[SecurityRatty] tag: hollywood

"Would you feel safe with this man looking after you?

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:44:00 +0000

That was the caption under the picture of Rocker,Ted Nugent, in last Tuesday's Guardian. Nugent had volunteered to be Sir Paul McCartney's "Bodyguard" when he played a concert in Israel.

Unfortunately,this is what our industry has to tolerate. Many people, from broken down celebrity deer hunters to jail guards think that if you know how to shoot a rifle or open a gate for inmates to go to the yard, it automatically follows that you know everything about protecting the life of a executive.

So, Ted Nugent knows how to play guitar and shoot deer. Just what part of that background would equip him to keep the former Beetle safe in the Middle East? It is certainly not like Mr. Nugent is trying to pull the wool over our eyes when it comes to any specialized training he may have received. "I'm Dirty Harry with a ponytail", claims the singer.

First of all Mr. Nugent, "Dirty Harry" was a film produced by Hollywood to entertain people, not a "training aid". Secondly, even if we were to stretch our imaginations and consider Harry Callaghan's actions, we would recall that the character was a Police Detective and as such, would have undergone rigourous training at a professional Police Academy.

Refering to reported Islamic Extremist Death Threats made against McCartney if he insisted on playing the concert, Nugent informed us that he "will not bend or waiver to Voodoo Religions or Whackjobs".

It is unknown whether or not Mr. Nugent thinks that Islamic Extremists come from Haiti, but if he is serious about a future career in Executive Protection, we would advise him to attend our upcoming course in Dubai next month where he will not only learn first hand the Art of Personal Protection, but he will also learn about Middle Eastern Cultures, Tradition and Religion.

Unfortunately, there's no way of predicting how much culture we may be able to pass on to Mr. Nugent, as the course is only a little over a week long. We will also be teaching etiquette and which knife and fork to use when attending a formal event with your Principal. That's right Ted, you don't get to tear the meat from the bone with your hands.

Someone call the U.A.E. and let the Hilton know that we may have to stay longer than planned.

God took me off the grid

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:28:24 +0000

I had every intention of blogging during the long holiday weekend. Catching up on email and work at some point was on the agenda as well. However, this morning in the middle of email my laptop froze up. I could not do anything with it and so had to power down. On start up I got a missing media notice and it looks like my hard drive went kaput. Luckily my Windows Mobile phone has everything I need to stay connected. Email, typepad blog platform, etc. Well we went to my family in Hollywood Beach for a fireworks display and BBQ tonight. I left my phone in a backpack, so I would not take it in the beach or water with me. Great, it rained, the backpack got soaked and my phone is down now too!

So I think it is God telling me to go off grid this weekend. I am writing this on Bonnie's desktop machine. The kids are staying with my cousins and Bonnie and I are headed down to Key Largo for the weekend. I have her spare pink Razor with my Sim card for phone calls, but that is it. No email, no computers, no blogging! Speak to you all Sunday night or Monday, enjoy your weekend!

Hopefully, I had one article written scheduled for tomorrow morning. I hope it publishes.

God took me off the grid

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:28:24 +0000

I had every intention of blogging during the long holiday weekend. Catching up on email and work at some point was on the agenda as well. However, this morning in the middle of email my laptop froze up. I could not do anything with it and so had to power down. On start up I got a missing media notice and it looks like my hard drive went kaput. Luckily my Windows Mobile phone has everything I need to stay connected. Email, typepad blog platform, etc. Well we went to my family in Hollywood Beach for a fireworks display and BBQ tonight. I left my phone in a backpack, so I would not take it in the beach or water with me. Great it rained, the backpack got soaked and my phone is down now too!

Hopefully, I had one article written scheduled for tomorrow morning. I hope it publishes.

When does a bodyguard need to shoot into a crowd?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:28:00 +0000

A story out of Mumbai,India caught my attention today. A politician's bodyguard shot into a crowd of people and killed a man.

While professional Executive Protection Agents no longer refer to themselves as "bodyguards", if we nonetheless examine that "handle", we can break it down as; "a person who guards (protects) the body of another". If I was tasked with the investigation of this shooting incident in India, one of the very first places I would look at would be the training manuals of those involved. If they were Policemen, I would demand to be allowed to inspect that Department's training guides that were used when training their "bodyguards". Same thing would apply if they belonged to a private company/entity.

