Lancashire Constabulary Chooses 3ami MAS for Protective Monitoring of Force's IT Systems

3ami MAS helps Lancashire Constabulary comply with new ACPO regulations for data security ahead of the March deadline

Manchester, UK, 8th February 2010 - Lancashire Constabulary is using 3ami Monitoring and Audit System (MAS) to comply with new data security regulations from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). Coming into effect March 2010, the ACPO Information Systems Community Security Policy lists "protective monitoring" as a control UK police forces must score against to comply with the policy matrix. With a few minor exceptions, such as passwords and confidential reporting, 3ami MAS will monitor all data input on Lancashire Constabulary's network of terminals, including mobile and portable terminals.

"We expect that the implementation of 3ami MAS will ultimately result in a cost-saving, not just in the typical productivity sense, but also in the preventive message it sends out to the users of force computer systems," said Detective Superintendent Martyn Leveridge. "It will provide us with the ability to resolve allegations of systems misuse more quickly and with more certainty, and allow the public additional confidence that systems are in place to protect data."

Mr Leveridge added that the transition to 3ami MAS was a well-timed decision, with the ACPO Information Systems Community Security Policy coming into effect in March.

"The security and leakage of information has been identified in a number of national police assessments as being the greatest threat to operational security and integrity," said Mr Leveridge. "Recent HMIC reports have made recommendations that all internal police computer systems should be made capable of auditing and being audited themselves, in order to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information. The 3ami MAS installation is the cornerstone for achieving this."

Lancashire Constabulary's primary use of 3ami MAS will be to aid the investigations of any corruption-related issues involving officers' and police staff's use of force computer systems. Activities falling under the umbrella of "police corruption" include the following (among others): inappropriate disclosure of police information, interference with police evidence, breaches of information security, system infiltration/attack, and perverting the course of justice.

Tim Ellsmore, Managing Director of 3ami, said, "3ami MAS is an essential tool for enforcing the laws of a digital network. Police forces that do not monitor and audit activity on their network's computers have no real way of knowing what officers and civilian staff are doing on their computers, let alone their portable terminals, which are becoming increasingly prevalent."

3ami MAS will coordinate and corroborate Lancashire Constabulary's existing auditing facilities into one comprehensive auditing framework. The software will be installed early in 2010, after a staff education programme.

"Before 3ami," said Martyn Leveridge, "our existing force auditing capabilities were application-based. Therefore, any activity conducted other than via the user interface--such as database file transfers, printing, screen captures and copying onto external data devices -- was not capable of being monitored. 3ami provides a single solution to these problems, binding together existing application-based auditing."

For more information on Lancashire Police, please visit: www.lancashire.police.uk

Or follow them on twitter at: http://twitter.com/LancsPolice

3ami Monitoring and Audit System (MAS) is a complete computer activity monitoring package that tracks all changes to hardware and software throughout an organisation's entire network(s) by capturing and securely storing records of all user activity - not just on the Internet but on every application, including email, word processing, spreadsheet applications, instant messaging and online. MAS monitors and audits police systems including ANPR (CLEARTONE BOF), PNC, Niche RMS, CORVUS and Quick Address (QAS). Even when other stand alone capability is already present, 3ami MAS coordinates and corroborates all systems to provide a comprehensive auditing framework.

Developed specifically for police forces, 3ami MAS makes true data accountability possible. 3ami MAS both proactively prevents inappropriate and/or illegal computer activity from occurring and reactively tells you - with certainty - not only who is responsible, but also the full breadth of such activity, when it does occur.

3ami will be the headline sponsor at the upcoming ACPO Professional Standards Conference 2010 (Nottingham, June 28-30)

For more information on 3ami check log on to www.3ami.com

Source: Omarketing

Advanced IED defeat course and battle drills help save lives

CAMP ADDER, Iraq: All Soldiers are trained on various convoy operations before they deploy, even if they never step into an armored vehicle during their deployment.

Here at Camp Adder though, some Soldiers continue to hone their skills because it can save their lives.

"We're doing convoy lanes training," said Sgt 1st Class Robert Moore with the 121st Brigade Support Battalion. "It involves everything we would do in a convoy."

The battle drills include summoning medical evacuations, reacting to improvised explosive devices and vehicle recovery.

"We have to make sure we can get from point 'A' to point 'B,'" said 1st Lt. Jennifer Beatty, the convoy commander of "G" Platoon.

Beatty's job is twofold. Not only must she take command of a convoy of armored vehicles crossing Iraq, but she also has to make sure her Soldiers are up to speed on their weapons and equipment.

While everyone has a duty to perform, Beatty gets all of her Soldiers trained in every job they may encounter during the convoy.

