Netline Introduces Counter-IED Jammers

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Nov 9, 2009

Originally known as ‘bomb jammers’ these devices were utilized by EOD/ bomb disposal teams, to deny an adversary to trigger a device under inspection by the EOD technician. These jammers are also used by first responders when arriving at terror scenes, in effort to deny the activation of secondary explosive charges planted at the site, aimed against the rescue teams.

The IED jammer effectively cuts off radio communications from the triggering transmitter to the device attached to the bomb, thus temporarily preventing bomb detonation while the jammer is in effective range. At Milipol 2009, several Israeli companies are displaying advanced high-power jammers, among them devices designed for EOD and VIP applications.

Each member of the Netline’s C-Guard Very High Power IED jammers consists of multiple high-power transmitting devices, operating on different frequency bands, protecting personnel, vehicles and installations against complex threats, employing multiple threats operating over a wide area and broad frequency spectrum. To extend Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) protection, provided by the vehicular jammer to dismounted teams, Netline developed the C-Guard manpack. This system is designed as a lightweight, backpack system, to be operated by ground troops under risk of encountering remote controlled improvised explosive devices, including combat engineers, dismounted patrols etc. The battery powered system is blanketing a given area to prevent radio receivers from achieving RF signal for detonation of remote controlled explosive weapons. The system can be configured to cover VHF, UHF, cellphones and wireless devices, satellite phones etc.

To support bomb disposal units, a portable, battery-powered IED Jamming-device, such as the Netline TXP ECM can be employed. The system is housed in a trolley-style pelican case can be configured to operate on nearby AC main power or from an integral battery. These devices can be deployed to locations where the anti-IED vehicle has no access. Blocking multiple frequency bands in one case, the system covers a wide spectrum, from VHF to cell phones, satellite phones and beyond. The system can support extended and continuous field operations, by employing ‘hot swap’ of spare batteries.

JAM-V High Power Counter-IED Jammers

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admin

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Nov 9, 2009

Originally known as ‘bomb jammers’ these devices were utilized by EOD/ bomb disposal teams, to deny an adversary to trigger a device under inspection by the EOD technician. These jammers are also used by first responders when arriving at terror scenes, in effort to deny the activation of secondary explosive charges planted at the site, aimed against the rescue teams.

The IED jammer effectively cuts off radio communications from the triggering transmitter to the device attached to the bomb, thus temporarily preventing bomb detonation while the jammer is in effective range. At Milipol 2009, several Israeli companies are displaying advanced high-power jammers, among them devices designed for EOD and VIP applications.

VIP protection is the forte of the Israeli company SESP, specializing exclusively in RF jamming technology since 1997. SESP is offering a suite of high-power jammers to meet a wide range of applications, claimed to cover all frequency bands that could be employed by potential threats. The company offers custom made, highly reliable jammers, integrated into protected vehicles to provide maximum security for VIPs, military units, SWAT teams and EOD squads, anti-terror units, anti-drug agencies, and other law enforcement personnel.

SESP jammers are fully integrated and concealed into luxury vehicles such as the JAM-V Mercedes S500L and BMW 7 Series. The powerful jammer is installed in the trunk, along with its cooling, ensuring uninterrupted operation in any climate, and power generator feeding directly from the vehicles’ fuel tank, sustaining the jammer with peak power under all driving conditions, without degrading the vehicle’s mobility or comfort. The vehicle is customized with special RF shielding for full protection of the driver and passengers. In addition, the vehicle can also be armored to level B6.

SESP’s Jamkit high-power vehicular multi-band jamming system can simultaneously jam the RF frequency bands most used around the world, including cellular (CDMA, TDMA, GSM, HGSM, etc.), satellite, VHF/UHF and WiFi and Bluetooth frequency bands. The remotely controlled system is installed in separate attaché cases containing the cellular/satellite and VHF/UHF high power jamming units, feeding 350 watts RF output power to 5-8 roof-mounted streamlined high-gain omni-directional antennas. Vehicles are configured with cabling and antennas, while the actual jammers rotated between several vehicles depending on user operational methodology.

Employing high-power jammers, users can often protect a vehicle formation such as a small convoy or VIPs from the threat of roadside bombs, or radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (RCIEDs). This method can be applied mostly in civilian and VIP protection when the group of vehicles maintains close distances, moves and is controlled under strictly disciplined movement drills. Such systems dramatically lower risk of assassination attempts from enemy-deployed explosive devices. For vehicle escort applications, SESP provides even more powerful jammer, designed for integration into four-wheel-dive luxury vehicle, transmitting over one kilowatt of RF jamming signal, resulting in greater radius of coverage around the vehicle.

A derivative of the Jamkit, JAM-V MK4 is tailored for the Toyota Land Cruiser, featuring over 1.3 kW RF output while a concealed configuration of the JAMX jammer, designed for the Hummer H2, covering an extended frequency range, can deliver a combined RF output of over 1.5 kW to act as an escort jammer.

