Mexico’s declining murder rate counts as a major accomplishment for President Enrique Peña Nieto, but the nation’s annual victimization survey indicates that the country remains beset by violent crime.
Mexico’s demographic and statistical agency recently published the results of its latest victimization survey, known as Envipe. The survey paints a picture of a population that has suffered at the hands of criminals at a steadily increasing rate: 22.4 million Mexicans told the Envipe pollsters that they had been victims of a crime in the past year, up from 21.6 million in 2012. This is the third straight year of increases. The total number of crimes has also spiked in recent years: Envipe registered 33.1 million total, a roughly 50 percent increase from the 22.4 million registered in 2011.
The most common crimes were robbery, extortion, and car theft, all of which increased significantly. The four states showing the highest rate of victimization were Mexico City, Mexico State, Baja California, and Jalisco. The states showing the largest increases — and thus those largely responsible for driving the national increase –were Coahuila, Chiapas, Mexico State, Tlaxcala, and Oaxaca.
According to a survey of businesses IT managers worldwide, 21% of manufacturers suffered a loss of intellectual property (IP) within the past year. Malware was the most common cause of data loss incidents for manufactures, although other types of cyber-incidents – including software vulnerabilities, theft of mobile devices, network intrusion, etc. – were also cited as sources IP leakage.
In a highly competitive global economy, businesses rise to leadership or sink into bankruptcy on very slim profit margins. Most often, a business’s most decisive advantage comes in the form of Research & Development insight or a proprietary high-tech solution which, in the case of manufacturers, can help businesses produce items more efficiently than their competitors. If a competitor is able to obtain this insight, especially without incurring the initial R&D costs, then that competitor now has a significant business advantage.
The manufacturing industry clearly understands the importance of securing their intellectual property. The survey found that…
SCAM WARNING: A supposed IRS agent named “James Flores” with a Russian accent called me from (917) 300-3104 to let me know that if I didn’t wire them $5,000 within one hour, officers would arrive at my house and arrest me.
We had a great conversation re the IRS not soliciting money by phone or e-mail, the FTC, FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, FCC, and how many folks I recommend they send prior to his screaming at me and hanging up.
He later called back from (609) 858-6398 and said his name was Tony Beck. Same guy… different state and phone number. I waited a few minutes before calling him “James” and asking him to spell his name. Sure enough J-A-M-E-S… but wait, I thought you were Tony this time? CLICK… Useful information regarding IRS scams hitting our state in force right now:
A bug-out-bag (or BOB) is a survival bag (usually a rucksack) that contains the most important items you will require to survive after a disaster. The idea is to have the bag packed and ready to go, so you can grab it quickly, get out the door and get long-gone should a disaster happen.
What Should Go In the Bug-Out-Bag?
When planning your bug-out-bag you need to consider the three things that are vital to survival: water, shelter, and fire (in that order). Food is important, but not vital. Remember the (simple) rule of three, you can survive: 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and three weeks without food. In an extreme survival situation, I would also add 3 hours without fire and shelter. Below is a list of items. (in no specific order) you should consider adding to your bug-out-bag. Where possible we have included direct links to high-quality recommended products. We either have experience with these products, or they come very highly recommended by others.
Cyber Security is now part of all our lives. “Patches” and other security updates arrive for phones, tablets, and PCs. Consultants remind us all not to open unknown files or plug unfamiliar memory sticks into our computers. The bosses of some Western firms throw away phones and laptops after they have been to China assuming they have been hacked. And yet, as our special report this week points out, digital walls keep on being breached. Last year more than 800m digital records, such as credit- and debit card details were pinched or lost, more than three times as many as in 2012. According to a recent estimate by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank, the cost to the global economy of cybercrime and online industrial espionage stands at $445 billion a year—about as much as the GDP of Austria.
Now a new phase in this contest is emerging: “the internet of things”. This involves embedding miniature computers in objects and connecting them to the internet using wireless technology. Cisco, a technology company, predicts that 50 billion connected devices will be in circulation by the end of the decade, up from 11 billion last year. Web-connected cars and smart appliances in homes are becoming more common, as are medical devices that can be monitored by doctors many miles from their patients. Tech companies are splurging cash: witness Google’s punt on driverless cars and the $3.2 billion it has spent buying Nest, a maker of smart thermostats.
MEXICO CITY — A vaunted plan to create a new security force, known as the Gendarmerie, has been watered down sharply in the past two years but is about to come to fruition.
Sometime in late July, the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto will put the 5,000-member Gendarmerie into action, National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said Friday.
The force will not be anywhere near the scope of what Pena Nieto outlined while running for president back in 2012. At that time, he suggested the new force might have up to 50,000 officers.
Since then, the government has steadily scaled back its vision of the force. By February 2013, a previous national security commissioner, Manuel Mondragon y Kalb, forecast 10,000 gendarmes. Four months after that, Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong announced the force might have only 5,000 people.
In a briefing with foreign reporters Friday, Rubido said Friday that gendarme recruits are getting final training in Colombia. Other nations that have provided assistance include Spain, France, and the United States.