"I make sure the Soldiers are cross-trained in special tasks and teams," she said.

If one person goes down, someone else might need to take charge, whether it is as a gunner, driver or medic.

Currently, "G" Platoon is practicing IED defeat, in which the Soldiers must react to roadside bombs.

As they drove through the training area their eyes watched for any signs of possible explosives.

Spotting a fluttering bag on the side of the road weighted down, with wires sticking out, the convoy stopped and called up a nine-line request to address possible unexploded ordinance.

Unfortunately for them, just because they saw it did not mean they would get out of the training to react to a disabled vehicle. As they passed by, a small explosion went off near one of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Tor Hvidsten, an explosive ordinance disposal specialist with the 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, and his team set up the explosives, placing a primary and secondary explosive to best mimic the attacks from insurgents.

"This way, they can feel the blast and react properly," Hvidsten said.

While not large enough to injure the Soldiers in the vehicles, it can be felt and heard by everyone.

"The explosive simulates the real thing," Moore said. "It gives off smoke and light and can disorientate you."

After the explosion, the convoy came upon Moore "wounded" and the MRAP disabled. Moving quickly, the various teams set to work. Some pulled security around the convoy; others rescued Moore from the vehicle and strapped him to a stretcher so they could carry him to their medical vehicle.

Once the wounded were secured, the tow bar was connected to the "damaged" vehicle and the platoon was ready to move again.

"I love this training," Beatty said. "It gives us an idea what to work on and what to sustain."

Sgt. Francin Horton

U.S. Looks to Defeat IEDs on Three Fronts

WASHINGTON, DC, USA: Defeating the terrorists’ weapon of choice is and will remain a priority for the Defense Department, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said recently.

Lynn spoke during a Pentagon ceremony where Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz stepped down as director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization and Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates took up the charge.

The organization looks for ways to defeat terrorists using car bombs, roadside bombs, as well as suicide vests – all examples of improvised explosive devices. The bombs are the biggest killers of American service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. The weapon is a tactical device that has impacted the operational missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We must preclude the IED from impacting us strategically,” Metz said. “We cannot allow this weapon to influence the national-level decisions of our most senior leaders.”

“Under General's leadership, JIEDDO has moved forward on three lines of operation: attacking the networks that place IEDs, devising ways to defeat the device and training our forces to counter the threat,” Lynn said.
The organization – only four years old – is a model of rapid acquisition, Lynn said. Its military and civilian staff quickly finds and employs ideas and technologies that can help service members in harm’s way. The organization operates with the services and combatant commands in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lynn said.

The threat continues, Lynn said, noting that in October IEDs claimed the lives of 41 coalition soldiers in Afghanistan and one soldier in Iraq. The devices “are a clear and present danger,” the deputy secretary said.

And the enemy knows how to use the devices. “In Afghanistan we are up against a determined and clever foe who mastered the use of this deadly technology long before our forces set foot in the mountains of the Hindu Kush,” Lynn said.

The Soviets lost nearly 2,000 soldiers and 1,200 vehicles during their nine-year war in Afghanistan, the deputy secretary said.

“That IEDs have defeated another technologically advanced military in the very same place we fight now, only adds to the urgency of our mission,” Lynn said. “Our ability to project power in this world of asymmetric threats and to secure our population at home depends on JIEDDO’s success.”

Measuring success remains an issue for the organization. “We may never find a way to determine how many lives and limbs we are saving, how many warfighters return home with their eyesight and how many have avoided serious burns that would have left them in pain for the rest of their lives,” Metz said.

The departing general thanked his staff, citing their dedicated and professional service. He also told them he is proud of the work they did together and the record they have made. Metz said getting the organization made a permanent entity was the toughest challenge of his time.

Still, a number of challenges remain. “JIEDDO’s establishment is a mandate to bring us to the reality of the enemy we currently face,” Metz said. “Our role is to ensure that the fight we are currently in has a champion; one that can take prudent risks and rapidly respond to the warfighters’ needs.”

The organization has a transparent process in place to manage funds, “but if we add more and more layers of bureaucracy and thus time to get things done, we relinquish the initiative to the enemy,” Metz said. “The enemy is smart, innovative, agile, cunning and ruthless.”

Minimizing bureaucratic roadblocks will assist JIEDDO, Metz said, since the enemy operates in disregard of Defense Department contracting rules and budget cycles.

Oates thanked Metz “for looking out for our soldiers” and said he was proud and happy to be part of the organization. The incoming general also pledged to work with all to solve the very complex problem posed by improvised explosive devices.

