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Security

airline security

Prototype Remote-Activated Wrist Stun-Device Shocks You For Airplane Security

This story from the Washington Times seems more ridiculous than ridiculously awesome, but the base of it is that some official in the Department of Homeland Security has "expressed great interest" in a wrist bracelet that can be remotely activated to stun the wearer. It works by taking the place of a boarding pass, which you then wear on your wrist so the flight attendants can know who you are, where you are, and even shock you if you're misbehaving. What makes this thing completely absurd is the diagram after the jump. A man threatens a crew member with a knife. The crew member shocks the man into submission, then SHOCKS EVERYONE ELSE as punishment for sitting passively by while he was being threatened. More »

spying

Voyeur Security Drone is For Spying At Sea, Not at Your Neighbors

This helicopter mini-drone has been developed by the Navy to help it counter water-borne threats, despite its provocatively lurid name. Made by Lite Machines, the battery-powered Voyeur weighs just four pounds, stands 27-inches high and is actually designed to be suicidal. It's meant to hop out of sonobuoy tubes, patrol for threats for a while and then sink itself. Much more economical than helicopters or jets wasting fuel by attempting to ID surface targets (has the Navy's gas bill gone up at the moment too?) Plus it looks waaay more creepily sci-fi. [Danger Room]

news

TSA Says X-Rayable Laptop Bags are Go

The director of the TSA, Kip Hawley, has spoken to the New York Times and confirmed that X-ray-friendly laptop cases will be accepted by the agency as soon as they hit the shelves, potentially bringing an end to the panic that your laptop will go astray in all the fuss at airport checkpoints. We brought you first hints of this back in May, but it looks like the process of getting the bags approved is well underway. And both Targus and Pathfinder Luggage are hoping to have products on sale as soon as September or October. More »

security

Pennycam Captures Convenience Store Thieves, Penny Pinchers

I know how it is with you man—you see that "Take-a-Penny, Leave-a-Penny" tray and it is all "take, take, take!" Well your days of penny pinching are over now that SteathVue has developed their Pennycam. What they have done is to embed a security camera inside the tray that relays upward angled video to a DVR using a standard BNC cable. Obviously, Pennycam is intended to capture clearer (500 x 582 resolution) images of thieves that try and obscure their face from overhead cameras—and it seems to work pretty well based on the footage in the following demo video. More »

tools

Padlock Scares Off Thieves With a 100dB Alarm

I have actually been looking for a decent padlock over the last couple of weeks, but so far nothing has suited my needs. While many of these locks would do a fine job of protecting my stuff, I think I was waiting for something a little different. This siren padlock may be just the ticket because it locks up property and it is liable to have a thief shitting bricks when they hear the 100dB alarm. More »

software

Surveillance Camera Software Blurs the Faces of the Innocent


Advanced video surveillance cameras that discreetly examine each face or vehicle that comes into frame are becoming more commonplace in big cities and large corporations. These cameras are equipped with intelligence algorithms that can distinguish the face, vehicle or license plate of a wanted criminal and alert the proper authorities when necessary. However, innocent people often get involved in these recordings simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. A video analysis company named 3VR is now attempting to change all that. More »

eagle eye

Security Camera System Busts Homeless Woman Who Lived Undetected in a Man's Closet For a Year

A homeless woman in Japan was recently busted by the police for trespassing after the man who had been unknowingly harboring her began to notice that food was disappearing from his kitchen. To discover the source of the problem, he had security cameras installed that transmitted images to his cellphone. It wasn't long before the cameras captured someone moving in his home, so he called the police who proceeded to thoroughly search the premises. They eventually found a woman cowering in the closet who later revealed that she had been living there for a year. More »

omfg

After Losing Nukes, Air Base Fails Inspection: Security Caught Playing Games On Cellphones

After losing track of six nuclear warheads last year, you would think that the crack security team at Minot Air Force Base would pull it together for their much anticipated nuclear security inspection. Unfortunately, you would be mistaken. Inspectors from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency failed the security wing based on a number of infractions—including an incident where an airmen was observed playing video games on his cellphone while standing guard at a "restricted area perimeter" during a simulated attack. More »

