June 29, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

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June 29, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

(www.asi-mag.com)
For all our deliberations about enhancing passenger facilitation at airports and reducing the need for multiple checks by numerous government agencies, our best efforts are often stymied by the realities of trying to operate in the most global of all global industries. Aviation, by its very nature, brings together the best and the worst, the most confident and the most vulnerable, and the wealthiest and the poorest of society and places them, in close proximity to each other, in a single aluminium tube miles above the planet’s surface. Whilst we aim to cater for the business traveller and the tourist, the sportsman and the academic, we have to face the fact that we also transport criminals, deportees, anti-social drunkards, victims of human trafficking, psychologically disturbed individuals and those for whom air travel can transport them from destitution to the comparative lap of luxury. Other modes of transport have to contend with similar challenges, but usually only one at a time…….

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June 29, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

Several blogs and articles have discussed the increasing reluctance of employees to take vacation time, even if it is mandatory. While reading these articles, I can’t help but notice a lack of discussion about the security implications of this.

Internal investigators will tell you that a employee refusing to take vacation time, or refusing to take a large amount of time at once can be a red flag.

Why?

An employee committing embezzlement, fraud, stealing data or otherwise manipulating books or records needs to have continuous control over those systems to maintain the theft and avoid being caught.

In fact, many aspects of what we consider to be “model” employee behavior can actually be a red flag:

Volunteers often for new projects and duties; particularly in security, finance, or record keeping duties. Often these duties, like processing receipts for reimbursement, are the least desirable duties. After a few volunteer projects, a manager might find that least privilege and separation of duties policies may be being circumvented.
Early in, late out. First in and last out employees have access to files, computers and offices with little or no security or monitoring measures. The employee offering to make coffee in the morning maybe up to something more than making sure the office is perky.
Constantly remaining in touch while on vacation, doing work while on vacation, and working overtime before and after vacation. These may all be attempts at communicating with someone in collusion with the fraud, or at maintaining control over the work product. If your employee insists that he or she completes all work before going on vacation instead of handing over the materials to another employee, this could be cause for concern.

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=46656434&gid=55857&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Finformation-security-resources%2Ecom%2F2009%2F06%2F28%2Fsun-tzu-and-the-art-of-cio-success%2F&urlhash=v65W&trk=news_discuss

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June 29, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

Mark Sanford isn’t the only person relishing the King of Pop’s demise—national-security experts are warning that his death could distract from Iran’s increasing crackdown on democracy.

The jokes popped up almost immediately that Mark Sanford was the luckiest guy on earth after word broke that Michael Jackson had suffered a heart attack. But the notion that Jackson’s death, which preempted virtually all other news coverage on the cable networks last night, is sucking up media attention from other matters carries a dark edge to it as well. National-security experts are warning that without sustained attention on Iran, its repressive tactics could grow more deadly in the coming days.

The Jackson story, paired with Farrah Fawcett’s death and Sanford’s own scandal, “without a doubt” poses a danger in Iran, according to Michael Rubin, an American Enterprise Institute scholar and former Bush administration official.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-26/will-michael-jackson-doom-iran/

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June 29, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

The news out of North Korea gets stranger and stranger. Now, the word is that North Korea is criticizing our positioning of missile defense systems around Hawaii — calling the deployment part of a plot to attack the regime and saying it would bolster its nuclear arsenal in retaliation. What a second here. Isn’t Kim Jong Il the guy who claimed he wanted to test a missile by firing it towards Hawaii…essentially starting this whole thing?? And, now our missile defense system is seen as an offense again North Korea?

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=46703691&gid=55857&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egotgeoint%2Ecom%2Farchives%2Fmonday-morning-news-wrap-up-joe-biden-to-mediate-intel-turf-battles-n-korea-sees-hawaii-missile-defense-a-threat%2F&urlhash=P_B0&trk=news_discuss

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