An Insight into the IEDs

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Nov 9, 2009

mobilephone-in-pipe — The photo on the right depicts an x-ray image of a cellphone, planted inside a metal pipe commonly used for pipe-bomb type IEDs. Image: by Vidisco Fox-Rayzor.

EOD teams tasked with this dangerous mission utilize robotic systems to inspect the suspicious devices and deactivate it by disrupting or eliminating the activation mechanism. While sophisticated equipment is available for visual inspection of the devices, looking through the devices, by X-ray or computer tomography is still a complex task handled by professionals.

At Milipol 09 Vidisco is introducing two new portable systems utilizing flat amorphous silicon panels – the Flat foX-17 and foX-Rayzor designed for operation with EOD robots. With these inspection systems a bomb disposal technician can analyze images on-site, identify and differentiate organic materials like explosives or drugs from inorganic substances like metals. The new battery operated XR-DE Dual Energy Module, enables automatic detection of organic and inorganic materials to enhance existing pulsed X-ray sources. The new system improves penetration by 200%, allowing for better probability of detection (POD) in IED’s.

xray-ied — An X-ray view into an improvised explosive device (IED) top left, timing and activation mechanism (above right) and another fuze, chached inside a bottle in an attempt to mask it from scanner. Photo: Vidisco, taken by the FoX-Rayzor flat scanner.

These systems are fully integrated on EOD robots, enabling the EOD team to leverage remotely controlled means beyond logistical and disruption functions. Integrated into the robot, the X-ray system is fully controlled over the robot communications link, or separately, over wireless communications, where applicable.

The high power wireless units were developed by the company to give a long range wireless solution. In recent tests the system demonstrated wireless communication distance of 750 m in line of sight conditions. The system demonstrated control distances of 1.5 km using two units.

tnt-cast-in-shoe-vidisco — shoes with live TNT cast in the sole, images taken with foX-Rayzor.

Helicopter Gunners to use Helmet Mounted Q-SIGHTs

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Nov 8, 2009

q_sight_gunner — The British Navy is the first service to adapt BAE Systems' Q-SIght technology to be used for airborne remote gunner sight application. Photo: BAE Systems.

BAE Systems received the first order for 12 Q-Sights to equip British helicopter’s Gunner’s operating the new Gunner’s Remote Sighting System (GRSS) on Royal Navy Lynx Mk8 helicopters. The system will display the image of the gun-mounted thermal sight on a ‘see-through’ display mounted on the weapon operator’s helmet.

Q-Sight Lightweight Near-Eye Display Technology

Using patented technology to move light via holographic waveguides, the Q-Sight system displays a video image on a transparent screen approximately the thickness of a credit card. This technology eliminates the need for complex intermediate lenses that are heavy and create visual distortions. The system is lighter, simpler, performs better, and costs less than conventional helmet-mounted displays.

The system is compatible with standard night-vision goggles. The new system’s advantage is the ability to seamlessly switch between goggles and the thermal sight to acquire, track, and engage targets. The new displays will be delivered by May 2010 and enhance the helicopters’ capabilities in maritime force protection, counter-piracy, and counter-narcotics operations.

Combating Terrorism & Crime: Prowlers in Cyberspace

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Tamir Eshel

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Nov 6, 2009

Terrorism and unlawful activities have prevailed and flourished in the modern information age, with criminal activity rapidly adapting cyberspace as safe haven for illicit activity. Historically, national intelligence agencies have relied on the monitoring of public telephone networks, by establishing and performing ‘legal eavesdropping’ on physical telecommunications and telegraph (PTT) ‘copper lines’.

These human- and hardware-intensive operations rapidly absorbed new technologies relying on land lines, such as fax, but were slow to encompass wireless communications and the internet, leaving these areas vulnerably uncovered.

Following huge investments in infrastructure, as part of the global war on terror and, with the related fight against money laundering and financial support of terrorist activities, these gaps became quite effectively bridged. Presently, most modern countries are well equipped to effectively monitor the all types of communication in their territory.

But this effort is never ending. Rapid advances in telecommunication and Internet Protocol (IP) technologies constantly challenge law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world in a relentless race. Wireless telephony, broadband multimedia communications and entertainment services, are rapidly expanding to reach the majority of individuals in the developed and developing countries. Engaging customers through a multitude of interactions, such services are exploited by strategic and tactical monitoring systems, developing unprecedented knowledge of individual behavior and group activity, which can be assessed in real-time or by analyzing historical data, to seek meaningful trends and behavior patterns indicating suspicious activity. Added with DNA profiling and other biometric identification and financial transactions, tracked through credit-card companies and facial recognition of customers at points of sale, are all adding, up to a whole new world, where no one can hide and everyone could become a potential suspect.

‘Target interception’ refers to the interception of a known target and is typically performed in real-time, according to criteria such as email address, or phone number. However, in many intelligence scenarios, targets remain unidentified. Using ‘Mass Interception’, intelligence agents identify unknown suspects, spot new activities, completing the intelligence picture. Mass interception refers to the potential, tracing of all network communications, enabling intelligence agents to extract clues from the retroactive analysis of large volumes of past communications. Mass interception systems can access such networks by monitoring the trunks at the operator’s facility, or via microwave and satellite surveillance.

