Financial, Deals, Contracts

Experts: Internet crime might cause global catastrophe

Damage caused by cyber crime is estimated at $100 billion annually; tech-savvy gangs from China, India, Eastern Europe, and Africa were coming up with ever more sophisticated ways of swindling money from vulnerable people

Russia to buy UAVs from Israel

Russian officers were impressed with the performance of Israel-made UAVs used by Georgian forces during the August conflict, and decided to sign a contract with Israel to buy the systems

Security alliance calls financial incentives for cyber security

The Internet Security Alliance calls for the incoming Obama administration and Congress to give information technology companies financial incentives for improving cybersecurity defenses, including providing funding in research and development and shielding them from liability caused by cyberattacks

Trend

Modern-day piracy poses growing threats, challenges

Forget Captain Kidd, wooden legs, or treasure maps; modern pirates are equipped with supercharged speedboats, large-caliber weaponry, and all the radio intercept technology they need to identify and locate valuable ocean-going booty; on 9/11 we saw what damage a jumbo jet could do when used as a weapon; how about a supertanker as a weapon?

Continued growth for aerospace, defense despite economic slowdown

Revenues for electronics /C4ISR companies in the U.S. defense market are projected to be worth $298 billion in 2015; Europe and the United States account for more than 80 percent of the world's aerospace and defense revenues

Raytheon reaches 300th RAID system

A Raytheon's milestone: The Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) system provides surveillance support for use in both war and peacetime; the U.S. army now has three hundred of them

Briefly noted

Decision in Defense procurement case could set precedent... Elbit completes acquisition of Innovative Concepts for $15 million... Huntsville grows into major explosives hub

CBP releases trade strategy document

In fiscal year 2008, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency processed imports worth $2.2 trillion and collected $32 billion in revenue; these figures are only going to grow

ESA's gamma-ray technology used to detect dirty bombs

The European Space Agency has licensed its gamma-ray detection technology to a U.K. company; the latter has signed a contract worth $222 million with DHS to next-generation radiation gamma-ray detection and identification system

Biodefense and food supply safety

Avalanche of drugs, scarcely any oversight, II

Yesterday we wrote about the growing discrepancy -- a yawning gap --between the sheer amount of drug and food imported into the United States, and the resources available to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to inspect these imports and the companies which manufacture them to make sure they meet U.S. safety and health standards. Instead, U.S. drug companies, battling mightily to protect public health and their corporate reputations -- and congressional pressures -- often step in where FDA inspections have not. The Chicago Tribune's David Greising and Bruce Japsen write that Baxter, for example, attempted to do so: In September 2007 a Baxter team visited the Chinese plant from which it was buying herapin. By that time, though, timelines produced by Baxter, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the suspect heparin already was making its way through the Baxter supply chain.