physical security - News, Features, and Slideshows

Six security companies merge to provide physical, IT and information security services

Owners of fixed-code garage door openers might want to consider upgrading them because a researcher has developed a technique that guesses the numbers in seconds.

Have you ever heard stories about malicious USB thumb drives frying laptops and thought they were far fetched? An electronics engineer heard them too, and then set out to create a prototype.

Industrial computer manufacturer Advantech has fixed a critical vulnerability in a series of devices that handle data communication for industrial equipment with serial connections and TCP/IP networks.

Over 5,000 devices used by gas stations in the U.S. to monitor their fuel tank levels can be manipulated from the Internet by malicious attackers.

There are plenty of complicated documents that can guide companies through the process of designing a secure data center--from the gold-standard specs used by the federal government to build sensitive facilities like embassies, to infrastructure standards published by industry groups like the Telecommunications Industry Association, to safety requirements from the likes of the National Fire Protection Association. But what should be the CSO's high-level goals for making sure that security for the new data center is built into the designs, instead of being an expensive or ineffectual afterthought?

Today, more and more businesses are foregoing the traditional design setup of cubicles and closed-off offices for an open floor plan. Companies like Facebook and Google market their open-office floor plans to potential employees, touting that the design allows workers to work closely together and fosters a culture of collaboration.

That's how much has been spent on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia so far, with the final tab projected to be even higher. Though various elements factor into this being the costliest Olympics ever -- to put things into perspective, China spent $40 billion on the 2008 Summer Olympics -- security is a big one.