Terrorism

Talent, other experts fear bioterrorism as 9/11 anniversary approaches




The manifesto written by the man charged in the mass murder in Norway this summer listed a terrorist scenario far worse than his gun and bomb rampage: He referred 59 times to anthrax, which he described as "one of the most effective weapons."

Experts say it is unlikely that the suspect, Anders Breivik, had obtained anthrax or would know how to spread it if he did. But his obsession with the deadly bacterium underscored the widely held belief that terrorists are seeking to deploy biological weapons.

That belief prompted former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent, vice chairman of the national Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, to predict in 2008 that a terrorist attack by 2013 is "more likely than not" barring urgent action. The most likely form of attack, Talent and others concluded, would involve unleashing a biological agent such as anthrax.

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Talent says he's more concerned now about a terrorist attack than he was three years ago. He offered no mention of specific threats, but he cited the determination of various terrorist cells, including Yemeni extremists, as well as terrorist efforts in the past to recruit biologists



Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_5ff26ec9-f189-5b82-a4fc-cd74184d810a.html#ixzz1X1Xd9J7v

YEMEN: Airstrike kills terrorist Awlaki, military says

The Yemen military has announced that an airstrike has killed Anwar Awlaki, a radical U.S.-born cleric and prominent voice in an Al Qaeda affiliate that spread Islamic extremism across the Arabian Peninsula and was behind failed attempts to blow up American airplanes.

Details of the attack on Awlaki were sparse, but news of his death came as Washington was providing intelligence and predator drones to the Yemeni army to defeat Al Qaeda operatives in the country’s rugged mountains. Yemen media reported that Awlaki was targeted in an airstrike in the Marib region of northern Yemen.

A U.S. official in Washington with access to intelligence said the Obama administration has confirmed that Awlaki is dead. But the official would not say what role, if any, U.S. drones or missiles may have played in an attack that will likely set back Islamic militant networks, which have exploited Yemen’s political chaos by taking over villages and towns.

“The terrorist Anwar Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions,” read a text message released to journalists by the Defense Ministry.

The death would be the latest in a series of military operations worldwide that have targeted Al Qaeda leaders, including the killing of Osma bin Laden in Pakistan by U.S. forces in May. The pressure on the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has intensified as the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have sought to contain several hundred militants, most from Yemen and Saudi Arabia, from launching cross-border attacks.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/09/yemen-airstrike-kills-terrorist-awlaki-military-says.html

so the world is a better place? uhhh....not feelin it

CIA agent whos services are not required

Stuxnet Clone 'Duqu': The Hydrogen Bomb of Cyberwarfare?


If the Stuxnet virus was the atom bomb of cyberwarfare, then the discovery this week of the "Duqu" virus is the hydrogen bomb, security experts are warning.

It is the second major weaponized virus to turn computers into lethal weapons with devastating destructive power.

The new program, discovered by Symantec on Tuesday with the help of an unnamed research lab, uses much of the same code as the 2010 Stuxnet virus did. But instead of destroying the systems it infects, Duqu secretly penetrates them and, according to some experts, creates “back door” vulnerabilities that can be exploited to destroy the networks at any time its creators may choose.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/19/stuxnet-clone-duqu-hydrogen-bomb-cyberwarfare/#ixzz1bI1iPNl3

hmmmm

New cyber weapon detected in Europe - from the 'authors' of Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's nuclear plant


snip
Symantec says that the detection of Duqu does not mean that the danger is over.

'The threat was highly targeted toward a limited number of organizations for their specific assets,' said the security firm in a statement. 'However, it’s possible that other attacks are being conducted against other organizations in a similar manner with currently undetected variants.'

snip
Duqu is designed to gather data from industrial control system manufacturers to make it easier to launch an attack in the future by capturing information including keystrokes.
"The attackers are looking for information such as design documents that could help them mount a future attack on an industrial control facility,' Symantec said.

