Security Magazine

1. Royal Caribbean uses wearables for contact tracing; sees facial recognition as best long-term solution

   Wearables provide public health and security teams onboard Royal Caribbean with a solid means of contact tracing, but the future may be in facial recognition.

2. Geraldine Hart named Hofstra University’s Director of Public Safety

   Geraldine Hart, currently the Suffolk County Police commissioner, will become Hofstra University’s next Director of Public Safety in June.

3. Product spotlight on cybersecurity, data protection, and privacy solutions

   Check out the latest cybersecurity products, all designed to protect your networks, infrastructure, critical data, assets and private information.

4. Gaining a video surveillance ‘edge’ in the cloud

   Video storage is an important consideration in any surveillance project while simultaneously being one of the most overlooked. Let’s face it: storage does not exactly provide the “wow factor” of analytics or 4K image quality, but it is the backbone on which entire video security systems are built. If you cannot retrieve and review footage in a timely manner, all the other shiny features you have incorporated into your security surveillance solution is for naught.

5. Russian foreign intelligence service exploiting five publicly known vulnerabilities to compromise U.S. and allied networks

   The National Security Agency (NSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) jointly released a Cybersecurity Advisory, “Russian SVR Targets U.S. and Allied Networks,” to expose ongoing Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) exploitation of five publicly known vulnerabilities. This advisory is being released alongside the U.S. government’s formal attribution of the SolarWinds supply chain compromise and related cyber espionage campaign. We are publishing this product to highlight additional tactics, techniques, and procedures being used by SVR so that network defenders can take action to mitigate against them.  

6. How do you define the value of security?

   Benchmarking your security program against others in your sector can prove extremely valuable for your organization and key stakeholders.

7. President Biden issues sanctions against Russia for cyberattacks, election interference

   U.S. President Biden has signed a new executive order imposing new sanctions on Russia for actions by "its government and intelligence services against the U.S. sovereignty and interests." The administration formally named Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also known as APT 29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes, as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures. 

8. Oakland International Airport brings new security screening

   Oakland International Airport has installed identity technology and touchless security lanes from CLEAR.

9. Bowdoin College's Office of Safety and Security earns accreditation from IACLEA

   Maine's Bowdoin College announced that its Office of Safety and Security achieved accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA).

10. April's Cybersecurity & Geopolitical podcast is up!

    Episode three of the Cybersecurity and Geopolitical video podcast is up and ready for viewing! We are also now offering an audio version to listen to anytime, anywhere, including from Apple podcasts.

11. 5 minutes with Ray Espinoza - Common cybersecurity hurdles leadership teams may encounter when restructuring

    Meet Ray Espinoza, Chief Information Security Officer at Cobalt. With over 20 years of technology experience and 14+ years in information security, Espinoza’s collaborative leadership style has enabled him to build information security and risk management programs that support business objectives and build customer trust. Here, we talk to Espinoza about common cybersecurity hurdles leadership teams may encounter when restructuring. 

12. NJOHSP, NJ ROIC launch New Jersey Shield Program to foster information sharing, collaboration

    The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) and New Jersey Regional Operations and Intelligence Center (NJ ROIC) launched New Jersey Shield on April 14, a program focused on strengthening information sharing and collaboration among the public and private sectors.

13. The force of biometrics in post-pandemic financial services security

    Biometric technology, and specifically its most modern iteration, facial recognition, has found its way into security systems essential to everyone. We rely on it to safeguard some of our most prized belongings, including our smartphones, laptops and now, with Apple Pay, even our bank accounts and credit cards. Security experts applaud facial recognition as one of the most secure and efficient means of authentication available today. Why then, has the industry most hinged on security and identification – Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) – been so slow to adopt this new wave of technology?

14. US firms repurposing their existing video monitoring systems to support return to the workplace

    A multi-country survey of organizations running video monitoring systems, conducted by Ava Security, found that U.S. firms are avidly repurposing their existing video monitoring systems to support the ‘COVID Safe’ return to offices and workplaces across North America.