In the past, authorities required legal warrants to access and tap the physical communications lines. Today, exploiting wireless connections, through microwave links, wireless local area networks, cellular broadband and the upcoming WiMAX wireless broadband mobile links, authorities are able to tap into the new media ‘of the air’ with relative ease, monitoring GSM, CDMA, Satellite Communication and Computers Communication. Such activities can be done without the subscribers’ awareness or knowledge. Furthermore, physical networks sofar considered relatively safe to unauthorized eavesdropping, can now be monitored by stealthy ‘probes’ – using bugging devices, capable of seeping the entire traffic over broadband channels, analyzing the traffic in search of suspicious traces of data – such as words, phrases and names. Other methods utilizing stealthy ‘Trojan horses’ empower cell-phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and PCs, without their owner’s knowledge, turning these personal communicators into active eavesdropping devices.

Military grade COMINT solutions were traditionally employed by national security agencies, in counter-espionage operations, to ‘fish’ spies. Currently, security agencies, law enforcement and government agencies require such services for daily operations, monitoring, locating and tracking wireless systems, from licensed trunk radios to wireless, cordless phones, intercepting, tracking and localizing electronic signals that could trigger explosive devices, or tracking phones involved in criminal activities. Modern COMINT systems comprise the receivers, mapping, decoding, and decompressing subsystems, handling the intercepted transmissions and analysis tools, to interpret signals and content in real time. Services are enhanced with link, location, and other analytics that link the COMINT interception with information gathered from other sources.

Israeli companies are prominent worldwide for their unique and powerful communications monitoring equipment. Such systems have been deployed with many government agencies worldwide, as national security assets, as well as for the use by law enforcement agencies. More recently, the technology was ‘scaled down’ to meet the requirements of emergency call- centers, such as the 911 in the U.S., for which powerful systems were developed, to improve public service, by developing better situational understanding and location tracking, while providing better analytic tool in support of law enforcement investigations.

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Homeland Security Technology from Israel: Electro-Optics

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Nov 6, 2009

Electro-optical (EO) systems are providing essential capabilities for improving security, counter terror and combating crime. Advancement in this field include smarter video surveillance systems, empowered by automated ‘video analytic’ systems managing massive flows of multiple sensors into a clear situational picture. Thermal imaging is also improved with lightweight, compact and cost effective uncooled sensors (bolometer type), used in surveillance equipment, weapons sights, night observation devices, payloads for unmanned systems etc.

On other fields, powerful image processing is harnessed for biometric identification, analyzing facial details in real-time to assist, and in certain conditions, replace human gatekeepers and attendants.

At Milipol 2009 OPGAL is introducing the ‘Compact-Eye’ (seen in the photo above), an ultra-compact thermal imaging engine designed for low-power applications. It is based on a state-of-the-art 384 x 288, uncooled 8-14μ microbolometer detector, with a 25 micron pitch. The miniature features make it suitable for portable IR applications and for thermal camera integrators seeking reduced space, weight and power requirements.

Typical uses are in surveillance systems and border security. The engine comes with an effective anti-blooming mechanism, integral x2 and x4 digital zoom and employs proprietary algorithms proven effective under poor visibility conditions. The system also employs high-resolution graphics software and flexible signal processing capabilities.

Magna BSP Introduce the Virtual Wall

Another innovative electro-optical system is the ‘virtual wall’ from Magna BiScopic Protection (BSP). The company has developed a range of security applications based on the BSP patented principle, performing perimeter protection, surveillance and patrol as well as for use for airport safety and security. To facilitate high probability of detection at very low false alarm rate, Magna employs a combination of different methods of operation, among them the company’s patented Three Dimension Motion Detection (TDMD) and BiScopic Protection. The company is offering these systems under several product lines including the Hawk and Optical Watch Line (OWL) family, creating a ‘virtual wall’ generating an invisible trip line around the protected area, while the EAGLE family offers scanning biscopic protection for the defense of fenced-in areas and entrances. (read more…)

Analytics Improve Video Surveillance

Security personnel are faced with an overwhelming volume of video and data, making it difficult to pinpoint events of genuine importance. Automated video analytical systems can help organize the information flow, to prioritize such vast amounts of video and data, for effective decision-making and faster and timely reaction. They enable security officers to focus on deterring and managing threats, rather than scanning banks of video monitors in trying to detect these. (read more…)

Heightening Security While Accelerating Passenger Flow

Face recognition ID (FRID) is already endorsed by major industry and government agencies as the leading biometric ID technology. When providing a high level of positive ID, Facial recognition is more user-friendly and less intrusive than other biometric identification systems such as iris or fingerprint authentication. Deployed at a point-of-service to facilitate identification of customer’s identity, such systems are offering significant advantages for security and law enforcement. A typical system offered by C-True is combining image capture and display and processing with face recognition technology. Initiating a dialog with a new customer, the system performs a quick 3D scan of the subject’s face, employing an algorithm that analyzes facial features and assigns the persons a unique ID. (read more…)

Better Vision for the Snipers

A newcomer to Milipol, the Israeli company ‘Pulse Inteco’ is introducing its compact, lightweight fire-control system, designed for sniper rifles, grenade and rocket launchers. The system incorporates a single-pulse laser rangefinder operating in an eye-safe spectral range (invisible to night vision devices) integrated with a sniper’s telescope and fire control computer. The laser accurately measures distance to the target. The ballistic computer calculates the elevation angle, moving the scope’s displayed reticule to compensate for the ballistic trajectory. At night, the system matches with a night vision viewing device for enhanced operation.