I very seriously doubt that I would find any directive anywhere authorizing those assigned to the protective detail to fire haphazzardly into a crowd of people. To me, this suggests that the bodyguard either panicked or was placed in the position without any professional training (most probable explanation). Anyone who has spent more than 15 minutes in E.P. training knows that the responsibility of the Protective Agent(s) is to evacuate their client (Principal). Shooting into crowds of people would be out of place, even in far-fetched Hollywood. I am quite sure that Indian society is nothing near as litigious as it is here in the Western world, but I still suspect that there is a smart lawyer somewhere in India trying to contact the victim's family. I believe the case will be his for the winning.

Ironically, I contactd a company in India a couple of months back with a proposal to train their Executive Protection staff. Without ever hearing a price, they contacted me back and said they were sure they couldn't afford us (eventhough they are one of the largest employers in India). Which makes me wonder, how do you put a price on a human life and what would you consider a fair price to have your people professionally trained so that you were not sued by the family/next of kin of someone killed by one of your employees? By the way, this question can be asked of any employer anywhere in the world who is in the business of either safeguarding their own employees, or protecting the life of others.

In Real Estate it is about; "Location, Location, Location". In security, it is about; "Training, Training, Training". I sincerely hope that many get to know of this incident (including nearly all of the Hollywood stars who allow their Protectors to assault people on a regular basis)and begin to realize the importance of having a professionally trained person taking care of them. Hiring some big guy with a couple of years military experience is not good enough.

That would be like hiring a person for a plastic surgery procedure whose only experience was carving the Thanksgiving turkey. Who'd be the turkey then?

Sometimes, It Takes a Thief to Catch a Thief

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:00:00 +0000

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Apollo Robbins won't say whether he's ever stolen anything in his life, but it's clear he could if he wanted to. Having grown up in Missouri with three half-brothers who were all involved in various criminal activities (one of them is in the witness protection program after testifying against former colleagues of his), the 34-year-old Robbins was indoctrinated at an early age into the finer aspects of pickpocketing and con games.

He eventually developed those skills into a successful career as a sleight-of-hand artist and performer in Las Vegas. His latest act, though, has him starring as a corporate security consultant. In this role, it is less his dexterous hands that appeals to his clients than his mastery of all aspects of criminal cons, grifts, and social-engineering ploys.

"When you're trying to steal something, you find the weakest link and work that," Robbins says. "Nowadays, as technology gets better and security systems get harder to break through, the weakest link in any system is the human running it."

Robbins founded his consulting operation, Whizmob Inc. (the name comes from the street term for a team of pickpockets working together), two years ago while still performing full-time.

After doing a show a few years back in which he pickpocketed Secret Service agents accompanying former president Jimmy Carter, the resulting publicity led several law-enforcement agencies and other groups to contact him about his techniques.

"At first, I'd refer them to security people I knew," says Robbins. "Then I realized that instead of being a referral service, I could capitalize on this."

It was a good time to get in on the act. Information security consulting, which barely existed in the mid '90s, has become an estimated $10 billion to $12 billion business as the need to protect sensitive information stored on computers and servers has become a more central concern.

Today, Robbins counts the N.F.L., TNT, and several Fortune 500 companies among his customers. He recently advised the N.F.L. on information security protection at this year's Super Bowl in Phoenix to combat the expected flow of thieves and con artists lured by all the deep-pocketed spectators coming to town.

His work included getting a major hotel to upgrade its WiFi security so that fake access programs known as Trojans couldn't extract valuable data and password information from unsuspecting guests' computers. And at the stadium where the game was held, Robbins and his team identified areas where pickpockets would most likely operate—specifically, places with lots of traffic where bumping into people would be customary, and easy access to exits for escape purposes.

Besides the shadier elements of Robbins' childhood, his father, a blind minister, instilled in him a strong sense of morality. "It was like living in two worlds," Robbins says.

In many ways, he still is living in two worlds, since he keeps in regular contact with some professional thieves he knows in order to stay abreast of the latest cons. (While he doesn't pay them, Robbins says that "a lot of these guys are really good at what they do but they can't exactly discuss it with a lot of people.") But increasingly, Robbins is spending time in the more staid settings of the corporations that hire him to vet their security systems.

"It's a good time to be in the business," he says.

Hollywood P.I. Found Guilty on 76 of 77 Charges.

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Hollywood P.I., Anthony Pellicano was found guilty on 76 counts last Thursday. Pellicano was accused of having wiretapped the phones of such celebrities as Sylvester Stallone and running the names of other celebs through Law Enforcement databases.

