CIA-backed analysis tool eyed for passenger checks

Jennifer DiSabatino   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Business Intelligence Stories  

SAS Dream Team Video: Strategies for getting senior executives to agree Google's Universal Search for Business Google Search Appliance - New Features Share your Perspectives on Key IT Products and Industry Trends Universal Search in Healthcare Organizations Case Study: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Six Questions To Ask About Information And Competition Six Questions To Ask About Information And Competition Virtual Reality Sign up to receive Business Intelligence Resource Alerts

January 1, 2002 (Computerworld) -- Data analysis software backed by the CIA and used by some casinos to catch gambling cheats is now being tested for its potential to detect suspected terrorists and their associates when they make airline, hotel or rental-car reservations.

One of the four companies that operate major computerized reservations and global distribution systems has spent the past three months installing the software, which searches transaction data for nonobvious relationships. A working prototype of the application was due to be completed in late December, according to an IT manager at the reservations company.

The IT manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect the secrecy of the project, said his company wouldn't have bought such software prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But after the attacks, officials decided to "go in and take the initiative to start plugging the [security] holes" in the reservations system to help prevent similar attacks from being carried out, he said.

The software, developed by Las Vegas-based Systems Research & Development Inc. (SRD), is supposed to clean up incorrectly entered data and search for possible connections between airline passengers and suspected terrorists on government watch lists. SRD said it can check a passenger's name, address, phone number and other identifying information against those of people who are believed to be terrorists.

The technology can also search for close variations, such as transposed digits within a driver's license number, and detect whether a passenger lives near a suspected terrorist by using latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, SRD said. Development of the software is being partially funded by In-Q-Tel Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based private-sector venture capital firm that the CIA set up in 1999.

The screening application generally runs in batch mode, said Timothy O'Neil-Dunne, a consultant at Tampa, Fla.-based T2Impact Ltd., which was hired by SRD to help with the ongoing installation. But for bookings made within 48 hours of a flight or a hotel stay, the software spools out customer records from IBM mainframe-based reservations systems and analyzes the data in near real time, he said.

At the company that's testing the software, the latter kind of data analysis is expected to take 30 seconds or less, the IT manager said. Staffers will start the testing process by running "canned data" through the software to see what connections it notices, he said. The next step will be to build business rules into the software, such as how many possible connections to a suspected terrorist are needed to flag a passenger as a potential threat and whom to notify if that happens.

SRD CEO Jeff Jonas said the relationship-analysis package was originally developed in 1983 to prevent credit card fraud and has been widely deployed in the gaming industry to track big winners and suspected cheaters as well as to screen employees and job applicants for ties to gamblers.

Continued...
1 | 2 | NEXT  

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"In Tuesday's IT Blogwatch, Richi Jennings watches bots compete in the 18th Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence. Not to mention..." Read more... "On the 60's TV comedy show, Hogan's Heroes, Sgt. Schultz could always get away with saying, ""I see nothing, nothing!"..." Read more... Read more Business Intelligence posts or See all Blogs

Microsoft: 'Vista Capable' lawyers trying to hijack Windows Update Update: McCain protests YouTube's removal of his campaign videos Cisco demos public rooms for telepresence More top stories...

NASA completes remote fix of Hubble's failed computer Storage projects still a priority for IT despite economic problems Virtualization leads Gartner's top 10 strategic technologies for 2009

Q&A: E-voting security results 'awful,' says Ohio secretary of state How bad? 'I thought I was going to throw up,' Jennifer Brunner recalls. IT's biggest project failures -- and what we can learn from them Think your project's off track and over budget? Learn a lesson or two from these infamous project flameouts. Sprint's 4G Xohm WiMax: How fast is it? In our hands-on testing, the new Xohm WiMax network from Sprint was fast and smooth -- but for now, you have to be in Baltimore to get it. Accused Palin hacker has a history of intrusion College student David Kernell allegedly broke into a middle school server eight years ago, according to a former teacher. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone The Security Zone See your link here

Six Questions To Ask About Information And Competition Get this original Computerworld report free for a limited time, compliments of SAS (Source: SAS) What does it take to be a smart organization? Business Analytics. Smart organizations make the most of the information at hand. But such organizations are being redefined as technology breakthroughs allow IT managers to manage and make sense of vast amounts of unrelated information. This information is leveraged through business analytics, which aggressive competitors utilize to make informed decisions. This new report, Business Analytics: Six Questions to Ask about Information and Competition offers questions and answers that lead you to optimizing business performance and gaining competitive advantage. Download this executive briefing  Moving to Windows Vista: The Promise, The Reality Moving to Windows Vista: The Promise, The Reality View this exclusive webcast today! Go to the webcast  Rapid application development, rapid results Download this special report now! (Source: Intersystems) All too many businesses suffer from IT infrastructures that are a hodge-podge of disconnected databases and applications. What's needed is the ability rapidly develop connected applications under a unified service-oriented architecture. InterSystems Ensemble integration environment and Cache database are effective tools in answering this need, delivering a rapid ROI. Download this white paper  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Protecting Data on Laptops: Why Encryption Isn't Enough Grant Thornton Achieves 99.7% Tracking of Remote Assets Virtualization Technologies and Their Impact on Disaster Recovery View more whitepapers

• Microsoft: 'Vista Capable' lawyers trying to hijack Windows Update
• NASA completes remote fix of Hubble's failed computer
• Update: McCain protests YouTube's removal of his campaign videos
• More top stories 

SAS Business and Analytics Zone No matter where your organization is on the path toward evolving your IT infrastructure, SAS can adapt to your situation to meet your long-term enterprise intelligence needs. We can help you drive intelligence evolution to the next level, while leveraging and extending the value of your existing IT investments. Learn more in the Business and Analytics Zone See All Zones

Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs MessageLabs is offering a complimentary 30 day trial of its managed Anti-virus and Anti-spam security solutions. MessageLabs guarantees complete protection against all know and unknown email threats. By providing 24 hour support, your business can increase productivity and decrease risk. Register for a complimentary trial and receive a free datasheet. Download this white paper now!

"Turning information into a Competitive Advantage" Companies today are realizing that competitive advantage is harder to sustain when based solely on gains in productivity and cost efficiency. The focus is shifting to invest more in business optimization initiatives which rely on trusted information to develop new insights that deliver better business results. But how can this be done efficiently in a business environment across multiple applications and processes. The answer is an Information Agenda - an innovative approach to transforming business information into a strategic asset for competitive advantage. View this webcast now!  See more Webcasts

• Microsoft sticks with 'Windows 7' for next OS

• The trouble with telecommuting

• Seth Weintraub: Apple's October 14th MacBook release preview

Read more news 

• Well, now that you mention it...

• Remember your password?

Read more Shark Bait