24

Jack Bauer Really Does Save Us From Terrorists

As far fetched as some of the tech the spy community plays with is, you'd think they were getting it from spy movies and stuff. Well, they're definitely watching. The Department of Homeland Security's latest idea to protect airports, a laser equipped drone that'll detect and blind missiles with a low-power laser (rather than a megadoom one) is named for Chloe on 24, because they apparently both track down bad guys. We're assuming project Jack kills them. And if they ever reveal one codenamed Solid Snake, all evildoers worldwide should simultaneously piss their pants and seek a career in handicrafts. [Danger Room] More »

iphone security

How to Better Erase an iPhone When Selling/Repairing

We knew that refurbished iPhones have their previous owner's data on it, but how do you protect yourself when Apple won't go through the trouble of wiping phones out before passing them on? By unsyncing everything, then loading it up with music and videos until the phone is full to overwrite the old data that was there. Does this work? We thought the contacts, calendars, SMS and phone calls were stored on the OS partition, not the media partition where videos and music files go. More »

security

TV Simulating Lamp Foils Burglars: Because Couch Potatoes Are Not Easy Targets

A device called FakeTV is intended to deter would-be burglars by making it seem like you are up watching the television when in reality you could be sleeping or out of the house. After all, burglars would rather move on to an easier target than tangle with a dangerous couch potato watching infomercials at 4 in the morning. The unit consists of a small LED lamp that gives off a light output similar to a 27-inch television. It even adds effects like scene changes, fades, swells, flicks, on-screen motion and color changes to enhance the illusion. More »

gadgets

Schlage Z-Wave Door Locks Can Be Controlled Remotely Using Internet Magic

Schlage is planning on taking door lock security into the internet age with a new lineup of Z-Wave devices that can be locked, unlocked and monitored from a cellphone or other web enabled device. By connecting a Z-Wave gateway to any broadband router, users will be able to take complete control of up to 256 locks—including creating and disabling passcodes as well as monitoring who accessed the door and when. More »

security

Samsung OLED Passport Is Perfect for Secret Agents, Plastic Surgery Junkies

For some reason, Samsung SDI and German company Bundesdruckerei think that their new passport with a 700µm (tiny) polycarbonate data page, which contains an active matrix bendable 300µm (really tiny) OLED display—capable of displaying video or text regarding the passport holder—is the next thing in border security. More »

storage

Phoenix Enables Users to Remotely Track, Disable and Erase Data From Fujitsu Drives

Phoenix Technologies has announced that they are currently working with Fujitsu in an effort to bring users equipped with Fujitsu's new full disk encryption (FDE) 2.5" 7200RPM SATA hard disk drive the ability to remotely track, disable and even erase their drive in the event that the laptop is ever stolen. According to Phoenix, their new "FailSafe" technology is "the industry's strongest security method for mobile computing" and their encryption capabilities will "ensure data on the disk drive is inaccessible to unauthorized users." More »

aircraft

Joint Strike Fighter Technology May Have Been Compromised...Whoops!

It appears that the geniuses at the Defense Department have been asleep at the wheel of their new Joint Strike Fighter program, leading some to believe that its super valuable aviation and weapons technology may have been compromised. The crux of the problem involves the fact that the Pentagon's Defense Security Service (DSS) has had a difficult time monitoring the contractors working on the aircraft. While no specific breaches have come to light regarding the classified information, an audit has uncovered that the DSS cut corners and the DoD suffered lapses in its controls designed to evaluate and protect the sensitive information from unauthorized access. More »

disabling rfids

The Best Way To Break RFIDs: Smash 'Em

Over the next decade, we're bound to see RFID chips in more and more involuntary applications...which is a scary proposition for a technology that has been successfully read from 69 feet away. But just because, say, your credit card company wants you to use RFID, it doesn't mean you have to comply. Instructables ran through the best ways to deactivate RFIDs in passports and credit cards without the appearance of tampering. Their verdict? A hammer. More »

laptops

Border Agents Can Frisk Your Laptop and Gadgets Without Cause

If you don't want border agents to see nekkid pictures of your significant other, you might wanna leave your laptop at home when you travel abroad. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this week that computers are like any other dumb luggage, so they're subject to search even without reasonable suspicion that you're a turrist or doing anything illegal. More »

battle of the sexes

What Would Chicks Do for a Klondike Bar? Give Up Their Password

I thought that the whole chicks would do anything for chocolate stereotype was just, you know, a stereotype, but vaguely scientific market research proves it's true! Infosecurity Europe went around posing as marketers, offering people chocolate bars in exchange for their computer passwords, and 45 percent of the women gave it up like prom night. Only 10 percent of the dudes went for it. Of course, it's totally possible the women were actually more conniving in their desire for the chocolate, and they all just lied about their password, while only 10 percent of the guys were able to devise such a clever ruse. I mean, that's what I would've done. [McSolutions via The Raw Feed]