I have joined the Technews team in interesting times, not just locally but worldwide as security expos and conferences beckon the diehard enthusiasts and at the same time security, and the awareness thereof, becomes more topical among the general public.
Hi-Tech Security Solutions has always positioned itself as a premier business-to-business title servicing the needs of the end-users of security solutions. My journalistic and editorial experience lies in engineering, IT and HR and I am looking forward to my journey into the fields of surveillance, biometrics, access control and fire protection, among others, to bring you more originated material including interviews and case studies for more engaging features. As always there will still be leading coverage on the latest available products, worldwide trends and the opinions of people at the forefront of security in its various forms.
Ten years down the line of democracy, and thankfully the voting process went smoothly. What I did find perturbing, though, was a report in the Cape Times on 19 April that read: "A Mitchell's Plain teenager did what thousands of South Africans did on 14 April - she exercised her right to vote." The only difference in this case was that the teenager concerned will only be turning 18 in September. The teen explained in the article how easy it had been for her to vote: "'IEC officials came around to our home earlier this year. They asked if everybody in the house - older than 18 - had registered to vote. I told the person that I was 17 but she said that it was fine and that I could still register.' She said that on election day she went to the voting station with her mother. 'I told the IEC official that I am registered but that I am only 17. She looked at my ID and said that if I am registered I can vote. So I took the two ballot papers that were given to me, went to the booth and cast my votes.'"
So if it was that easy for someone to unintentionally vote illegally, how easy would it have been for someone with the intent to do so? Could it be that the emergence of all new high-tech equipment offering luxuries like biometric identification has made people forget the basic principle of an ID number - the most common form of identification in general use - whereby the first two digits represent the year in which you were born, followed by the month? A simple check of the said teen's ID number would have revealed that she was under 18 and therefore not legally entitled to vote. At the time of going to print, electoral officers were investigating.
Back to Hi-Tech... the fact that this issue of Hi-Tech Security Solutions is so well-populated with IT-related issues is a sign of the times, but by no means indicates that it is turning into an information technology publication. There is an undeniable convergence of IT into the security arena but our focus, as always, remains security. We have a smattering of all sectors normally covered, kicking off with news and then Motorola takes the cover story with its two-way radio solution that has assisted African Explosives in centralising its security operations, read about it: Motorola helps secure AEL.
Waters Group and SAS carried out a global survey last year, in which it was revealed that poor risk management costs 90% of financial organisations R70 million a year each, Paul Skivington of Alexander Forbes Risk Management comments. We also offer you a crash course in perimeter security, compliments of Delta Scientific Corporation.
On access control, NEC's Carl Gohringer gets to grips with the reality of biometrics, separating the real benefits from the James Bond material, and Darren Nicholson explains why fibre is the way to go in surveillance technology.
Not forgetting the juicy product info throughout, all in all making for a well-rounded security read, enjoy!
Till next month
Lynne Larsen
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.
printer friendly version