At Milipol 2009 Meprolight is announcing the NOA (picture above), the latest weapon sight added to the company’s night sights portfolio. NOA is an uncooled thermal weapon sight, incorporating a mission computer turning the sight into a powerful surveillance and intelligence collection tool. The sight supports X4/X7 magnification with image clarity and precision enabling a sniper to detect a human target at 1500 meters. Static targets can even be detected behind camouflage, battlefield obscurants, in adverse weather and total darkness.

Combating Terrorism & Crime: Emergency Services as Information Outposts

By

Tamir Eshel

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Nov 6, 2009

911_call_center_2 — 911 emergency call center in New York City. Photo: NY City

Methodological recording of emergency-call services provide a wealth of information that can help improve public safety, highlight evolving trends in public safety and security and support crime investigations. Historically, reviewing enough calls to identify performance trends and challenges has been a manual task that many centers didn’t have the resources to fulfill. Likewise, public safety operations lack formalized quality and analysis processes – such as those available through integrated voice/screen recording – leaving them with only a limited view of what is really happening across their operations.

crimestat_6_lg — The photo below shows a geographical information system (GIS) processing of 911 call records shows the areas most prone to criminal activity. Photo: ESRI

The availability of patented speech analytics solutions developed by Verint for the intelligence community enabled the recent introduction of recording and analytic services to assist public safety agencies, performing trend spotting to help reduce crime and improve quality of life for citizens, by leveraging 9-1-1 interactions. The service utilizes Verint Impact 360 Speech Analytics system, to enable law enforcement agencies to obtain call records and events gathered by Public Safety Centers such as 911, and mine recorded emergency calls to uncover key facts for incident investigations.

The new system provides automatically transcribed emergency contact audio, into data that can be mined for intelligence. This new capability enable emergency centers to identify opportunities that can make their work more efficient and effective, while proactive trend spotting tools can uncover issues before they become widespread problems. The software empowers users to uncover insights within all related recorded calls through guided, visual search tools. This will not only support public safety agencies by helping investigators uncover facts during emergency situations, but also identify staff training and process improvement opportunities.

NICE Systems is offering the ‘Nice Inform’ suite of data mining applications to provide central incident information management solution by processing communications monitoring information related to specific incidents, including the acquisition, location, association and reconstruction of conversations that took place over the radio or telephone. consolidation of voice calls, (telephony, radio, VoIP), video, and tracking information, all displayed over a digital map, relative to the crime scene, with relevant photos and video clips, incident reports, mug-shots, emails, and more. Such tools provide for faster scenario reconstruction, accident investigation and post-incident analysis offering greater insight, and improved response. The system extracts a complete, unified, chronological, multimedia-rich history of incidents used for debriefing, and event analysis by homeland security and first responders.

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Video Analytics Improving Surveillance

By

Tamir Eshel

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Nov 6, 2009

video_analytics_traffic — Image processing performed on the video stream can determine the size, direction of movement, speed and distance between vehicles, and lane deviation, this information can be processed, analyzed and used for situational awareness or law enforcement. Once a stationary vehicle is detected here, an alarm will be triggered, alerting on a potential traffic hazard.

Security personnel are faced with an overwhelming volume of video and data, making it difficult to pinpoint events of genuine importance. Automated video analytical systems can help organize the information flow, to prioritize such vast amounts of video and data, for effective decision-making and faster and timely reaction. They enable security officers to focus on deterring and managing threats, rather than scanning banks of video monitors in trying to detect these.

nextiva_verint — Nextiva video analytic surveillance system from Verint employs video analytics to display the images most likely to be of interest and value, based on the situation and incident being followed. Photo: Verint

Procedures rendered and rapidly disseminated through a video surveillance network, can trigger alerts more rapidly and intelligently, thus responding to evolving conditions and dynamic situations, while simultaneously displaying relevant video streams to respective authorities.

The proliferation of video surveillance systems scanning city centers, along roads and railways, outdoors and in large, commercial open spaces, opens more data sources, improving security, detering criminal activity and vandalism, while assisting criminal investigation in solving crime, terror events or heightened security alerts. Video analysis addresses the potential to extract valuable insight from historical visual information, as well as real-time video streams. A search into historical records can verify or deny suspects’ alibi, pointing to a potential direction for further investigation. Yet, the laborious search, required by manual analysis of days and weeks of video records, renders such manual process inefficient.

