The fifth national Security 2000 Exhibition inspires hope; Ukraine apparently has enough systems and means to secure private business against all kinds of encroachments, breaking and entering, and armed robbery. But is there is enough property to protect? Organized by the Ministry of Internal affairs, SBU [secret police], State Customs Committee, and Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, the display boasted products supplied by over seventy “enterprises and organizations” [a most favored bureaucratic clich
О ], representing the latest developments in office security arrangements, burglar and fire alarm, data and raid protection, as well as bodyguard services.
Valery Pekar, President of Euroindeks Co. and one of the organizers, says the exposition is very special, in that it features products from special suppliers gathered under the same roof for the first time. Once there are signs of economic revival, he adds, all sectors of the security industry will flourish. Meanwhile, most firms and institutions, let alone rank-and-file customers, have to economize on security. Data protection is a special topic, particularly in terms of case histories kept in hospitals, files in personnel departments, militia passport desks, even civil registries. He assures us that special government agencies are working to protect information that would be very useful for various wrongdoers.
The weapons used in information warfare are perhaps the most formidable, and the tricks pulled off by hackers can be compared to nuclear strikes, says Hryhory Lazarev, SBU deputy head in charge of the special telecommunications and data protection systems. There are more than enough examples. Recall the viruses let loose through the Internet, causing damage amounting to tens of billions of dollars. There are special units specializing in electronic security. Developments in this sphere are slowed by the customers’ low purchasing power.
Leonid Vyshnevsky, leading expert with the National Academy’s Frantsevych Institute of Metals Science, notes that, as with all the nation’s sciences, his institute faces the problem of reduced financing obstructing research programs. In part this problem is solved by cooperation with commercial firms. He proudly demonstrates unique developments, including outwardly perfectly ordinary gloves, sweaters, and blazers that are actually a reliable protection against knives. Also bulletproof clothes. To top it all off, he boasts that Scotland Yard has bought a shipment of such garments.
INCIDENTALLY
The State Savings Bank of Ukraine has taken a series of coordinated measures to protect its computer network from deliberate or accidental destructive electromagnetic effects, was told by the bank’s press service. Experts confirm that modern technologies make possible the development of destructive electromagnetic sources that are actually electromagnetic weapons capable of breaking through practically any security system, acting at a distance and without much ado. They are also called electromagnetic bombs and with reason. The Savings Bank solved this problem using a screen chamber equipped with the latest security systems protecting servers from such electromagnetic terrorism, unauthorized access, spontaneous accident, or fire.