The Stuxnet attack on Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant - a computer 'worm' specifically written to attack industrial control systems - was proof that the software in many industrial plants was vulnerable to attack.
Since then, there has been increased interest in the idea - both from researchers, and from potential attackers.
U.S. officials and others long have feared that future wars will include cyber assaults on the industries and economies of adversaries, and the potential targets include power plants, pipelines and air traffic control systems.

In a 2007 test at the Idaho National Laboratory, government hackers were able to break into the control system running a large diesel generator, causing it to self-destruct.

Before the test, he said, the notion of cyber warfare 'was mainly smoke and mirrors. But the Aurora tests showed that, you know what? We have a new kind of weapon.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2050805/New-cyber-weapon-detected-Europe-authors-Stuxnet-worm.html#ixzz1bI3oXAmw

a market crash is expected....is this the big surprise?

duqu!

Exclusive: NSA helps banks battle hackers

The National Security Agency, a secretive arm of the U.S. military, has begun providing Wall Street banks with intelligence on foreign hackers, a sign of growing fears of financial sabotage.

The assistance from the agency that conducts electronic spying overseas is part of an effort by American banks and other financial firms to get help from the U.S. military and private defense contractors to fend off cyber attacks, according to interviews with U.S. officials, security experts and defense industry executives.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also warned banks of particular threats amid concerns that hackers could potentially exploit security vulnerabilities to wreak havoc across global markets and cause economic mayhem.

While government and private sector security sources are reluctant to discuss specific lines of investigations, they paint worst-case scenarios of hackers ensconcing themselves inside a bank's network to disable trading systems for stocks, bonds and currencies, trigger flash crashes, initiate large transfers of funds or turn off all ATM machines.

It is unclear if hackers have ever been close to producing anything as dire, but the FBI says it has already helped banks avert several major cyber attacks by helping identify network vulnerabilities.

snip
Hemanshu Nigam, a former federal prosecutor and cyber security expert, said enemy states could launch a cyber assault when their targets were particularly vulnerable. This could be during a major crisis, such as the financial crisis in 2008, the euro zone crisis now, or at the time of a key event such as the U.S. loss of its triple-A credit rating this summer.

Investors are already worried about how quickly markets can meltdown, as trading is almost completely electronic and reliant on hair-trigger software. The Dow Jones industrial average crashed nearly 700 points in about five minutes on May 6, 2010, an unprecedented plunge that regulators said was exacerbated by algorithmic trading, panic and vacuums of liquidity.

"What you're seeing is something that can cause a global tidal wave," said the cybersecurity expert Nigam, who had worked for News Corp and Microsoft Corp.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/27/us-cybersecurity-banks-idUSTRE79P5E020111027

This will be the next crisis! you have been warned. Note Napa was a hit, legatus was a bust and USCCB in novemeber is to be watched.

on it

cyber!!

Loss of Life in Major Computer Attack, Warns Homeland Security


Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said today that a major computer attack against critical U.S. infrastructure could result in a loss of life and massive economic damages.

“The network intrusion that shuts down the nation’s critical infrastructure .. . could cause loss of life but also a huge economic loss.” Napolitano said at a cybersecurity event sponsored by the Washington Post. “We’ve seen attempts on Wall Street, transportation systems, things of those sorts.”

Cybersecurity experts have long warned that hackers could target electrical grids and power plants, which could affect hospitals and water treatment plants.

Napolitano also said DHS offices had been probed in computer intrusions by hackers attempting to infiltrate the department’s systems, although Napolitano declined to comment on the specifics of the intrusions or specify if the intrusions had specifically targeted her office.

Napolitano discussed a wide range of computer security issues at the event and urged Congress to push forward with cybersecurity legislation that the White House proposed had in May. Despite the partisan rancor that often comes from Congress, Napolitano said she hoped the legislation could gain strong bipartisan support.

“Cyber attacks are increasing in frequency, in complexity and in consequence,” Napolitano said. “In [fiscal year] 2011 alone, our U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, CERT, responded to more than 100,000 incident reports and released more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts and information products.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/loss-of-life-in-major-computer-attack-warns-homeland-security/

more cybersecurity...lol, fear mongering much. I do believe that a false flag cyber attack could be in our future. The EAS test on Nov 9 was the first clue. Don't panic, stock up on water and flash lights. All will be ok. They want to take away our privacy...huh, like we have any left.

