Blogs

After more than 14,000 miles in the air, three cities, three hotels, four train rides and four cab rides, I would say it was well worth the trip. My first journey across the world to Japan was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a mixture of business and pleasure that made for a truly unforgettable week in the “Land of the Rising Sun.” The reason for my trek across the International Date Line and all states, countries and bodies of water along the way was the inaugural Global Press...

Not to distract the masses from any other topics that may be occupying their thoughts, but in the blog this week I really am going to talk about bread. There’s a new ransomware group making the rounds lately and if you’re wondering what they’ve done to be singled out among a sea of cyber ne’er-do-wells then I’d have to say, it’s probably their preferred form of payment. A group calling itself Hellcat has claimed to have compromised Schneider Electric, a French...

More security - or in this case, lack of security - news this week coming out of NYC, and this one falls in the category of “Can’t make this stuff up” regarding the facility where New York’s Finest recruits are trained. This inexplicable blunder took place in the wee hours of the morning on Nov. 2 at the entrance of the state-of-the-art building that houses the New York City Police Academy, which stands a mere three miles from my home. Vandals not only desecrated an...

In the last stretch of this year’s election cycle the candidates are really burning up the trail, at least the parts of it not already on fire. That’s right in several states political violence rose to the level of arson as ballot boxes were set on fire in Oregon, Washington, and even Arizona recently. The good news is, sometimes we learn our lessons and there were cameras monitoring a few of those sites. In fact, a suspect is already in custody in the Arizona case, and I expect...

More security-related news coming out of New York for this week’s blog - this time on the state level - and significant enough that security integrators and small business owners in NY State should really take the time to read about these important developments that will help protect employees and merchandise. Let me go back to April of this year, when the New York State legislature passed its annual budget measure for fiscal year 2025 which addresses multiple priorities and...

Anyone who would dare saunter up to me to complain about Christmas decorations going in the stores too early this year has never worked at a news desk in an election year. That’s right, every four years Santa delivers coal to a reporter’s inbox for 12-14 months straight. I cannot explain to anyone reading this the joy I feel knowing that I won’t be up all-night waiting for confirmation on results in local races, or God forbid, sitting at a campaign headquarters, or any of the...

New York City, or more specifically the embattled Mayor Eric Adams of the city I call home, has been dominating the headlines in recent weeks, and for all the wrong reasons. You see, Mayor Adams was charged with federal bribery, campaign finance, and conspiracy offenses in an indictment released on Sept. 26 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. Since the indictment was unsealed, mayoral staffers left and right have either resigned, been fired, and even jailed, which...

I am opening my blog this week with an apology to my poor Editor, Cory Harris, whose coattails might be a little more damp than usual on my account. Good-natured Cory stood in for me during this year’s GSX conference in Florida, a show that was by all accounts productive and full of interesting new products, features, software, and partnerships. All well and good if you minded the weather. That’s right, the Security Systems News (SSN) team got chased out of Orlando by Hurricane Helene,...

So, after two days of meetings, educational sessions and special events at an event filled with thousands of security professionals, GSX 2024 may not be the safest place to be after all. Here in sunny, hot and humid Orlando, Fla., we are wrapping up the annual end user-based show with the threat of a hurricane. Guess it’s not a surprise given we are in hurricane season down here, but can’t Mother Nature spare us and allow everyone to get out of Orlando safely before the storm hits?...

If you’re reading this, I’m either just hitting the road or on my way back from VerkadaOne, a nice little preview of some security market tech before the larger show of GSX next week. I am interested in seeing the new products on offer too. If nothing else AI has made for a lot of interesting innovation in the security camera market as competitors scramble to have their seat at the table. Or maybe it will be more like the last one seated at a cakewalk? If you listen to Oracle co-founder...