Iraq war boon: new surveillance technology hits the market

A new video surveillance system has captured the interest of military authorities after its successful use in the Iraq war. The technology, an encoding device and software developed by Essential Viewing in Glasgow, compresses video data and sends it with virtually no delay over just about any communication network, even low-capacity military radio systems. It compresses signals by effectively making a sketch of each image rather than transmitting it pixel by pixel.

The Times of India - March 2, 2004.

NRI makes 'sun in jar'

Washington - An Indian-born scientist and his team may have won a place in the sun by achieving nuclear fusion in a table-top experiment, leading to expectations that the world is on the cusp of a bounteous energy source. The scientific world is describing Dr. Rusi Taleyarkhan's break-through, now revalidated after some initial skepticism, as "making the sun in a jar." What he has essentially done is to slam together hydrogen atoms so fast and forcefully that it produces temperatures of millions of degrees, and emits a flash of light and energy, in the same way as happens with the sun and stars.

The Times of India - March 4, 2004.

Cellphone chip that betrayed Al Qaeda

London - March 4, 2004 -In April 2002, authorities intercepted a cellphone call that lasted less than a minute and there was not a single word of conversation. Suspecting it a signal between terrorists, investigation began and the investigators were able to track the conversations and movements of several Qaeda leaders and operatives after determining that the suspects favoured a particular brand of cellphone chip that carry prepaid minutes and allow phone use around the world. The investigators' successes began on April 11, 2002. Christian Ganczarski, under surveillance by German authorities for ties to Al Qaeda, placed a call that was traced to Karachi. On search of Ganczarski's house in Duisberg, the authorities found the number he called in Karachi, among others. On March 1, 2003, authorities in Pakistan began to monitor the phone number and it led to the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Rawalpindi. His laptop and mobile phones contained 6000 numbers that authorities used to track suspected terrorists. In April 2003, authorities in Jakarta broke up a terror cell after investigators traced the destination of many of the calls Mohammed placed before his arrest. In June 2003, investigators monitoring cellular phones began to hear chatter about a visit from "the big guy". Authorities arrested Abdullah Owels, a mid-level Qaeda operative, in Qatar a month later. In January 2004, authorities in Switzerland , monitoring use of mobile phones, arrested eight people accused of running a logistical cell for Al Qaeda.

Hindustan Times - March 5, 2004.

Intelligence padlocks

Cyber Lock Electronic Padlocks from Videx of Corvallis, Orgeon, provide key control and an audit trail for standard padlocks. Replacing the mechanical cylinder of an ordinary padlock with a Cyber Lock electronic cylinder converts it into an access control system. The electronic padlock system consists of a pickproof cylinder in a padlock, a Cyber Key that cannot be duplicated, and Cyber Audit access control software. Access privileges and battery power are located in the key. A key can be programmed to restrict each authorized user's access to certain days and times or to expire within minutes, hours, days, or shifts. Each time the key opens a padlock, a record of the user ID, date, and time is stored in both the lock and the key in addition to padlocks. The electronic cylinders can be installed on safes, server cabinets, and doors.

Security Management - February 2004.

Computer Bugs - Top Security Worries

Computer viruses and worms are the greatest security risks facing the business world, according to a new international survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit. The survey of 178 executives at more than 30 worldwide locations showed that over the past three years, 68 percent of respondents reported being occasionally, often, or very often hit by computer attacks; theft of personal items from the workplace was far behind in second place, with only 48 percent of respondents reporting the same frequency of incidents. Organisations are addressing these issues proactively, the survey found, with most having security policies in place to protect against and react to cyberattacks and the loss of intellectual property. In addition, more than 70 per cent of companies said they conduct a risk assessment at least once a year. However, the report concluded, "only a minority of the companies surveyed attempt to quantify the security risks they face. For most, security planning still involves a large amount of guesswork."

Security Management - February 2004.

Software to find Osama

New York - March 9, 2004 - United States military and intelligence officials are using powerful software called Analyst's Notebook and have engaged the services of task Force 121, which had helped in the capture of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Key to the search is "accumulated humint" or human intelligence. The software used in the search helps piece together data on criminal and terror networks. Now they have focused on to the point where they have been able to send in Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to search for him.

The Hindu - March 10, 2004.

Need for techno-savvy security: CBI

New Delhi - March 18, 2004 - The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday stressed the need for setting up of an effective and working system across the globe to combat financial and high tech crimes. Addressing the Interpol General Assembly comprising representatives from 183 countries at Manila, Philippines, the CBI director U.S. Misra said that workability of such a system had been amply demonstrated by the setting-up of round-the-clock control rooms across the world at the G-8 initiative without any additional cost and within the existing systems following the unfortunate attack on World Trade Centre on September 11, 2000. Mr. Misra added, "The possibility of cyber wars and the potential economic damage and disorder these financial and high-tech crimes can cause, has resulted in the setting-up of high-tech monitoring and emergency response units by most countries to tackle crimes like hacking, attacks into air traffic controls, nuclear installations and energy."

The Asian Age - March 19, 2004.

Motorola to launch a world phone soon

New York - Motorola Inc. unveiled a new mobile phone which consumers will be able to use almost anywhere in the world. The world's No.2 mobile phone maker said the phone, which it plans to market in North America in the second half of this year, will let consumers use their cell phones while roaming between networks that use incompatible standards.

The Asian Age - March 24, 2004.

Smiles can give away criminals in disguise

New York - Criminals in disguise can now be caught with the help of their smiles. Computers can, in principle, match two images of the same person by comparing the pictures pixel by pixel, or by calculating the distances between major features, such as, the eyes and mouth. The Stony Brook system relies on probing the characteristic pattern of muscles beneath the skin of the face, Nature Magazine explains. One takes two snaps of a person in quick succession, asking subjects to smile for the camera. "He then uses a computer to analyze how the skin around the subject's mouth moves between the two images. The data is used to produce an image of the face overlaid with tiny arrows that indicate how different areas of skin move during a smile.

Times of India - March 29, 2004.

Know your Job

Courtesy - Pallavi

Once upon a time, there was a software engineer who used to develop programs on his Pentium machine, sitting under a tree on the banks of a river. He used to earn his bread by selling those programs in the Sunday market.

One day, while he was working, his machine tumbled off the table and fell in the river. Encouraged by the Panchatantra story of his childhood (the woodcutter and the axe), he started praying to the River Goddess.

The River Goddess wanted to test him and so appeared only after one month of rigorous prayers. The engineer told her that he had lost his computer in the river.

As usual, the Goddess wanted to test his honesty. She showed him a match box and asked, "Is this your computer ?" Disappointed by the Goddess' lack of computer awareness, the engineer replied, "No."

She next showed him a pocket-sized calculator and asked if that was his. Annoyed, the engineer said "No, not at all!!"

Finally, she came up with his own Pentium machine and asked if it was his. The engineer, left with no option, sighed and said "Yes."

The River Goddess was happy with his honesty. She was about to give him all three items, but before she could make the offer, the engineer asked her, "Don't you know that you're supposed to show me some better computers before bringing up my own ?"

The River Goddess, angered at this, replied, "I know that, you stupid donkey! The first two things I showed you were the Trillennium and the Billennium, the latest computers from IBM!" So saying, she disappeared with the Pentium!!

Moral: If you're not up-to-date with technology trends, it's better keep your mouth shut.

Food for Thoughts

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

- Thomas Henry Huxley

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Concentrating upon one thought makes all other thoughts disappear. Finally, that thought also disappears.

Ramana Maharishi