Invasion of the Body Bombers

Just caught this BBC clip on HotAir:



In late August, an Al-Qaeda fugitive pretending to surrender himself to the head of counterterrorism passed through several levels of security inside one of Saudi Arabia’s palaces, and blew himself up via a bomb triggered by mobile phone. How did he get past security? Well, investigators believe he hid the explosives inside his own body. No details on how that came to be.

As terrorism expert, Dr. Peter Neumann acknowledged in the segment, this incident could have tremendous implications on airport security both in the USA and internationally. It's believed that the suicide bomber passed through metal detectors to get into the palace -- and who is to say that someone wouldn't try that at an airport in the near future? While Ed from HotAir points out that triggering a bomb via a mobile phone mid-flight would be difficult due to interference, it wouldn't take long for Al-Queda or similar terrorist group to find a way around this snag.

Just as the TSA has updated its efforts to increase security measures at airports nationwide, it's not surprising to see that terrorists have stepped up their tactics as well. And if we don't step it up, metal detectors could find themselves obsolete if they are unable to notify personnel of the presence of 'body bombers.'

We need to recognize these changing technologies and adapt security procedures and equipment to continue to stay one step ahead and continue to make the safety and security of travelers our first priority.

SFO Receives $5 Million in New Funding for CCTV Equipment

SFO travelers may see some additional surveillance equipment as they make their ways from curbside to board their flights this holiday season.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), last week announced SFO will receive $5 million in additional funding to enhance its existing closed circuit television (CCTV) system to help in 'providing a high level of threat detection and enhancing emergency response and risk mitigation.'

SFO is only one of many airports to receive funding from a $241 million TSA program, which is based on airports' 'critical need to increase operational efficiency, their readiness to begin and complete the project, and the airport's ability to cost share, to use their own funds along with what we provide,' according to TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino.

In addition to SFO, John Wayne Airport, in Orange County will receive $8.8 million for a new baggage system and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is in line to get $6 million to fund a similar system to that planned at SFO.

As I've written before, with political obstacles and the budgetary limitations that frequently deter airport security initiatives, it's great to see these projects taking shape.

Not sure how long roll-out will take, but something to watch out for with the holiday travel season fast approaching. Santa Claus won't be the only one with his eye out.

Photosynthing Entire Cities

I have written about Mirosoft's Photosynth before. It's a technology that takes collections of single still image photographs and mashes them together in remarkable ways. From overlapping photos, the 3D structure of an object or building emerges.

Recently, folks used Photosynth to create create a truely amazing view of Obama innauguration.

Now, it is being used to model entire cities!

Face Rec Coming to Chicago Transit

From Bob Roberts at WBBM:

Pickpockets and muggers beware -- soon, every turnstile at a CTA 'L' station will have airport-style face recognition cameras, and the transit agency is planning much more comprehensive cameras at all 144 of its 'L' stations. [...] CTA President Richard Rodriguez said the agency's goal is to fully outfit all 'L' stations, but said it is dependent on federal funding, and as a result chose the 29 Green and Red Line stations first.

Rodriguez said all of the cameras will be linked not just to the CTA Control Center but to the city's 911 call center and police, as well. At suburban CTA 'L' stations, CTA has established or intends to establish a similar link with local police agencies and Cook County Sheriff's Police.

CTA's board Wednesday approved a $4.3 million contract with Teleste Corp., of Georgetown, Tex., to install the cameras and related equipment. It is financing the high-resolution turnstile cameras, which will be capable of showing facial details, through a $17.9 million U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security grant.

This type of public deployment of facial recognition technology is extremely difficult. So far, 3VR Security is the only organization to come close to providing adequate technology of this task as showcased in its deployment in South Korea.

"As of right now there is no arrest and no anticipated arrest"

Here's a tragic story hitting headlines everywhere -- however, no stories I've found have seriously discussed the surveillance technology at play nor the length of time this investigation has taken.

Late last week, a Yale pharmacology grad student's body was found hidden in a wall in the basement of a Yale medical research building after she had been missing for almost a week.

However, due to the access control restrictions on the building, investigating officers believe this not to be a random act, but rather one committed by someone in the Yale community. Yale University President Richard Levin was quoted on Monday as saying, "We know everyone that was in the basement. There were limited number of people in the basement and we passed that on to police. There is an abundance of evidence."

And as CNN has reported, security cameras registered Le entering the building, but after searching hours of surveillance tapes, had been unable to find images of her leaving the building. The NY Daily News even reported that more than 100 FBI investigators and three police departments spent over six days pouring through building blueprints and surveillance footage -- and even used bloodhounds to search the building. Six days is a long time.

What does this tragic event teach us? While we await the murder details (expected to be revealed today), the value of using analytics and more sophisticated surveillance tools to search and comb through footage may have reduced the time needed to come to the conclusions we reached in seven days to maybe only a couple of hours. While even the tightest access control restrictions and clearest surveillance cameras cannot prevent a human from taking another's life, technology has the ability to hasten investigations and also equips security personnel with the eyes and ears needed when the human equivalent is not an option.

Using a variety of facial recognition, color tracking and other analytics, we may have been able to identify the student upon entering the building and followed her whenever she appeared on camera. We also could have also identified each person's face that entered and exited the building that evening, as well as tracked articles of clothing by color. We might not have an answer for the cause of such a brutal and senseless attack, but we do know that more stringent access control and surveillance technology may have helped in the investigation process.