Utilizing automated Video Analytics (VA) has proven essential for large scale monitoring and control centers at airports, public transport hubs and government facilities. Video analytics applications, utilizing transport security systems reach far beyond security, resulting in improved passenger safety and quality of service. It also provides powerful investigative tools for intelligence and law-enforcement agents, investigating crimes and terror incidents.

An example of such VA application is the Nextiva system, developed by Verint. The system comprises analytics-embedded encoders, wireless transmitters and analytic-enables IP cameras, enabling video to be analyzed at the point of capture, thus reducing overhead and communications bandwidth consumption, particularly in large scale networks.

The congested, busiest urban centers become a unique challenge to municipal, transportation and law-enforcement officials. Video monitoring is often used on a wide scale, sending live views from the street, enabling the situation-room to address any evolving emergency. With cameras distributed in city centers and along transportation routes, video monitoring systems provide efficient means for assessing a developing situational event. Here, video analytics services become essential in verifying multiple incoming alerts, using real-time video feeds.

video_analytic_fense — In this example, a person climbing on the fense will be spotted since the fense is defined as an excluded area, triggering immediate alert. Photo: Verint

Based on better situational awareness, officers can allocate the optimal resources , to timely deal with the most critical situation sector. For example, analytic processing can automatically report double-parked vehicles or identify vehicles blocking traffic lanes or access routes, alert on crowd gathering near sensitive locations, detect intrusions into restricted, or dangerous areas, assessing traffic congestion before they develop into dangerous choke-points, blocking major transportation routes. Similarly, airport security centers can benefit from VA, to identify breaches in gate security, trigger alerts for people moving in the wrong direction in security-critical sectors, detect potential threats inside terminals and parking areas, monitor the airport perimeter and overview critical areas and sterile zones.

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Combating Terrorism & Crime: Analytics Unveil Hidden Clues

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Tamir Eshel

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Nov 6, 2009

nice_speech_analytics — speech analytic voice recognition technology employed by Nice Sysrems is used at call centers, to track unsatissfied customers by identifying words such as 'cancel my subscription', 'not satisfied' or 'disconnect', automatically elevating the issue tomore experienced support agents. The same technology is used by intelligence agencies to track terrorists!

With the exponential growth in the volume and data complexity, agencies operating telecom interceptions need to handle growing numbers of information sources and the data overflow which accompany them, outsmarting sophisticated evasive techniques that exploit the relative anonymity offered by modern internet-based services. By automatically analyzing large volumes of data, analysts can deal with the information-flow streaming from mass communications, by monitoring systems in a timely manner. This enables investigators and analysts to exploit actionable information in addressing the short life-span of potential targets.

Automatic, intelligent analysis of content is therefore imperative, transforming large volumes of unstructured data to a structured and meaningful information process.
While communications interception has always been maintained as a strategic asset, providing efficient analytic tools operated by investigators, as part of criminal investigations, these huge volumes of data can turn into valuable insights and leads. Both Verint and Nice Systems are introducing powerful analytic data processing systems that have recently evolved from the shadows of top secret intelligence services, into the commercial, emergency and law-enforcement domain.

Video below: NICE Systems demonstrates speach analytic analysis for service centers, live on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”

Verint is offering a powerful a data fusion and analytic system called X-TRACT, to assist crime investigations. Similar systems are used by counter-intelligence and counter terror agents in to reveal and hunt hostile and criminal networks. The system implements analytic methodology, utilizing inference solution suites, linked to various data sources, mapping dynamic links between disparate objects, indicating potential associations between different entities. Results are displayed in an intuitive environment, designed for the use by analysts and investigators. This end-to-end data investigation solution includes powerful data access, smart scoring, alert management, visual desk investigation and reporting capabilities. Verint’s patent-protected speech analytics solution is capable of indexing every word and phrase identified for context and meaning. Conversations containing specific words or phrases can be isolated for further investigation, and with trend analysis, reveal activity around these terms.

Similar services are built into the powerful NiceTrack communications monitoring and analysis suite, incorporating a range of analytical and operational tools, improving the extraction of intelligence products from communications monitoring. Typically, analytic systems provide voice analysis – applying voice recognition, speaker-verification and identification, and ‘voice content structuring’ speech processing technology, trained to spot specific spoken words, phrases and even detect excitement in speech.

Nice Track converts raw voice records through ‘Speech to Text’ process, enabling automatically annotating of data with identifying tags and textual categories to describe the data, uncovering hidden relationships and events ‘buried’ within mass volumes of textual information. The process begins with the spoken words turned into text, by voice and speech recognition processing. Once converted, call records are processed through data mining techniques, to seek meaning and insight into voice, text, email and other data formats. Processing includes language identification, translation, word spotting and more accurate phrase spotting. Analysts can also rely on content analysis for the understanding of the textual content and structure. Target profiling can be obtained, utilizing target location tracking in real time as well as offline tracking of the target’s movement over time. Based on such automatic processing of context analysis, automatic alerts can be issues on the interception of important evidence or in response to short life spanned information.

