US Customs: No Key West-Cuba flights for now
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has denied Key West International Airport’s request to accommodate passenger air service to and from Cuba.The denial, dated May 25, cites the airport’s lack of proper inspection facilities and appropriate or sufficient federal personnel.
When President Barack Obama eased some restrictions on American travel to Cuba early this year, it raised hopes in Key West that charter flights might soon be able to travel the 90 miles between the two islands. Customs’ decision on the March 22 request temporarily dashed those hopes.
But county Airports Director Peter Horton told the County Commission on Wednesday that he’s confident upgrades planned at the airport will clear the path for flights if the long-standing embargo is lifted.
Horton said the airport is working on the first phase, a $250,000 project to improve security.
He declined to offer specifics, citing security.
Once that work is completed, the airport can expedite a two-phase revamp of the security and Customs facilities to the east of the old terminal. That would double the agency’s square footage and create a larger screening and processing area.
That project’s cost is an estimated $2 million, which will come from federal and state aviation funds and passenger facility charges. The funding is not in place yet, but Horton said Customs’ rejection should help speed it along. Horton said the project will be completed “as quickly as Customs will approve our plans.”
Miami-based C&T Charters was one operator interested in providing service to Cuba, but Horton said owner John H. Cabanas is fine with a delay because he wouldn’t be ready to offer the service for six months to a year.
Cabanas, whose company already flies to Cuba from Miami International Airport, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. Current Key West carrier Cape Air expressed interest initially, Horton said, but once it saw the paperwork involved, the company decided to hold off while there’s still an embargo.
Horton said airport facilities are not the only issue.
He said the Customs office, which is also responsible for processing incoming cruise ships, does not have enough staff to handle international commercial aviation, particularly if cruise and airline schedules would overlap.
Gregory McCann, acting director of field operations with the Customs and Border Protection office in Miami, did not return a request for comment by press time.
Security On Cruise Ships - News
He said the Customs office, which is also responsible for processing incoming cruise ships, does not have enough staff to handle international commercial aviation, particularly if cruise and airline schedules would overlap.
When I was in sixth grade, my family took a vacation on a 965-foot Royal Caribbean cruise liner, and I decided I wanted to drive big ships like that when I grew up. When I saw the guys jumping on and off our ship at all the ports, I thought that looked
Smith acknowledged security might be one area of concern in terms of using the Navy facility. But he said there have been about four instances already in the past five years where cruise ships were allowed access, and there are procedures in place.
In return, the local vehicles must comply with requirements from tour operators and be maintained to international safety standards as set out in the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. Tour companies are now obliged to give local taxis
It also has the capacity to handle at least two mega ships concurrently. Upon completion, the components of this state-of-the-art facility will include a terminal building, which houses customs, immigration and port security. Other areas will include
Protexx Security Audit Cracks Cruise Lines SSL and WEP Security ...
Deerfield Beach, FL (PRWEB) October 24, 2006
In a real-life version of Sneakers, the management of Radisson/Regent Cruise Lines asked Protexx, Inc. to perform a security audit on their ship’s network. During a 3-day cruise the Protexx team cracked the ships hard wired and WEP security, retrieved a million packets of information, and proved that the same vulnerabilities existed on the ship’s satellite communications.
Protexx then enabled its bulletproof security solution for Wi-Fi data transmission — 2,048-bit encryption â and demonstrated that it provides unparalleled security even under the most adverse conditions in international waters during a storm. Protexx has since been enlisted to provide a single source proposal to remedy the ship’s vulnerabilities.
“Sensitive information traveling over any Wi-Fi connection â including email on cruise ships â can be easily intercepted,” says Bill Tabor, Protexx, Inc. Chief Technical Officer. He adds, “Reading these intercepts generally isn’t difficult because the most commonly used Internet encryption system, 128-bit SSL and many 256-bit systems, can be cracked and read with freeware.”
He adds, “Most people, even when they’re having fun on a cruise, don’t realize how incredibly vulnerable their data is when it’s moving over Wi-Fi. The only practical solutions are either to not use communications media that can be intercepted or is to make communications invisible with a very high level of encryption.”
To protect sensitive data as it travels over Wi-Fi links, Protexx Inc. has created a fully portable encryption system that can be used from any computer at any Internet access point, provided the user is a Protexx subscriber. The only requirement is the user log into the Protexx server. The Protexx server software performs an authentication handshake with the pre-installed software on the user’s computer. The computer and the Protexx server exchange public encryption keys, and this initializes a 2,048-bit encryption system with a rotating key.
From the first handshake, all communication between the user’s computer and the Protexx server is secure. The user can then transmit and receive data from any Internet location, knowing that the Wi-Fi link is now safe from spying.
Security On Cruise Ships - Bookshelf
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