People like Pellicano give hard working private investigators out there a bad name and he won't get any sympathy from us. New investigators who might have looked up to him due to the list of celebrity clients who hired him should see this as a valuable lesson. Honesty, loyalty, respect for the law and your clients - these are what is important. Being able to to say that such-and-such film star is a client and then go around breaking laws to get what you want, is a sure fire way to wind up in an orange jump-suit.

No doubt Mr. Pellicano will have plenty of time to contemplate this as he will soon have plenty of time on his hands. Unfortunately, there are clients out there who request investigators to break the law just so that they can get what they want. It would be interesting to have seen some of Pellicano's famous clients being charged as accomplices and swapping their Italian designer suits for the County's comfortable "day-glo" clothing and to join him on the baloney sandwich line on the inside.

Now that would be an interesting message to send out.

Security goes to the movies: Iron Man

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:22:40 +0000

Time once again for "Security Goes to the Movies," a leisurely look at the inevitable bleeding from the eyes security folk experience when Hollywood takes liberties with tech, the laws of physics and other aspects of reality. Our shiny and metallic subject today is Iron Man.

Fidel Castro exports his criminals, but we give guns to ours.

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:03:00 +0000

I was shocked to hear the news on CBS yesterday that the Army and Marine Corps are allowing convicted Felons to join their ranks. Are recruiters that desperate or just plain lazy?

The newscaster said that the Army and Marine Corps are going to open their doors to Felons who have been convicted of Robbery, Burglary, sex offenses and making terroristc threats. What can they be thinking? Have the lunatics started running the assylum?

These are some of the worst offenses on the books. I could somewhat understand if they said: "we are going to make allowances for those who have been convicted of multiple DUI/DWIs and as a result, have been declared felons". This new policy sounds like a plot taken straight out of Hollywood...."The Dirty Dozen" springs to mind.

One would think that the military upper echelon have enough on their plate everytime a story breaks about a young girl being raped in Iraq or Japan by U.S. military personnel. One can only imagine the future problems that will arise when they willingly open their doors to convicted child molesters, rapists, robbers, burglars and terrorist sympathisers/radicals.

The Navy and Airforce should be conrgratulated on failing to stoop so low. I hope they resit the temptation to put the same uniforms that have been worn so proudly in the past by decent human beings on those who should be wearing prison jump suits.

Maybe if the Government paid soldiers a decent salary, which is to say, much more than the $3,000 per month that they now get to put their lives in harm's way instead of giving it to Government contracting companies who charge the Government as much as $250,000 per year per contractor AND many times overcharge and over-bill the very same Government who are willing to pay a king's ransom in the first place.

This is not a bodyguard - this is a walking lawsuit.

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:52:00 +0000

If you are like me and you view the latest "bodyguard gone wild" video, you can't help but wonder, how many millions of dollars will this uncontrollable violent outburst cost Nicole Kidman.

As someone who not only hires personal protection agents, but who also trains them, I can tell you that Ms. Kidman would be far better off looking after herself than being "protected" by this unprofessional hothead. Not only did her security person make a grave mistake by assaulting and battering the photographer in question, but he left her totally unprotected when he jumped out of the vehicle in a rage.

What would he have done if this were a trap? If someone wished to harm Ms. Kidman, or kidnap her, they could have staged this. The 'photographer' could have merely been bait used to lure her security and trick him into leaving his vehicle. Being unproteced, another bad guy could have easily harmed her at that stage.

I do not know where celebrities hire amateurs like this. I could refer them to dozens of professional security firms who highly value their professional reputations and who would never dream of hiring an incompetent like this. I would like to think that poor judgement is confined to Hollywood celebrities, but I know that is not the case.

Sometime people hire a "friend of a friend" who used to be in the army, or who used to be a night club bouncer. Those hires are always a mistake. The have LIABILITY written all over them. Whenever you hire someone to work for you, stop and think what might happen if they are not who or what they claim to be.

What happens if they use drugs and have an accident while driving your company vehicle? What happens if they have a temper problem like Ms. Kidman's employee? I think you already know the answer and it isn't pretty.

Do yourself a big favor and always do your due diligence. Or you could always hire an expensive law firm. Lawyers have to eat too, I suppose.

DNS tools play key role in Hollywood thriller 'Untraceable'

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:00:00 +0000

The technology behind DNS can be used to exploit servers or become a tool with which FBI agents capture criminals. In the upcoming movie "Untraceable," DNS tool vendor DNSstuff is highlighted as one of the ways police attempt to catch a killer.