“Equally importantly, the high level of up-front investment made by Bosch in previous years is now beginning to pay off.” The number of staff rose by nearly 11,000 to 242,500. Most of this growth was outside Germany. Even so, there was also a slight rise in the number of staff in Germany, from 108,700 to 110,700. “Our strong growth outside Germany has also had a positive effect on employment levels in Germany,” said Fehrenbach. In the past year, the Bosch Group again invested heavily. Once again, the research and development budget grew – from 2.7 billion euros to just under three billion euros. This is roughly equivalent to 7.5 percent of sales. Growth in all business sectors The most dynamic of the business sectors in 2004 were Automotive Technology and Industrial Technology – which includes Bosch Security Systems. For the first time, the Bosch Group was the world’s strongest automotive supplier in terms of sales in 2004. But as Fehrenbach was quick to emphasize: “Size alone is not what counts for us. We are far more interested in innovative strength, competitiveness, customer focus, and internationalism.” Sales of automotive technology rose by approximately seven percent, to 25.3 billion euros. After adjusting for currency effects, this was an increase of nine percent. In Industrial Technology, sales were up by 21 percent, to 5.2 billion euros. Admittedly, consolidation effects played a significant part in this result. Even after adjusting for these effects, however, the increase in sales was a healthy nine percent. The major contributors to this result were the Castings and Special Steel divisions of Buderus AG, acquired in 2003 and now included in the result for the first full year, and the packaging machinery manufacturer Sigpack, included in the result on a pro rata basis. Changes in equity investments are also clearly in evidence in the Consumer Goods and Building Technology business sector. After the first-time full-year inclusion of Buderus heating systems, the business sector’s sales grew by 13 percent to 9.5 billion euros. After adjusting for consolidation effects, growth was almost six percent. One step closer to target return In the past year, the Bosch group came one step closer to its minimum target of seven percent return on sales. The result from ordinary business activities was just over six percent of sales, compared with five percent in the previous year. This was due not only to better utilization of plant capacity as a result of positive economic developments but also to significant improvements in business processes. Moreover, the high level of up-front investment made in previous years, especially in modern diesel systems, is bearing fruit.

The study, titled Ponemon Institute’s Survey on Data Security Breaches, reveals that sixty-nine percent of companies reporting serious data leaks responded that their data security breaches were the result of either malicious employee activities or non-malicious employee error. In fact, the number one leading cause of data security breaches resulted from non-malicious employee error (39 per cent). The Ponemon Institute concludes that these breaches are typically the consequence of complacency or negligence from lax or insufficient access controls to sensitive or confidential data. Only sixteen percent of serious data leaks were linked to hackers or external penetration. “The rise in identity theft and cyber crime has made data security a top- of-mind issue for many Americans as well as corporations,” said Larry Ponemon of the Ponemon Institute. “Companies spend considerable resources to combat outsiders, and the data suggests they are successful. However, companies have begun to realize that to protect customer trust, company brand and competitive secrets, they must now focus on the threat within.” “Organizations must become more aware of the source of information loss, and then they can adopt best practices to address the issue,” said Joseph Ansanelli, CEO of Vontu. “This survey highlights the severity of the insider threat problem. We believe that companies need to focus not only preventing customer information loss, but also the loss of other confidential information such as source code, intellectual property, merger and acquisition information, design documents, network diagrams, and marketing documents.” Of the 163 companies surveyed, seventy-five percent reported a serious security breach had occurred within the past twelve months. The survey also revealed the most common types of data security breaches. The majority of data breaches involved the loss of confidential business information, followed closely by the loss of personal customer information. The survey reports that of the top data security breaches: * 39% involved confidential business information * 27% involved personal information about customers * 14% involved intellectual property including software source code * 10% involved personal information about employees. The study is a subset of results from a larger Ponemon study entitled Ponemon Institute’s Corporate Data Security Practices. The research included questions about data security and privacy breaches occurring within a time period of twelve months. The results were captured over a 5-week period at the end of 2004. One hundred sixty-three companies were surveyed, with a majority being Fortune 1000 US companies. Other participating companies included large, non-publicly traded corporations, government entities and smaller public multinationals.