U.S. blames China, Russia for cyber espionage

China and Russia are using cyber espionage to steal U.S. trade and technology secrets to bolster their own economic development, which poses a threat to U.S. prosperity and security, a U.S. intelligence report said on Thursday.

So much sensitive information and research is on computer networks that foreign intruders can collect massive amounts of data quickly and with little risk because they are difficult to detect, according to the report to Congress titled "Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace."

Foreign intelligence services, corporations and individuals increased their efforts to steal U.S. technologies which cost millions of dollars to develop, according to a report by the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a U.S. government agency. The report covers 2009-2011.

"The nations of China and Russia, through their intelligence services and through their corporations, are attacking our research and development," National Counterintelligence Executive Robert Bryant said.

"That's a serious issue because if we fuel their economies on our information, I don't think that's right," he said at a news conference.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/03/us-usa-cyber-china-idUSTRE7A23FX20111103

hmmm technology transfer disguise?

Security Expert Warns of Cyber World War


leading Internet security expert warned Tuesday that a cyber terrorist attack with "catastrophic consequences" looked increasingly likely in a world already in a state of near cyber war.

Speaking outside a global conference on Internet security in London, Eugene Kaspersky, a Russian math genius, told Sky News the threat was a real and present danger.

"I don't want to speak about it. I don't even want to think about it," he said. "But we are close, very close, to cyber terrorism. Perhaps already the criminals have sold their skills to the terrorists -- and then ... oh, God."


Kaspersky, who founded an Internet security empire with a global reach, said he believed that cyber terrorism was the biggest immediate threat confronting nations as diverse as China and the U.S.

"There is already cyber espionage, cyber crime and hacktivisim [when activists attack networks for political ends] -- soon we will be facing cyber terrorism," he said.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, talking at the London Cyber Conference, added to the growing chorus of world leaders sounding the cyber alarm.

"We are here because international cyber security is a real and pressing concern," he said. "Let us be frank. Every day we see attempts on an industrial scale to steal government secrets -- information of interest to nation states, not just commercial organizations.

"Highly sophisticated techniques are being employed ... These are attacks on our national interest. They are unacceptable."



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/01/expert-at-london-internet-security-conference-warns-cyber-war/#ixzz1cwWQ9Hoy

cyber war!

Milwaukee Red Cross Told To Prep For Chicago Evacuation During NATO Summit
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/04/25/milwaukee-red-cross-told-to-prep-for-chicago-evacuation-during-nato-summit/

CHICAGO (CBS) – Is there a secret plan to evacuate some residents of Chicago in the event of major trouble during the NATO summit next month? CBS 2 has uncovered some evidence that there is. It comes from the Milwaukee area branch of the American Red Cross.

CBS 2 News has obtained a copy of a Red Cross e-mail sent to volunteers in the Milwaukee area.

Homeland Security To Test Biological Sensors In MBTA Tunnels
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/04/30/homeland-security-to-test-biological-sensors-in-mbta-tunnels/#.T5_tvsKLbYQ.facebook

BOSTON (CBS) – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be releasing bacteria into the MBTA tunnels to test the safety of the subway.

The DHS has installed sensors in the MBTA system to detect biological agents and they’ve been testing to see how the air moves.

Now they want to release particles in the tunnels to see how well the sensors work.

NYPD Raids Activists’ Homes Before May Day Protests
http://gawker.com/5906500/

A day before Occupy Wall Street hopes to shut down New York and cities across the country in massive May Day protests, the NYPD visited at least three activist homes in New York and interrogated residents about plans for tomorrow's protest.

All eyes on Miami Beach this Memorial Day weekend

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/28/v-fullstory/2778395/all-eyes-on-miami-beach-this-memorial.html

Chicago is already under martial law. Now this..going to be an interesting summer.