In addition to being one (if not, the) noblest of professions, working as an officer of the peace carries with it inherent risks. Sadly in 2014, 51 American law enforcement officers lost their lives feloniously in the line of duty. In addition to publishing the prior year’s crime data, the...
Each year the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) publishes the annual arrest statistics from the year prior. Today the FBI released its Uniform Crime Reports: 2014: Crime in the United States. This vast dataset is displayed in three categories: Offenses Known to Law...
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security recently released their Terror Threat Snapshot for September 2015. This monthly newsletter is one of the avenues the Committee uses to inform the American public of the terrorist threat across the nation. Each Snapshot contains a variety of pertinent information, such...
On October 25, 2013, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of Great Britain (STFC) and the Royal United Services Institute for Defense Studies (RUSI) hosted a conference titled, “Measuring the Resilience of Cities: The Role of Big Data.” This conference brought together officials from both the UK and the U.S....
Cybercrime and cyberattacks are becoming increasingly prevalent in computer networks worldwide. Everything from national power grids to individual users’ private data is being targeted for malicious use, and on top of that, these networks and data are becoming harder and harder to protect. To combat the growing cybercrime phenomenon, the...
Today the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing on “Online Advertising and Hidden Hazards to Consumer Security and Data Privacy.” The hearing, and accompanying investigation report, focused specifically on online advertising and the “data collection processes and security vulnerabilities...
On December 19, 2013, news broke that 110 million Target customers had their personal data stolen from the Target network. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has released a report detailing exactly how this breach occurred, and has made recommendations to prevent such massive theft in the...
The U.S. Department of Justice published a new report, “Examining the Structure, Organization, and Processes of the International Market for Stolen Data”, by Thomas Holt and Olga Smirnova. This report found that Russia provides a “home base” for hackers and that many hackers and data thieves are operating primarily in...
In June of 2013, the Obama Administration (the Administration) launched a Climate Action Plan that committed the U.S. to “cut carbon pollution, prepare communities for the impacts of climate change, and lead international efforts to address this global challenge.” Today, the Administration has taken one step closer to delivering on...
The Brennan Center’s newest report of the National Security and Local Police survey blows the whistle on local police information gathering and surveillance activities in the United States. The Brennan Center for Justice, a branch of New York University School of Law, concluded that “police intelligence gathering lacks standards, and...
