The Security Check
Geoff Kohl

by Geoff Kohl

  • Why we need global aviation security standards
    by Geoff Kohl - Friday May 11, 2012
    I’ll admit it. The first time I went through one of the TSA’s advanced imaging technology stations (which use millimeter wave like L3’s ProVision units or backscatter like those from Rapiscan), I was a little taken back. Someone I don’t know was going to see me naked? Maybe I should have gone to the gym more often. But mostly, I was caught up in the miniscule panic of the moment. Do I have everything out of my pockets? Did I have to remove my wallet? Turns out I did. Should I remove my belt? Yes, again. But I can keep my watch on? Actually, that Timex watch ended up getting me a quick post-scan wrist check by a friendly agent who wanted to make sure that my watch that “takes a licking and keeps on ticking” wasn’t actually...

  • Corporate cybersecurity rises in prominence
    by Geoff Kohl - Thursday May 10, 2012
    I have to hand it to NPR. They had correspondent Tom Gjelten -- their security and economics correspondent --  tackle the issue of cybersecurity for corporations this week, and he did a great job. If you don't listen to NPR (maybe you like the banter of DJ's in the morning more than the voices of NPR morning edition hosts Renee Montagne, Steve Inskeep and David Greene), you can still get on-demand access to these solid stories on cyber-crime. Gjelten's three cyber-security stories absolutely worth reading & listening to:  Cybersecurity Firms Ditch Defense, Learn To 'Hunt' Bill Would Have Businesses Foot Cost Of Cyberwar Cyber Briefings 'Scare The Bejeezus' Out Of CEOs Look, I get it -- many of you are selling...

  • Incident command lessons from the FBI
    by Geoff Kohl - Friday May 4, 2012
    Chris Swecker, a 24-year veteran of the FBI and former head of corporate security for Bank of America (2006-2009), took the stage this week at Interactions 2012, a conference held in Nashville for users of NICE Systems. His presentation ranged from the impact of "big data" on security to the changes in the intelligence community since 9/11 and even the value of specialized analysts for corporate security, but one of his main messages was the value of a structured incident command approach. Chris knows a thing or two about incident command, drawing on his tenure as Former Acting Executive Assistant Director for the FBI at the peak of his federal career. It was a career that included many notable incidents and events to manage, from suicide...

  • 9 urban security and video technology lessons from Secured Cities
    by Geoff Kohl - Friday April 27, 2012
    A week ago, we concluded the Secured Cities conference in Chicago, Ill. The conference brings together law enforcement and technology leaders from urban areas, cities, towns and transit agencies for two days of education about topics such as using police crime cameras, creating transit-wide surveillance systems, homeland security, technology-based policing and more. In this week's blog post, I want to share a few take-aways from the conference to the broader security industry. The conference has been my project for a couple years now, having founded it in Atlanta in 2011, and it’s continued to grow – far beyond its initial focus solely on city video surveillance (although that is still a dominant topic at the conference). As...

  • Security lessons from pulling wires
    by Geoff Kohl - Friday April 13, 2012
    I've been turning off the computer at night and working on my almost 100-year-old house doing some remodeling. One of the projects I've been doing is updating the electrical. It turns out that in the 1920s, they used a wiring method called knob and tube. This was long before the days of NM-B/Romex. The wiring was ungrounded and a positive and a neutral were run separately, about one foot apart, and wrapped in old wire insulation that seems to be made of natural materials, and which is extremely brittle. The "knob" was a porcelain clamps that kept the wire about an inch off the joists and which was also used for making 90-degree turns in the wiring. The "tube" was a porcelain tubes that allowed wiring to run through joist holes without...