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"Scorn Trails AIG Executives, Even in Their Driveways"
New York Times (03/20/09) ; Barron, James James Haas, an AIG executive who was nicknamed "Jackpot Jimmy" by a New York tabloid, complains about the "complete invasion of privacy," he and other AIG employees are enduring. "You have to understand," he says, "there are kids involved, there have been death threats." Private security guards have been stationed outside the houses of AIG executives, and sometimes the local police drive by. AIG employees at the company's office tower in Lower Manhattan were told to avoid leaving the building while a demonstration was going on outside. The memo also advised them to avoid displaying company-issued ID cards when they left the office and to abandon tote bags or other items with the AIG logo. Employees from other firms in the news are also seeking protection. The Connecticut Working Families party, which has support from organized labor, is planning a bus tour of AIG executives' homes on March 21, with a stop at the company's Wilton, Conn., office. New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo says that AIG have handed over a list with the names of the bonus recipients, but he did not release the list. "We are aware of the security concerns of AIG employees," Cuomo said in a statement, "and we will be sensitive to those issues by doing a risk assessment before releasing any individual's name." An executive at Merrill Lynch, where bonuses have also come under fire, reports that some employees have asked whether the firm would cover the cost of private security for them. Scott Silvestri, a spokesman for Bank of America, which bought Merrill in December, said in a statement, "The safety and security of our associates is paramount, and we will always take the appropriate steps." Several security companies in New York credit the financial crisis with a noticeable increase in some areas of their business, from protecting executives to dispatching bomb-sniffing dogs to check for trouble.
(go to web site) "U.S. Says Union Pacific Trains Move Drugs Across Border"
Wall Street Journal (03/19/09) ; Millman, Joel Court filings and evidence submitted in a dispute between Union Pacific and U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that the Omaha, Neb.-based railroad company has been accused of transporting illegal drugs--mostly marijuana--on board trains it leased coming in from Mexico on 58 occasions since late 2001. The filings also show that the U.S. government has fined Union Pacific just under $38 million for transporting the drugs. Union Pacific has contested the fines in U.S. district court in Omaha. In addition to contesting the fines, Union Pacific also said that it does not control train cars coming into the U.S. from Mexico until after they cross the border and are inspected by U.S. customs agents. As a result, Union Pacific should not be held responsible for what is put on the trains while they are in Mexico, the company said. It also noted that it has taken steps to stop drug shipments, including alerting U.S. drug agents and assisting them in their efforts to seize drugs.
(go to web site) "Gang Initiation Murder at Walmart? It's a Hoax, Police Say"
Orlando Sentinel (FL) (03/19/09) ; Jacobson, Susan Police in Central Florida say that viral e-mails and text messages that warn that gang members planned to kill as many as six people in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart somewhere in the state this week are a hoax. According to police, there were several versions of the message being circulated. One version said three women would be killed, while others said the victims would be three men. Some versions also said that the murders would take place at a Target store. No violence had been reported at any of the stores as of Thursday. Authorities believe the messages may have originated in the Memphis, Tenn., area in 2005.
(go to web site) "Amazon Faces Suit Over Kindle Device"
Wall Street Journal (03/18/09) ; Schechner, Sam; Fowler, Geoffrey A. The cable programmer Discovery Communications has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon.com in U.S. District Court in Delaware. In its lawsuit, Discovery claims that it owns a patent for "an electronic book security and copyright protection system" that is used in Amazon's Kindle electronic-book reader. The technology is also used in other e-book readers, but Discovery opted to only sue Amazon because of the popularity of its Kindle device. "The Kindle and Kindle 2 are important and popular content delivery systems," Discovery general counsel Joseph A. LaSala Jr. said in a statement. "We believe they infringe our intellectual property rights, and that we are entitled to fair compensation." Discovery is seeking triple damages as well as a "continuing royalty" on the Kindle system. Amazon has not commented on the lawsuit.
(go to web site) "Armed at the Workplace?"
KTRK-TV (Houston) (03/18/09) ; Abrahams, Tom The Texas state Senate is considering a bill that would allow workers who hold a concealed handgun license to keep firearms in their vehicles while at work. The state House is considering an identical bill. The legislation is opposed by a groups such as Texans for Gun Safety, which says that allowing workers to keep guns in their cars could result in more workplace shootings. "We feel that if a gun was available to someone who might have an altercation inside the workplace, that would give them such an opportunity to go in and show them how they feel in that particular moment, as opposed to if you had your gun at home," said Texans for Gun Safety's Tommie Garza. "You may take off in a rage, but by the time you got home, it would have given you time to cool off." Supporters of the legislation, however, say it would make gun owners feel safer while at work.
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"U.S. Outlines Approach to Pakistan Amid Political Turmoil"
Wall Street Journal (03/20/09) ; Solomon, Jay; Gorman, Siobhan The unannounced arrival of Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta to Islamabad this week marks the beginning of a new course the U.S. intelligence agency and the White House is charting in Pakistan. to address recent political unrest in the region. The trip aims to address recent political unrest in the region that has left Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's presidency weakened. Senior U.S. officials are concerned about the long-term prospects of Zardari's presidency and whether his successor will be as amenable to U.S. missile strikes targeting militants in the country as the current government has been. Zardari's recent decision to reinstate Pakistan's former Supreme Court chief justice and petition for the court to consider removing a ban on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, who along with Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani have criticized U.S. missile strikes, have left the Obama administration is concerned. Any fallout in Pakistani politics would pose a threat to U.S. interests, warns one senior U.S. official working on South Asia.