Data analysis has also been widely implemented in the financial, business and commerce sectors, tracking fraudulent activity, money laundering and mitigating business risks. One of the leading companies in this field is Fortnet, recently acquired by Actimize, a subsidiary of Israeli based Nice Systems, which was also dominant in this field. With this acquisition, the majority of the world’s largest banks and all top-ten global banks will be using Actimize, for compliance and financial crime prevention. Such systems are used for Anti-Money Laundering, real-time cross-channel fraud prevention; brokerage compliance and enterprise case and investigation management. Since its foundation in 1993 Fortent provided analytics based Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and financial crime prevention system solutions for the financial services industry, servicing top-tier clients such as Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho, Royal Bank of Scotland and Scotiabank.

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Combating Terrorism & Crime: Location Tracking via Cellphones

By

Tamir Eshel

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Nov 6, 2009

Beside monitoring content and call activity, cellular networks provide powerful location tracking of active subscribers, enabling intelligence and law enforcement agencies to track the locations of tens of thousands of subscribers per second. These capabilities are being implemented by the network providers, with authorities having mandated such capability. Tracking technologies have been developed by companies specializing in cellular services, based on protocols implemented by the companies developing the network services (Nokia, Erricson, Motorolla, etc).

Basic location monitoring and tracking services were originally developed as commercial services, deployed by service- providers, as part of added-value service. When endorsed by intelligence and law enforcement, these services require higher location and tracking accuracy, enabled by the fusion of several location techniques. As location tracking became mandatory by homeland security authorities, relevant tracking technology providers became strategically important for communications monitoring providers such as Verint and Nice Systems; both companies have recently acquired small enterprises specialized in this field.

Septier Communications provides location tracking services that enable law enforcement agencies track suspects more accurately using only cellular information. Location tracking solutions can trigger real-time alerts when a subscriber is entering or leaving a specified zone or when two suspects are in close proximity (indicating that a meeting may take place). These solutions can also help law enforcement agencies creating a geographical profile and can also aid in alibi confirmation.

Nice Systems also acquired an Israeli cellular location tracking technology provider, called Hexagon System Engineering. Hexagon provides location of cellular devices at a high level off accuracy. Law enforcement, intelligence agencies and internal security organizations already rely on NiceTrack solutions will be able to use Hexagon services to track the location of their targets, while intercepting the communications emitted by the radio or phone.

As billions of mobile phones have been used as electronic companions and personal communications, by countless subscribers worldwide, these highly sophisticated electronic devices can be mined for information, as tracks of phonebooks, text messages or call history can be traced on the device even after they are deleted from memory or SIM cards. When a mobile phone finally falls into the hands of the law, valuable data can be extracted, correlated and used as evidence providing clear indication of whereabouts, intentions and activities of the suspect.

However, until recently, such mining required expert processing and analysis that took days and weeks.
A small hand-held device has changed all that, empowering field teams and investigators with the capability to interrogate a suspect’s mobile phone, as if it was their own device. Launched in Israel in 2008 by Cellbrite, Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) has already been fielded with many law enforcement agencies and police departments, empowering the investigating of field detectives and assisting in forensic evidence collection. The hand-held device is designed to extract data from over 2,000 types of handsets, smartphone and PDAs. In 2008 Cellbrite has launched a range of portable interrogation devices that can transfer, backup, and management the information stored on the phone’s memory devices. Data can be extracted even when the original SIM is not available or is locked with the user’s secret PIN.

An example of excellent detective work employing data mining of suspect’s mobile phone was the case of a murder case recently solved by DC Steve Miller from Leeds, U.K. The mass of information he obtained from a suspect’s phone was unprecedented in the details and quality. The phone recovered by the investigation had been passed around many criminals and used with a number of different SIM cards. By retrieving historical data remaining on the device, Detective Miller was able to prove that one of those cards was used by the suspect. He was able to recover a deleted text message, in which the suspect arranged to meet the murdered woman, shortly before he killed her. The defendant was convicted and sent to life imprisonment.

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Combating Terrorism & Crime: Stealth Probes Track Terrorists Online

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Tamir Eshel

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Nov 6, 2009

Communications interception systems are designed to comply with Lawful Interception (LI) delivery standards. These include norms set by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as well as the American Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). However, some agencies are operating ‘above the law’ and are exempt of LI restrictions. Organizations such as the Intelligence and National Security agencies, rely on powerful non-intrusive stealth ‘wire tapping’ known as probes, passively intercepting and monitoring telephony and internet network links, using front-end devices, independently of network operators. These probes can be deployed anywhere, on the trunk links connecting service providers’ networks to each other or within the networks themselves.

