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Tangible products matter too
WEB REVIEW Tangible products matter too
N
ow here is an interesting Web site that is concerned with more than the cold nuts and bolts of computer security. The Technology Asset Protection Association (TAPA), http:// tapa3.org/witapa.htm, “is an association of security professionals and related business partners from high-technology companies who have organized for the purpose of addressing the emerging security threats that are common to the technology industry”. Theft is a major concern for TAPA. With an amazing increase in the development of high-technology products throughout the 199Os, computer products, memory and communications equipment have decreased in size, increased in speed and power and are easier to transport than ever before. All these benefits have an unfortunate down side. Smaller, faster, lighter pieces of equipment have become ‘small objects of desire’ for those with ulterior and dishonourable motives. TAPA highlights the following interesting fact. Inhouse protection for such equipment in factories has become very sophisticated. It works, and thieves tend not to try to outwit it. They have merely gone for the next most manageable option, targeting the products in transit. Theft of freight in transit has increased dramatically in recent years, and it was against this backdrop that TAPA was founded in 1997, their objective to attack the cargo theft problems facing the high-tech industry on a collective level. The TAPA Web page elaborates on a number of social issues that have contributed to the increase in theft of computer-related products in transit. Smallness and portability have already been mentioned. The relative value of computer components makes them attractive. Organized crime has latched onto this kind of theft as a good money-spinner, and in some cases, computer-related products have replaced drugs as the commodity of crime. The opening up of worldwide distribution channels, an increase in the number of manufacturers and an increase in the demand for products has made the problem more complex for the security conscious.
Computer Fraud & Security December 1999 3723/99/$20.00 0 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
A weighty
problem
This is the kind of weight problem you could never be happy with. Compared to other retail consumer goods, technology products have a very high value per pound. Because freight carriers and their insurance companies have traditionally reimbursed their customers for the theft of products in transit at the industry rate of about $9.07 per pound, a 30 pound box of microprocessors valued at tens of thousand dollars, would only be covered for about $272 if stolen. This is an excellent example of the type of issue TAPA is addressing. Another fundamental objective is to affect positive change in the security practices of the freight transportation and insurance communities. The 50+ TAPA member companies are exerting a positive impact in several key areas and as a result carriers are assuming more financial responsibility for loss of technology products, and freight insurance providers are introducing more attractive insurance rates for those freight handlers that demonstrate TAPA security guidelines compliance. TAPA-recognized security standards are being accepted by freight handlers, and TAPA is becoming recognized as a wordwide benchmark in security handling guidelines. This is a most interesting Web site, concerned with an area of security that most of us do not give much thought to. TAPA gives some sobering facts and statistics that would justify its existence. The National Cargo Security Council estimate annual cargo theft at $10 billion. One leading technology company reports the typical loss value of a cargo theft event has risen to $750 000 from $5000 in 199 1, and there has been a marked increase in armed ‘bank robbery’ style attacks on technology company’s docks and parts storage facilities. With member companies like 3 COM, Compaq, Dell, Cisco and Gateway 2000, this is not a Web site to be taken lightly. Check it out if you get a chance. If nothing else, you will educate yourself in an area of security that is sadly neglected compared to the more ‘trendy’ ones, but perhaps even more important. Berni Dwan
N
ow here is an interesting Web site that is concerned with more than the cold nuts and bolts of computer security. The Technology Asset Protection Association (TAPA), http:// tapa3.org/witapa.htm, “is an association of security professionals and related business partners from high-technology companies who have organized for the purpose of addressing the emerging security threats that are common to the technology industry”. Theft is a major concern for TAPA. With an amazing increase in the development of high-technology products throughout the 199Os, computer products, memory and communications equipment have decreased in size, increased in speed and power and are easier to transport than ever before. All these benefits have an unfortunate down side. Smaller, faster, lighter pieces of equipment have become ‘small objects of desire’ for those with ulterior and dishonourable motives. TAPA highlights the following interesting fact. Inhouse protection for such equipment in factories has become very sophisticated. It works, and thieves tend not to try to outwit it. They have merely gone for the next most manageable option, targeting the products in transit. Theft of freight in transit has increased dramatically in recent years, and it was against this backdrop that TAPA was founded in 1997, their objective to attack the cargo theft problems facing the high-tech industry on a collective level. The TAPA Web page elaborates on a number of social issues that have contributed to the increase in theft of computer-related products in transit. Smallness and portability have already been mentioned. The relative value of computer components makes them attractive. Organized crime has latched onto this kind of theft as a good money-spinner, and in some cases, computer-related products have replaced drugs as the commodity of crime. The opening up of worldwide distribution channels, an increase in the number of manufacturers and an increase in the demand for products has made the problem more complex for the security conscious.
Computer Fraud & Security December 1999 3723/99/$20.00 0 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
A weighty
problem
This is the kind of weight problem you could never be happy with. Compared to other retail consumer goods, technology products have a very high value per pound. Because freight carriers and their insurance companies have traditionally reimbursed their customers for the theft of products in transit at the industry rate of about $9.07 per pound, a 30 pound box of microprocessors valued at tens of thousand dollars, would only be covered for about $272 if stolen. This is an excellent example of the type of issue TAPA is addressing. Another fundamental objective is to affect positive change in the security practices of the freight transportation and insurance communities. The 50+ TAPA member companies are exerting a positive impact in several key areas and as a result carriers are assuming more financial responsibility for loss of technology products, and freight insurance providers are introducing more attractive insurance rates for those freight handlers that demonstrate TAPA security guidelines compliance. TAPA-recognized security standards are being accepted by freight handlers, and TAPA is becoming recognized as a wordwide benchmark in security handling guidelines. This is a most interesting Web site, concerned with an area of security that most of us do not give much thought to. TAPA gives some sobering facts and statistics that would justify its existence. The National Cargo Security Council estimate annual cargo theft at $10 billion. One leading technology company reports the typical loss value of a cargo theft event has risen to $750 000 from $5000 in 199 1, and there has been a marked increase in armed ‘bank robbery’ style attacks on technology company’s docks and parts storage facilities. With member companies like 3 COM, Compaq, Dell, Cisco and Gateway 2000, this is not a Web site to be taken lightly. Check it out if you get a chance. If nothing else, you will educate yourself in an area of security that is sadly neglected compared to the more ‘trendy’ ones, but perhaps even more important. Berni Dwan