Monthly Archives: March 2016

National infrastructure depends on Standards

Stephen Munden considers the unique role that standards and assurance can play in securing CNI and other valuable assets In the context of security management, standards can identify critical components of the security management system, performance criteria and their relationship with other components. In other words, form, function and fit can be described within an… Read more »

Removing risk with remote disruption

Timothy Compston weighs-up the logic of deploying EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) robots or RCVs (Remotely Controlled Vehicles) in dangerous scenarios EOD robots have changed beyond all recognition since they were first deployed in environments like Northern Ireland during ‘the Troubles’ both in terms of the capabilities they offer and ability to deal with suspicious items… Read more »

Protecting public buildings from person-borne threats

Jonathan James examines unobtrusive ways to screen members of the public as they enter large public spaces to ensure maximum security In the light of recent tragic events in Paris and elsewhere, security professionals worldwide are facing an unprecedented broadening of requirements to screen people for concealed threat items. The evolving nature of the threat… Read more »

Sub-Saharan Risk Hotspot Outlook 2016

2016 Threat Watch Natznet Tesfay evaluates future threats that lie ahead for Africa Nigeria Highly destructive and disruptive pipeline attacks have resumed in the Niger Delta even as the decline in oil price continues to reduce falling Government revenue. The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation was forced to shut refineries at Port Harcourt and Kaduna on… Read more »

Terrorist Groups in Africa

2016 Threat Watch Matthew Henman considers some of the biggest threats to African stability Boko Haram Jamaat Ahl al-Sunna li Dawa wal-Jihad, better known as Boko Haram, is a militant Islamist group fighting for the implementation of sharia (Islamic law) in Nigeria, and is primarily active in the Northern states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kano,… Read more »

The drugs don’t work

Ed Byrne explores the history of illegal drug Captagon, which is described as fuelling Syria’s war, and discovers if it really has the power to transform fighters into super soldiers   Captagon was formulated in 1961 by German company Degussa AG – the same organisation that manufactured the Zyklon B gas that was used in… Read more »

Defying the FBI

Anthony Tucker-Jones reports on how Apple Inc. is refusing to cooperate with the FBI’s struggle against domestic terrorism Apple, one of the most powerful tech giants in the world, finds itself at loggerheads with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the latest round of the struggle over privacy versus national security it seems as if… Read more »