycle before a situation escalates into a full-scale emergency. The more steps we take to install better prevention and early intervention protocols, the more effective we can be at maintaining a safe and secure campus environment.

Across the country, many people have become numb to violent attacks, and seem to accept that these incidents are the “new normal.” With effective and secure precautions in place, and a more open dialogue on how to prevent tragedy instead of reacting to it, we can take steps to adapt a proactive, “inside out” approach to protecting our students, teachers, staff, and campus community as a whole.

A truly comprehensive security plan allows campus administrators to work alongside their community members to combat threats of violence and ensure safer tomorrows.

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Reposted from CNBC

A Bloomberg BusinessWeek report that Chinese equipment manufacturer Super Micro may have allowed microchips used for spying into U.S. data center equipment run by AWS, Apple and others is likely to stoke trade tensions between the two nations over alleged espionage.

Apple and AWS strongly dispute the Bloomberg report.

Just Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged companies to protect against cyberthreats from their managed service providers. It was the latest warning in a long series of ramped-up concerns over espionage from nation-states involving third-party products and services.

The U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team, which provides disaster response and warnings about serious cybersecurity issues, published an alert that nation-states have been using shared cloud services and managed service providers — like those that provide outsourced handling of corporate functions — to launch advanced attacks and espionage campaigns against critical U.S. companies.

The attacks have resulted in a variety of adverse consequences, including lost sensitive information, disruption of operations and leaks of proprietary material, according to the US-CERT. The agency said victims of the attacks have included information technology firms, health-care companies, communications providers and manufacturers. It did not identify them.

China is not mentioned in the warning, but government agencies have grown increasingly wary about how vulnerable U.S. infrastructure may be to Chinese espionage, said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer for security company Carbon Black and a former top cybersecurity official for the World Bank.

"China's activities in this area have only become ramped up in recent years, particularly as trade tensions between China and the U.S. have increased," he said.

More action on several fronts

The Department of Justice has also boosted enforcement and rhetoric about espionage activities waged against corporations and enterprise infrastructure from China in recent months

On Sept. 25, a Chinese national identified as Ji Chaoqun was arrested in Chicagofollowing a complaint accusing him of acting on behalf of Beijing to recruit spies from government contractors in the Midwest. Ji has denied the charges. The complaint is one of several in recent years calling out what the U.S. says are Chinese government-sponsored campaigns to steal huge amounts of U.S. intellectual property for use both by the government and competitively at Chinese-owned businesses.

A focus on manufacturers

China has repeatedly denied a role in espionage against the U.S. In August, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, countered hacking claims by President Donald Trump, saying: "We are firmly opposed to all forms of cyberattacks and espionage."

Equipment manufacturers have recently been targeted by the Trump administration, putting pressure on many large technology companies with roots in China.

In July, the administration moved to block China Mobile from entering the U.S. market over "national security" fears. In August, mobile manufacturers Huawei and ZTE were banned for use in U.S. government agencies, in a bill signed by Trump. Earlier this year, digital surveillance camera maker Hikvision was also the subject of scrutiny after allegations the equipment, used on several military bases and overseas embassies, was capable of sending images back to China. (Some military officials disputed this view. In January 2018, U.S. Army Col. Christopher Beck said the decision to replace the Hikivision cameras was based on concerns about "negative perception" rather than actual security risk.)

Huawei and ZTE have denied claims their technology has been used for espionage. Hikvision has said the alleged security vulnerabilities were bugs that have since been fixed.

"Chinese commercial technology is a vehicle for the Chinese government to spy on United States federal agencies, posing a severe national security threat," Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said in January. "Allowing Huawei, ZTE, and other related entities access to U.S. government communications would be inviting Chinese surveillance into all aspects of our lives."

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