Monday, May 19, 2008

What is Food Security?

In the past, security in the restaurant industry meant protecting customers and employees from violence or criminal acts. But in the current national context, food security means preventing or eliminating the deliberate contamination of food. The contaminants used are generally one of five types:

1. Biological
2. Chemical
3. Physical
4. Nuclear
5. Radioactive

Food Safety vs. Food Security

The terms "food safety" and "food security" do not mean the same thing. Food safety addresses the accidental contamination of food. Food security deals with the deliberate contamination of food with the intent of causing harm or disruption.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Systems and Network Security

Our security research focus is to identify emerging technologies and conceive of new security solutions that will have a high impact on the critical information infrastructure. We perform research and development on behalf of government and industry from the earliest stages of technology development through proof-of-concept, reference and prototype implementations, and demonstrations. We work to transfer new technologies to industry, to produce new standards, and to develop tests, test methodologies, and assurance methods.

To keep pace with the rate of change in emerging technologies, we conduct a large amount of research in existing and emerging technology areas. Some of the many topics we research include smart card infrastructure and security, wireless and mobile device security, voice over Internet Protocol (IP) security issues, digital forensics tools and methods, access control and authorization management, Internet Protocol security, intrusion detection systems, quantum information system security and quantum cryptography, and vulnerability analysis. Our research helps to fulfill specific needs by the Federal government that would not be easily or reliably filled otherwise.

We collaborate extensively with government, academia and private sector entities. In the past year this included the National Security Agency, the Department of Defense, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Department of Justice, the University of Maryland, George Mason University, Rutgers University, Purdue University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Columbia University, Microsoft Corporation, Sun Microsystems, the Boeing Company, Intel Corporation, Lucent Technologies, Oracle Corporation, and MITRE.