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Government Computer News: LAX goes reliably random

February 6, 2008

Game theory algorithm improves security by putting police on unpredictable schedules

Police at Los Angeles International Airport are using a computer science doctoral dissertation to help make their operations so unpredictable that would-be terrorists could not target the airport’s facilities.

Terrorists can spend 18 to 36 months in surveillance of a potential target looking for vulnerabilities and patterns in security, said James Butts, deputy executive director of law enforcement for Los Angeles airports.

“If they choose you as a target, they are...

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Homeland Security Today: From Routine to Random

February 1, 2008

Security officials at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) are experimenting with what they hope might be a solution. Developed by Viterbi School of Engineering computer scientists at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USC), Calif., ARMOR aims to enhance security measures by making them totally unpredictable. The software works by taking all the available resources of an entire security system to create a completely randomized schedule for officials to follow. The system has been designed not only to provide as much cover as a conventional schedule but it will...

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