Jim Garamone

Piracy on the High Seas

Piracy and how to deal with it

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The question is as to what approach shall be taken and my suggestion would be the one of times gone by. Some of my suggestions will be seen as controversial but...

While we may no longer be dealing when it comes to piracy and pirates on the high seas with pirates of the Caribbean and the likes of Black Beard & Co. piracy on the high seas is still a threat, and in certain sea areas more so than ever.

Merchant vessels are more vulnerable nowadays as merchant vessels and merchant mariners are no longer armed nor are they trained in the use of weapons and defensive methods, bar those of outrunning and outmaneuvering the pirates. The latter methods do not and cannot work as merchant shipt are way too cumbersome today.

We may need an urgent rethink there.

Nautilus, the seafarers union, are against arming vessels and crews and so do seem many sailors and masters but...

In addition to the fact that ships sail unarmed into harm's way we seem to have naval forces of certain nations reluctant to intervene when they see a hijack taking place, as in the case of the British couple who were seized with their yacht.

A Royal Navy vessel on patrol apparently witnessed the act but did nothing, claiming they were afraid to endanger the lives of the people on board the yacht. Are we really to believe that was the real concern or was it that they did not want to put their sailors in danger for but a small yacht?

In my opinion it is time that the maritime world would reconsider the option that was used against the pirates in the Caribbeans and go back to the ways we dealt with pirates in some centuries ago.

The French Navy and its Legion Marines seem to be able to deal with pirates much more effective. They do not mess about. They act.

When one heard the other day one of the British task force commander talk on the radio stating that it was difficult to get the pirates, as and when captured, in front of a court and hence there was little that could be done, if one would read between the lines, he basically told the pirates that they could go on without having much to fear.

What court is needed to deal with such pirates. The law of the sea was that a captain could act in such matters and it is time we went back to that way. Pirates would soon become a thing of the past, proper, if they would know that attacking a ship would be a 99% chance of going straight to Hell.

Presently, however, the business is thriving for them along the coast of Somalia and the Yemen, and other such places.

With the right attitude by all merchant shipping those people would think more than twice to attack a ship in order too capture it.

Pirates are criminals, but on the high seas, and no country's direct jurisdiction applies there bar the one of the ship attacked or the law of the seas.

Let us make it plain to the pirates that the law is that if you attack a ship you will be engaged in a fight that you will, more than likely, lose and if captured you will be tried by a court on board ship and the sentence is to be more likely than not death.

The “developed” world, who runs most merchant shipping, is too soft, however, and we have way too many back room lawyers telling us that the human rights of such thugs have to be respected.

A little change in attitude from the merchant marines and the outcome would b e a different one and piracy soon would be gone for good. They pirates would find another hobby.

Just some food for thought and a different perspective. It is a war out there with different rules that at home in the confines of the old Bailey.

© 2010

Safety measures protect ship from piracy

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

MANAMA, Bahrain: On January 17, 2010 the Jamaica-flagged MV Miltiades (MV stand for motor vessel) came under attack and successfully deterred suspected pirates while transiting approximately 130 nautical miles southwest of Al Mukalla, Yemen.

The pirate skiff fired at the vessel with AK-47 rifles. The security team aboard the Miltiades fired red flares and the ship then took recommended evasive maneuvers to cause the skiff to break off the attack. No injuries or damages were reported aboard Miltiades.

Early detection of suspected attacks is the first line of defense against piracy, but other practices include using flares, out running attackers or using heavy wheel movements, use of non-lethal devices, such as netting, water hoses, electric fencing, wire and long-range acoustic devices. These practices have proven effective at deterring piracy.

"We continue to highlight the importance of preparation by the merchant mariners and the maritime industry," said Commodore Tim Lowe, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces. "The efforts of the coalition naval forces deployed to the region are deterring and disrupting pirate attacks. However, when vessels have practiced self protection measures, the risk of being pirated has been greatly reduced."

Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), operating out of Bahrain, continues to urge mariners to employ defensive measures when transiting the Horn of Africa, Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

CMF patrols more than 2.5 million square miles of international waters to conduct both integrated and coordinated operations with a common purpose: to increase the security and prosperity of the region by working together for a better future. CMF is working to defeat terrorism, prevent piracy, reduce illegal trafficking of people and drugs, and promote the maritime environment as a safe place for mariners with legitimate business.

The problem with those recommeded actions are that often the pirates do not give up and what then. Also, in my opinion, some of the measures described aboive as recommended by the CMF command can, in fact, be dangerous. I know, so can arming vessels, they say.

