I’ve been stalling on kicking off this blog (or re-kicking it off) for a few weeks because I couldn’t decide what topic (and there are several) was the one I wanted to start this blog with. I finally decided that I should start in the same place we all started – as newborn babies.

My wife and I welcomed our first child into the world a few weeks ago. During our hospital stay, we were informed that each baby was equipped with an electronic device which would set off an alarm should the baby be removed from the postpartum floor. If that happened this entire wing of the hospital would be shut down (doors locked, elevators halted), and security would arrive. We were warned about this mostly in the context of a warning not to accidentally wander outside the confines of the postpartum floor, however I wanted to know more. I was informed that they did test the security regularly with drills (imagine that!) and that yes, there was a reason for all this. I of course wanted to test their security myself, but my wife, a woman whose common sense far outstrips my own, prevented me from doing so. (In retrospect, this was probably for the better). I also noted that a small electronic device which looked an awful lot like an RFID device was attached to the baby’s umbilical stump. (Probably smart, because bracelets and ankle bracelets can always be cut or otherwise removed. The umbilical stump cannot be removed without considerably more work).

More research reveals that my experience was not unique, and that the security is not based on fabricated fears. The national center for missing and exploited children reports that there have been 248 infant abductions in the past 25 years, and 121 of them have been from hospitals. While this seems like an extremely low number, (and a surprisingly large number of them are recovered, even before the advent of this technology), I have a feeling that hospitals have found this to be relatively inexpensive given that they probably have most of their infrastructure in place, and the potential loss is incalculable. (Until the lawyers show up that is).

As for the technology, there are evidently two types:

The first is an anti-theft device similar to what clothing stores use. The second, more reliable choice is a radio-frequency transmitter that sends a continuous stream of information to a computer at a nurses station. Once that is removed or cut, an alarm sounds.

(You can bet I like the later system better).

This is apparently also being deployed overseas.

When I first started my website, I bought this domain with the intention of it being an information security focused site. I initially wanted to stay anonymous, using only my first name on the site, and I even kept the content outside of the blog updated for the first few months. (This is when I was in grad school and had the time). The blog ended up being more personal than I originally intended, the content updates lapsed, and since only my friends were reading it, anonymity became an afterthought. When I was getting married a few years ago I pointed the web domain www.elias-bachrach.com (which I had previously only used for email forwarding), at my site and created a wedding directory. This way I could have wedding related content on the www.elias-bachrach.com domain. The unforseen consequence of this was that I had now merged my personal website and what was initially supposed to be my professional one. That problem has now been rectified. Over at www.elias-bachrach.com I have a family webpage replete with pictures and have moved the blog over. This site will become what it was originally supposed to be – a site focused on information security. I probably still won’t be updating the content any time soon, but I will at least have the blog.

All the web design work (except for some details) are done. I’ve updated the DNS entries for elias-bachrach.com, and as soon as it propagates across the internet, you’ll see the site switch over. This blog here will essentially be starting over from scratch with this post.