Feb 19
Coming not even a month after the official implementation of the Real ID program
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Dec 30
Big Brother! Little Brother! Medium-sized Brother! Conspiracy-minded websites are ramping up the rhetoric in the lead-up to full enforcement of the Real ID Act, set to happen early next year. "It’s a National ID card!" they scream. No, no it’s not.
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Sep 26
Building collapses are a tragic and overwhelmingly fatal occurrence in the developing world. But that could soon change once NASA and the DH’s revolutionary, handheld radar unit comes to fruition. It scans for and identifies buried building collapse victims based solely on their breathing patterns and heartbeats.
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Feb 12
President Obama signs executive order focused on improving national cybersecurity
Posted in: Today's Chili 
While the President is currently giving his State of the Union address (viewable on YouTube here), earlier today he signed an executive order intended to improve the network security of “critical infrastructure.” As noted by The Hill, the order charges the National Institute of Standards and Technology with the task of creating a framework of best practices for operators in industries like transportation, water and health to follow, due in the next 240 days. The Department of Homeland Security is also heading up a voluntary program works with various agencies and industry groups to make sure the policies are actually adopted, and find ways to create incentives for that to happen.
The order has arrived after cybersecurity legislation failed to pass through Congress, and has been rumored heavily throughout the last few weeks. The president called for Congress to pass legislation to prevent cyberattacks during his speech, and this order is reportedly meant as a step in that direction. The Wall Street Journal indicates many businesses want liability protection against attacks in exchange for following the guidelines, which would require approval form Congress in order to happen.
It includes language accounting for privacy concerns as well, with agencies required to look over the potential impact of their work, and release public assessments. The DHS is to report in a year how its work impacts civil liberties and provide recommendations on mitigating such risks. There’s a lot to read through, so you can check out the document itself embedded after the break, or wait for those various agency reports for more updates.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: The Hill, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
Sep 21
What’s the difference between a tuna fish and an unmanned underwater vehicle? About a million years of purpose-built evolution. That’s why the Department of Homeland Security is hoping to leverage Mother Nature’s handiwork into a fleet of ichthyoid-inspired drones to defend our harbors. More »
Sep 21
Are you worried about the safety of America’s waters? Rest easy. The overly paranoid folks at the Department of Homeland Security have a plan. Robotic tuna to the rescue! If that doesn’t work, we can try to stop ticking other countries off, but robots always come first cause robots are cool. And because if there were less ticked off folks we would have no reason to pay the DHS to build robot fishes.
A few years back, DHS Science and Technology Directorate started to fund the development of the unmanned underwater vehicle called the BIOSwimmer. The robot was developed by Boston Engineering Corporation’s Advanced Systems Group in Waltham, Massachusetts. Yes, it was inspired by the tuna, but it’s not nearly as tasty. It sports high maneuverability in harsh environments though. You can see the robot tuna in action at about the 2:17 mark in this video clip:
The idea is that it would inspect the interior voids of ships like flooded bilges and tanks, and other hard to reach external areas. The DHS tunabot could also inspect and protect harbors and piers. If it ever hits the seas, it will probably carry out secret tuna missions we will never even hear about.
Jun 28
With $1000 and a Team of Geniuses, You Too Can Hack a Government Drone [Drones]
Posted in: Today's Chili
With the drone era upon us—drones flying through US airspace, no less—securing these pilotless aircraft is of the utmost importance because of the threat an errant vehicle could pose to civilians. But in answering a dare from the Department of Homeland Security, a team of researchers from the University of Texas proved that a government drone could be hijacked with a GPS spoofing device made for less than $1000. More »
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