security news stories on Newser

1,400 Cops Keep McCartney Safe in Colombia

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:41:05 CDT

At a concert last week in crime-ridden Bogota, Colombia, Paul McCartney was very, very safe—because he was surrounded by 1,400 police officers. Given, some 30,000 music lovers did attend the concert, the Telegraph reports, and police occupied a five-block radius around the stadium in which he performed....

Drones to Patrol Olympics

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:23:56 CST

Next stop for drones: London. To help bolster security at next year's Olympics, Scotland Yard plans to use unmanned drones equipped with cameras for "eyes in the sky," reports the Independent . Only one local police force currently uses a drone—a radio-controlled mini-helicopter—for surveillance, but three other forces have...

NFL Wants Full-Body Patdowns at Stadiums

John Johnson — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:14:23 CDT

Airline passengers aren't the only ones: The NFL is telling all teams to pat down fans from the ankles up before they enter stadiums, reports USA Today . In previous seasons, fans endured patdowns only from the waist up. The league's "enhanced" security procedures come as a Cowboys fan allegedly snuck...

Apple's iOS Harbors Security Flaw, Germany Warns

Kevin Spak — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:50:18 CDT

IPads, iPhones, and iPods are all vulnerable to “critical weaknesses” that could “allow possible attackers to gain administrator rights and get access to the entire system,” Germany’s IT security agency warned today. Clicking on an infected PDF could allow attackers to install malware without your knowledge, which would then allow...

Crew, Fliers Tackle Man Banging on Cockpit Door

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:25:05 CDT

Yesterday was a day of airplane security disturbances : In the third incident reported so far, crew members and passengers wrestled a man to the ground after he started pounding on the plane's cockpit door. Rageit Almurisi, 28, brushed past a flight attendant on last night's flight while screaming incoherently, and...

Opening a Door Gets Student Suspended

Kevin Spak — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 07:30:07 CST

A Virginia middle school student was suspended last week for the egregious offense of opening an exterior door for a visitor. No, it wasn’t a dangerous or unauthorized visitor—it was someone the student knew, who had her hands full. But the school has had a strict policy against opening...

Russians Were Warned of Airport Attack

Matt Cantor — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 07:48:50 CST

Russian security officials were warned a week ago of an impending attack at a Moscow airport—and they even had information on the exact location of the bombing, the Daily Telegraph reports. “A tip-off with a warning that something was being prepared appeared one week before the explosion. Even the...

13 Things You Should Never Post on Facebook

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 13:01:08 CDT

Love bragging to your Facebook friends that you and your roomie are about to embark on a 10-mile run? Stop. You're basically broadcasting to thieves that your home is theirs for the taking for the next 90 minutes. On the Huffington Post , Catharine Smith and Bianca Bosker list 12 more...

Karzai Ban May Squash US-Led Rebuilding Effort

Emily Rauhala — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:00:00 CDT

US-backed reconstruction projects—worth upward of $1.5 billion—are grinding to a halt, as firms begin to shutter them over the Afghan government's refusal to lift its ban on the use of private security contractors, reports the Washington Post . An official called the development "catastrophic" to America's effort to...