Bill 88, introduced on Dec. 15, is expected to be debated and voted on by the national assembly in the coming months. Bill 88 would set up the Private Security Bureau, which would regulate alarm companies and monitoring firms, as well as guard service, life safety, goods and sites protection, investigation, locksmiths, armored car services and security consultant services. In a press release, the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) says it is “pleased” with the draft legislation and says that a public/private partnership will help “enhance the security of the citizens.” The chapter plans to release a new memorandum as an answer to Bill 88 in the next month.

The study showed that on 30 June 2003, there were 23,555 prisoners in Australian jails (ABS 2004). Of these, seven per cent (1,594) were women, an increase of 109 per cent since 1993. Of the 812 male and female prisoners whose most serious offence involved deception or a related offence, 21 per cent were female, representing 11 per cent of the total female prison population, compared to three per cent of men in jail for the same category of offence. Fraud is a significant component of female offending, and examining the dynamics underlying serious fraud is important if security managers are to understand the broader issues of gender difference in patterns of offending and imprisonment. Using unique data collected by the Australian Institute of Criminology, the study demonstrates that, contrary to the previous welfarist and needs-focused explanations of fraud, women also are involved in more sophisticated and planned cases of serious fraud.

The unit is more reliable than a conventional recorder, and with no tape usage or regular maintenance required, its cost of ownership should be significantly lower. Being digital, the DVR1A offers greater capacity than VHS-based systems. The recorder hard disk has a capacity of 80 GB, equivalent to approximately four video tapes. This allows continuous or time-lapse recording for up to a week or even longer. It also eliminates the need for frequent and costly maintenance of read/write heads and other moving parts. It provides greater convenience, since there are no video tapes to change or archive. With images stored digitally on the hard disk, it is easy to search through recorded footage by date/time or alarm events, with the facility to retrieve images almost instantly. Simple front panel controls – including jog/shuttle – make it straightforward to navigate through the on-screen menu, select options and view images. For greater flexibility in viewing, storing and sharing, individual frames or video can be exported to a Compact Flash card and then transferred to a PC. The DVR1A records video signals from a single camera input or multiple camera inputs, routed via a multiplexer. It offers consistently superior image quality when compared to traditional time-lapse recorders, with no degradation of recorded images. Recording can be triggered via an alarm connected directly to the DVR. Footage recorded before the alarm, already stored in the buffer, is automatically transferred to the hard disk for later viewing to complete the required section.

ExSite not only combines a receiver, pan/tilt, and enclosure in a single, easy-to-install system, but also includes an Integrated Optics Package (IOP). The IOP features an auto-focus camera and lens module with programmable features and a day/night option. Together with ExSite’s exclusive software and industry leading performance, they are ideal for a variety of applications within a wide range of extreme environments, including marine applications. Typical hazardous locations include such industries as oil refining, transport and storage, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, and food production facilities. Product Highlights: • Electropolished 316L Stainless Steel Construction • Receiver, Pan/ Tilt, and Enclosure with an Integrated Optics Package (IOP) • Auto Focus, High-Resolution Integrated Camera/Optics Package • On-Screen Compass, Tilt, and Zoom Display • Variable Speed Pan: 0.1° to 40°/second with Proportional Pan • Tilt Range of +90° to -90° from Horizontal • Preset Positioning, Patterns, Multiple Scan Modes • Programmable for Inverted Operation • Two-Year, Continuous-Duty Warranty.

“It Takes a Thief” features a home burglary that is taped as it happens, then offers a lesson in what steps the homeowner needs to take to prevent a crime from taking place again. The show will run weekly on the Discovery Channel at 10 p.m. ET/PT, followed by a repeat three hours later. Reformed criminals Matt Johnston and Jon Douglas Rainey are the hosts of the show and perform the staged “crimes.”