Septier, an Israeli communications interception expert is specializing in the development and deployment of such probes. The company developed passive interception devices that can be used covertly, thus not affecting the service to the subscriber, or create any indication to the subscriber, or the network that interception is actually taking place. Given the immense potential of such capability, Sepiter provides their passive interception capability with maximum level of security, to safeguard from unsecured or unauthorized access to the system, from external or internal sources. These are including an extensive permissions mechanism, detailed internal logging as well as different encryption options. The system complies with ETSI and CALEA lawful interception standards, as well as with other regional regulations. Sepiter can intercept, process and decode internet traffic at rates up to 25 Gigabit/second.

These systems are built to collect massive amounts of raw data and information. The data is stored in dedicated fast-performing storage devices, utilizing hundreds of terabytes per system. By utilizing data-mining and pre-programmed reports and analytical tools, users can extract nontrivial insights from stored information, highlighting implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information from the collected data.

Today’s communications are not limited to voice or cellular. Even the old copper lines connecting our homes to the land network, have transformed to offer immense broadband communications, enhanced with Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) and more recently, Very high bit-rate Digital Line Subscriber (VDSL) modems, dramatically increasing data transfer capacity and offering massive multimedia streaming and data transfer, for business and personal use.

Providing law enforcement agencies an insight into potentially illicit use of these new communications technologies, TraceSpan Communications has developed the Phantom family of probes, enabling broadband analysis and monitoring of ADSL and VDSL lines. Earlier this year the company released the latest member of its family, VDSL ‘Phantom 3838’, passive Lawful Interception (LI) monitoring solution for VDSL2 lines. The Phantom provides passive tapping devices that record and store broadband digital information. The probes can monitor both upstream and downstream data simultaneously at high bit rate. Such probes can be installed at virtually any location – at the central office, or in the field, while data is monitored remotely.

To display and analyze the data being intercepted, TraceSpan developed the ‘Phantom Viewer’ monitoring application displaying the network traffic, including internet browsing, Email services, FTP, instant messaging and voice calls in real-time and playback mode. Utilizing this application, the agent monitoring a suspect is able to see all the suspect’s network activity, including web pages visited, identified with properties of the destination pages (target IP); monitoring agents can also retrieve hidden attributes of the information, such as passwords, or hidden email addresses, they can read instant messages and tap IP voice telephony in real time, or play-back on demand.

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U.S. Navy Accelerates LCS Operational Deployment

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admin

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Oct 30, 2009

lcs_helicopter_trials — The Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conducts flight deck certification with an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the Sea Knights of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22. Photo & video by the U.S. Navy

The Lockheed Martin built Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) is already in service, and could be deployed for its first mission as early as next year (early 2010) – two years ahead of its scheduled maiden deployment. The second vessel, USS Independence has completed builders sea trials last week and is awaiting inspection by the customer, prior to handover to the U.S. Navy. According to Navy plans, USS Freedom which is currently undergoing a ‘shakedown’ by the navy, will be ready for operational deployment by early 2010, operating under the U.S. Navy Southern Command and Pacific Command.

According to Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, the early deployment of the LCS will improve the U.S. Navy’s ability to dominate littoral regions. Absence of such assets has opened a warfighting gaps that must be urgently closed. Offering unique combat capabilities not previously addressed by the ‘Blue Sea’ cruisers and destroyers, the LCS could have a dramatic impact on the readiness and global reach of the U.S. Navy. To facilitate the early deployment, the Navy adjusted the Freedom testing schedule; prioritized testing events needed for deployment and deferred others not required for the missions envisioned during this deployment.

Accelerated Fielding of Mission Systems

lcs_57mmguntest — USS Freedom (LCS 1) Structural Test Firings of the 57mm gun

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is designed for operations near coastlines and in the littoral areas, tasked with anti-submarine warfare (ASW), surface warfare (SUW) and mine warfare (MIW) missions. LCS leverage its modularity from the Mission Package (MP) concept – a mission focused group of mission systems and specialist personnel providing the ship its warfighting capability. The MP is embarked on an LCS prior to a mission, enhancing its capability to assume specific tasks or operate against the identified threat. After a mission is completed, the MP is disembarked and restored for future use in any LCS. The MP comprises individual elements, called Mission Systems, and support equipment, together form a Mission Module (MM). One or more MMs along with the crew and support aircraft form an MP.
To facilitate early fielding the planned testing schedule of the ship will be altered, focusing on the testing of vessel’s shakedown, overseas sustainment, crew training and combat systems and mission packages related to the anticipated mission scope of the vessel. As part of these tests, the Navy performed structural test firing with the vessel’s Mk110 57mm gun and the Surface Warfare (SUW) 30mm Gun Mission Module, while the ship was at sea off the Virginia coast. Different mission modules comprise the LCS mission packages, which are a combined set of remote sensors, precision weapons, software components and off-board vehicles packaged in a modular fashion to easily and quickly swap in and out of the LCS. Each mission package provides warfighting capabilities for a focused mission area.

ram_test_lcs1 — Rolling Airframe Missile inert rounds (below). Photos: Lockheed Martin

The SUW Mission Package is specifically designed to defeat fast in-shore attack craft. Another element of the SUW Mission Package is the NLOS-LS medium range surface to surface missile module. This module will begin at-sea testing in 2012.