© 2010

CONSERVATIVES' NATIONAL SECURITY PAPER 'IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION' TO VITAL DEBATE

Security industry should be recognised - it protects the nation & its world-leading high-tech exports can also help lift UK out of recession

A|D|S, the UK's AeroSpace, Defence and Security trade organisation welcomed the publication of the Conservative Party's Green Paper on National Security "A Resilient Nation" at Chatham House as an important contribution to the national security debate.

Industrial capability is vital to tackling the security threats that the UK faces in partnership with the Government. To achieve this, it is important that the overall budget for defence and security is sustained for the long-term. The defence budget was 4.4 per cent of gross domestic product 20 years ago but it is now 2.3 per cent. This downward trend must be arrested if the UK is to remain at the top table of world affairs and retain its capability to protect its interests at home and abroad. Therefore, the Government of the day must invest adequately in the industrial technologies and solutions that are required for this task and should also recognise the contribution of the UK's defence and security industries in contributing to wealth creation and UK exports that can help move the country out of recession.

Ian Godden, Chairman of A|D|S, said: "We welcome the publication the Conservative Party green paper on national security and the attention that the Opposition is paying to the vital debate on how to protect our population. The paper is an important contribution to that debate.

"The UK security supply industry is a world-leader in high-technology development to keep our country and its population safe. Alongside this benefit to our safety, the industry is also well-placed to deliver a major boost to the flagging UK economy through exports of world-class technology to other countries who seek to protect their citizens too.

"The Conservatives Green Paper rightly acknowledges the broad range of strategic security risks that the country now faces. It also identifies the need for a more joined-up strategic approach on matters of national security and it is encouraging that the paper treats defence and security issues in an integrated way. In this context, the proposal to establish a National Security Council (NSC) is a significant development. If the NSC materialises under any Government A|D|S would encourage and welcome the representation of industry within the structures of the new body.

"It is encouraging that a Conservative Government would commit to engage industry in a sustained dialogue on strategy and policy development and that the strength of our defence and security industries' technology is recognised. We will continue to seek strong political leadership that recognises the contribution of industry in delivering National Security and on defence we believe that we can offer solutions to assist in the aim of improving the equipment procurement process. The UK Security and Resilience Industry Suppliers' Community (RISC) is already in place to ensure that strategic engagement between Government and industry on matters of National Security is coordinated and effective. Industry would encourage any future Government to maintain strong links with RISC as a useful conduit to industry."

Airliner bombing attempt emphasises need for vigilance in Counter Terrorism

The attempted downing of Northwest Airlines (NWA) flight 253 as it approached Detroit Metro airport on Christmas Day has exposed a fatal flaw in US intelligence gathering and dissemination and renewed calls for greater levels of information sharing amongst agencies nationally and internationally.

The incident has particular resonance for speakers and delegates at the forthcoming Counter Terror Expo conference and exhibition, due to be held 14-15 April 2010 in the National Hall at London Olympia.

Over two full days high level attendees will debate issues such as intelligence sharing and greater cross border cooperation in the fight against international terrorism.

“This incident is a text book example of how systemic failures and human factor issues conspired to allow a lone individual with direct links to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to get far too close for comfort to achieving a goal of blowing up a passenger jet over a major United States city,” comments Peter Jones, Managing Director, Counter Terror Expo. “President Obama has ordered a full scale review of the incident in order to ensure it doesn’t happen in the foreseeable future. The lessons learned from this review will doubtless filter down and be subjected to peer review at this globally significant event.”

Counter Terror Expo brings the world’s leading thinkers in the arena together annually with those tasked with turning strategy into meaningful deliverables from across the globe. The event seeks to foster much closer ties between agencies tasked with preventing terrorist outrages and is actively supported by leading sponsors including Thales DLJ UK, Rapiscan Systems, EADS, Lockheed Martin, Smiths Detection, Panasonic, Bosch and others.

The event comprises an extensive high-level conference, multiple supporting specialist workshops and one of the biggest technology exhibitions of its kind in the world today.

Principal conference themes with particular importance in light of current events include Building Cooperation across Europe and Internationally to Combat Terrorism in the Current Climate; Cooperative Counter Terror Strategies with South East Asian Countries, Facilitating Transatlantic Action in Response to Terrorism and The Role of the United States in Countering the Changing Face of International Terrorism amongst others.

“When the system of intelligence gathering and information sharing fails in its primary role of protecting people against those who would wish to do us harm, it is vitally important that lessons from that failure are learned quickly. Counter Terror Expo is the internationally recognised forum enabling rapid dissemination of strategic countermeasures and exists to foster greater understanding of events that have occurred previously and how they can be avoided in the future,” concludes Peter Jones.

Counter Terror Expo will be held 14-15 April at the prestigious National Hall at London’s Olympia Conference and Exhibitions Centre.

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