Security Update – 27 August 2009

Radisson Hotels & Resorts has stated that its computer systems were subject to illegal access between November 2008 and May 2009, with an unknown number of people being affected. The security breach is thought to have affected some of Radisson’s hotels in the United States and Canada.

Security Update – 11 June 2009

Plans to expand the AusCheck employee background checking scheme beyond the areas of aviation and maritime security have been criticised by privacy campaigners. The AusCheck Amendment Bill 2009, which is currently before Federal Parliament, seeks to extend the AusCheck service to a wider range of national security regulatory schemes. Another amendment in the current bill will authorise the use of biometric information to confirm the identity of an individual.

Security Update – 26 May 2009

The global financial crisis may lead to an increase in hotel crime, according to hotel security experts in the United States (US). The economic slowdown is being blamed for an increase in incidents of theft, including those perpetrated by hotel staff. Security threats facing major hotels have also come under increasing scrutiny due to personal attacks in the US and the terrorist attacks in South Asia.

Hotels Facing Multiple Security Threats

Security Briefing – 5 May 2009

Security Update – 28 April 2009

Figures released by the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in April show that shoplifting increased 7.8 percent in the two years to December 2008. The rise in shoplifting was due to a surge in the theft of food, mobile phones, alcohol, cosmetics and laptop computers. Shoplifting and fraud were the only two major categories in the crime report to register an increase.

Bureau director Don Weatherburn predicted that crime trends would continue to remain steady for the next six months before the financial crisis may start to have an impact as unemployment increases often coincide with small average increases in crime levels. Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher warned that increases in property crime will occur as the economic slowdown continues. Property crime has increased markedly in other countries around the world, including the United States.

The economic slowdown has resulted in decreased funding for many law enforcement agencies. Nearly half of police chiefs surveyed in the United States in October 2008 felt that the economic downturn had affected their agency’s ability to reduce crime. The United Nations has warned that ‘an unprecedented rise in organised crime’ could result from the financial crisis. A recent rise in ATM fraud in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne has been attributed to globally-functioning East European crime syndicates.

International Operations Group - Recommendations

Security Update – 28 April 2009

Scores of computers with thousands of credit card numbers, legal documents and other sensitive information were stolen from an office building in Los Angeles early on 25 April. Attorneys, property management companies and accountants were among at least 60 tenants raided at the landmark Chateau Office building on Ventura Boulevard.

There has been speculation that the large-scale theft was an inside job, as the burglars appeared to have a master key and knew the building’s security system well (security cameras were disabled during the robbery). Data theft seems to have been the reason for the burglary, as other valuable equipment was left behind.

International Operations Group – Analysis