“As the Navy moves towards multipurpose ships with modular design, it only makes sense that our maintenance and support activities adapt,” sais Program Executive Officer, Littoral and Mine Warfare, E. Anne Sandel, endorsing the newly established Mission Package Support Facility (MPSF). “This is a great first step in the advancement of Navy surface combatant lifecycle support philosophies.” Sandel added. The Navy has recently established the LCS (MPSF) located near USS Freedom’s San Diego, California home port. Providing the central hub supporting the vessel’s mission packages, the new facility will store, deploy, upgrade and maintain the systems and elements that comprise the Mission Packages (MP), address afloat maintenance issues and provide technical support for Mission Module detachments. While the LCS is at sea, MPSF will have a virtual presence on deck, using Distance Support, to assist the crew operating, supporting and reconfigure all deployed Mission Modules.

Textron, L-3 Com Team to Compete on a $4 billion LCAC Successor Program

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Oct 30, 2009

t_craft — Textron is also working on a larger design called T-Craft, designed for the deployment of prepositioned military hardware from sea-bases to the area of operation.

Textron Marine & Land Systems has teamed with L-3 Communications to pursue the U.S. Navy’s future $4 billion Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) program. The Navy is planning to field the 73 ton Air Cushion Vehicle (ACV), starting in the year 2019, gradually replacing the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft landing-craft currently in service.

Textron Marine has constructed 80 in the 1980-1990s. Under the planned SSC program the Navy hopes to buy 80 hovercrafts to replace its current (LCAC) fleet.

These craft provide the primary over-the-horizon, ship-to-objective amphibious lift capability, as well as the capability to move across the beach carrying heavy payloads for military and humanitarian operations. The Navy’s SSC Specification Development is scheduled to continue for another year, with an anticipated release of a request for proposal of the Detailed Design and Construction of the lead craft in late 2010.

The team will include Textron as the prime contractor. “Our team will be focused on taking the Navy design and ensuring a low risk transition to production,” said Textron Marine & Land Systems Senior Vice President and General Manager Tom Walmsley. “No one has the proven knowledge and expertise that our two companies possess on such a unique platform.” He added.

T-Craft to Deliver Units from Sea Bases to the Shore

T-Craft is one of several innovative naval prototypes being developed by ONR to support the broad objectives of the U.S. Navy’s Sea Base program. Its mission is to self-deploy from an intermediate support base to a sea base area of operations. Once on site, the T-Craft will take cargo, consisting primarily of wheeled and tracked vehicles, from the sea base to the shore line without the use of port facilities. The transit will be made at high speed, and will end with the delivery of cargo “feet dry” on the beach in a wide range of sea conditions and terrain. Photo: Textron Defense.

In February 2008 Textron Marine & Land Systems has been selected for a Phase II contract by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to continue development of the Sea Base Connector, Transformable Craft (T-Craft). During a Phase I study, the team developed a preliminary design of a craft that can operate as a catamaran at low speed, a surface effect ship at high speed, and as a fully amphibious air cushion vehicle for cargo discharge. In addition, the air cushion is used to provide a powerful motion control system to stabilize the T-Craft during cargo transfer operations at the sea base.

Yellow Jacket Fuses MASINT, IMINT, UAVs to Hunt IEDs

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Oct 29, 2009

CenTauri Solutions has been awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense to demonstrate an integrated UAV-based counter-IED technology. Known as “Yellow Jacket” the $11.7 million program is sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, (AFRL) in Rome, New York. Such a capability could provide life saving services for military patrols and convoys, by scanning the roads and locations and identifing potential IED threats before the arrival of the forces.

Under the project CenTauri will demonstrate the compilation of two intelligence disciplines – Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) and Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), co-located on a single platform and fused to enable timely detection of improvised explosive devices at a high level of probability. CenTauri will install the electro-optical HD imaging and unintentional electromagnetic emissions sensor on the Sciebel Camcopter S-100 vertically take off and landing vehicle.

schiebel100-GCS — The ground control system developed by Sciebel enables the operator to plan and perform a complete autonomous mission. Photos: Sciebel

The radio-frequency detector will be able to scan an area, searching for electromagnetic signals emitted from electronic circuits and electrical that could be associated with IEDs. These could be such as remote controllers, as well as triggering and activation devices. On detection of such signals, high definition imaging sensors could be cued to explore the location for a closer look.

The Sciebel S-100 Camcopter is well suited for te mission, providing autonomous operational capability and significant payload carrying capacity, while requiring minimal field support. The S-100 can fly missions over 6 hours long, carrying up to 75 pounds of different payloads out to ranges of 180km. It can operate up to heights of 18,000 ft above sea level, making it effective for the most parts of Afghanistan. Back in August this year Sciebel and Boeing announced a teaming agreement to pursue marketing and support opportunities for Schiebel’s S-100 Camcopter.

CenTauri Solutions is a U.S. consultancy group and system engineering company specializing in Intelligence, Defense and Homeland Security based in Alexandria, Virginia.

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