15. 54% of teens today do not believe schools are equipped to respond effectively to emergency incidents or mental health needs

    The third poll in a series of nationwide surveys conducted by Navigate360 and John Zogby Strategies, a national polling firm, shows the majority (54%) of teens today do not feel prepared to deal with the anxiety of returning to school and do not believe schools are equipped to respond effectively to emergency incidents or mental health needs. 

16. City of Eilat in Israel deploys advanced behavioral analytics

    The city of Eilat, Israel has implemented viisights' behavioral recognition system to detect, predict and analyze events of interests in real-time and alert authorities of crowding, violent/suspicious activity, traffic or crowd congestion, and more.

17. Multi-tenant buildings in Maryland implement turnstile technology for mixed-use developments

    Harbor East, a mixed-use community in Maryland, has installed turnstiles in several buildings over the years to provide safety and security to residents, visitors and employees.

18. Mike Matranga launches M6 Global to serve K-12 communities, universities, corporate environments, etc.

    A 2020 Most Influential in Security, Michael Matranga announced the launch of M6 Global, a team of the nation’s top security and emotional intelligence experts, to provide holistic plans for safe communities and workplaces.

19. Solve your security challenges with a unified video & access control solution from Axis Communications

    There are all types of facilities in the world. Each has their own unique requirements and challenges, depending on their location, vertical market, industry regulations, and laws, to name a few. With this in mind, it might seem difficult for facility and security managers to find just the right security solution to meet their needs.

20. Don’t discount the risk of deepfakes to the enterprise

    In recent years, there has been a recognition that social engineering plays a huge part in the execution of cybersecurity attacks. The intersection of “non-physical” and “technical” social engineering is where criminals are mostly focused today. Enter deepfake technology, which poses a looming risk over enterprises and their security leaders as they figure out how to prepare for and mitigate such a risk.

21. Research finds sharp increase in Initial Access Brokers listings

    Since Digital Shadows published its first report last year, Initial Access Brokers: An Excess of Access, the company has continued to closely monitor the IAB criminal category. Where it tracked roughly 500 IAB listings in all of 2020, already in 2021 it has found some 200 new listings published by IABs in cybercriminal forums and other dark web sources in just Q1.

22. Cybercriminals targeting unpatched Exchange servers by installing cryptojacking malware

    Cybercriminals continue to exploit unpatched Microsoft Exchange servers. Cybersecurity researchers at Sophos report an unknown attacked has been attempting to leverage the ProxyLogon exploit to unload malicious Monero cryptominer onto Exchange servers, with the payload being hosted on a compromised Exchange server. 

23. Cybersecurity training lags, while hackers capitalize on the pandemic

    Recently, TalentLMS partnered with Kenna Security to survey 1,200 employees on their cybersecurity habits, knowledge of best practices, and ability to recognize security threats. Here are some of the staggering results that offer some explanation as to why cybercrime has grown into such a lucrative business:

24. Zero trust visibility

    Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is a trendy term touted by cybersecurity vendors. But there isn’t a single ZTA solution. The architecture is composed of numerous components, that when taken together, form a new paradigm for dealing with cybersecurity that is appropriate in a modern world where corporate enterprises are no longer confined to a well-defined and trustworthy perimeter such as remote working and cloud environments. For reference, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a very detailed ZTA publication 

25. New England College of Optometry implements contact-tracing wearables to boost COVID-response and enable in-person learning

    The New England College of Optometry (NECO) formed a COVID-19 Task Force and began exploring ideas to enable in-person learning at the school in a safe, effective and well-planned manner. One of the solutions that NECO implemented is a contact-tracing tool that allows the school to respond immediately to report of an infection, accurately and effectively, without relying on a sign-in sheet or a person’s recollection of their previous contacts.