SDS tests system for identifying “hostile intent” In a trial, the Cogito system identified 85% of role-playing terrorists attempting to blow up a civilian airliner. Amnon Barzilai Israeli start-up Suspect Detection Systems Ltd. (SDS), based in Ramat Hahayal, Tel Aviv, has developed a system for identifying hostile intent by terrorists on the basis of their patterns of behavior, called Cogito. The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has financed a trial of system, which identified 85% of role-playing terrorists attempting to blow up a civilian airliner. SDS plans to conduct a similar test at an Israeli transit point with the Palestinian Authority along the Green Line. The Cogito system assumes that all members of a terrorist organization have a common factor: fear of being caught. On the basis of this assumption, SDS developed a system to identify people suspected of belong to a terrorist organization using the biometrics of skin conductivity and the ability to measure sweat and salts excreted by the body. When suspects are identified on the basis of their behavior, they are sent for more thorough questioning by better trained security personnel. An automated questionnaire is used at this stage, in which suspects have to answer 15-20 questions on a screen in their mother tongues. This test takes 3-5 minutes, after which a print-out is made and the suspects are sent for third-level and more probing questioning. “The Wall Street Journal” today wrote about the Israeli device and on a test in which the system attempted to “ferret US officials who were carrying out carefully constructed but make-believe terrorist missions.” The paper went on to say, “In the latest Israeli trial, the system caught 85% of the role-acting terrorists.” SDS is owned by co-founders CEO Shabtai Shoval and methodology counselor Ishayau (Sigi) Horowitz. The company’s team includes former members of the General Security Services, and a director is former Mossad director Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amiram Levin. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006