(go to web site) "Case Against Gun-Store Owner Dismissed"
Wall Street Journal (03/20/09) ; Millman, Joel Maricopa County (Ariz.) Superior Court Judge Robert Gottsfield has dismissed 21 criminal counts against gun store owner George Iknadosian, who was accused of allowing front men to purchase more than 700 high-powered rifles that they intended to deliver to Mexico's drug cartels. According to prosecutors, Iknadosian tried to get around restrictions that prevent non-U.S. citizens from buying weapons and Mexican civilians from possessing guns by falsifying forms that attested that the firearms were for the personal use of a number of Arizona residents. Several of the front men, known as straw buyers, testified in the case, saying that they did indeed intend to sell the weapons to customers in Mexico. However, Judge Gottsfield said that the evidence presented against Iknadosian was not "material" because it did not show that falsifying government forms "resulted in an unlawful person ending up with the guns." In addition, Judge Gottsfield noted that the testimony of the straw buyers did not establish that any additional illegal conduct occurred. The Arizona Attorney General's office has said it disagrees with Judge Gottsfield's ruling, and is deciding how to respond.
(go to web site) "Guantanamo Detainees May Be Released in U.S."
Wall Street Journal (03/19/09) ; Perez, Evan During a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said that some of the roughly 250 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility may be released into the U.S. while the administration tries to convince allies to take in some of the prisoners. However, Holder noted that administration officials are still reviewing the cases of the detainees to determine who will be put on trial and who will be released. Among the issues that still need to be resolved regarding the detainees is the fate of 17 ethnic Uighurs from the Central Asian region of China. A judge has ordered the men to be released, but the U.S. has refused to hand them over to China because Beijing considers them to be members of a separatist group. Holder's announcement comes on the heels of a meeting earlier this week with European justice ministers, who said that they wanted details on how many detainees the U.S. planned to take in to be included in any agreement on how many prisoners they would accept. Holder has said that U.S. officials would work to provide European justice ministers with those details.
(go to web site) "U.S. Weighs Taliban Strike Into Pakistan"
New York Times (03/18/09) P. A1 ; Sanger, David E.; Schmitt, Eric Senior Obama administration officials are discussing the prospect of expanding the covert war on terror in Pakistan to an area of the country where top Taliban leaders are believed to be coordinating attacks into the southern the tip of Afghanistan. National security advisers to President Obama are recommending that U.S. operations move beyond the known tribal areas in Pakistan to and around the city of Quetta in Baluchistan, a major gathering place for insurgents. Up until now the missile strikes conducted by Central Intelligence Agency-operated drones have been restricted to tribal areas. However, military advisers say attacks need to be expanded to Baluchistan, where Mullah Muhammad Omar, who headed the Taliban government in Afghanistan before the U.S.-led invasion expelled him from power in 2001, has operated without resistance since. "It is fair to say that there is wide agreement to sustain and continue these covert programs," said one unidentified senior administration official. "One of the foundations on which the recommendations to the president will be based is that we've got to sustain the disruption of the safe havens."
(go to web site) "Unspent Funds for Train Safety, Security Make N.J. Lawmakers Furious"
NJ.com (03/16/09) Congressional lawmakers recently expressed their outrage over the fact that only a modicum of the millions of dollars in grant money raised to upgrade train security and safety has been used. Records show that since 2006, only 8.2 million of $127.8 million was used to make the NJ Transit, Amtrak and other U.S. rail systems safe. Again in 2007, Congress appropriated $262.9 million for grants for security, but records released by the House Appropriations committee reveal that less than 4 percent, or $9.8 million of the funds, has been spent. New Jersey Rep. Steven Rothman and other congressional lawmakers say officials at the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency need to be held accountable. "Heads should roll," Rothman says. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) laments that $1.3 billion of $1.5 billion raised for mass transit security grant programs since 9/11 has been "languishing in coffers." Lawmakers have ordered the TSA and FEMA to write a report explaining why it has taken so long for the agencies to spend the money.
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"Computer Experts Unite to Hunt Worm"
New York Times (03/19/09) P. A15 ; Markoff, John Computer security experts and ICANN are battling the author of the Conflicker botnet to prevent the malware program from causing further disruption on the Internet. Since first appearing late last year, Conflicker has spread rapidly, infecting millions of computers and creating a powerful botnet. Conflicker's author has updated the program several times in response to efforts to shut it down. An examination of Conflicker found that infected computers are programmed to try to contact a control system for instructions on April 1. Speculation over the nature of Conflicker's threat has ranged from a wake-up call to a devastating attack. Researchers working on disassembling the Conflicker code have not been able to determine where the author, or authors, are located, or whether the program is maintained by one person or a group. The consensus is that the Conflicker botnet will ultimately be sold as a computing-for-hire scheme. Several experts who have analyzed various versions of the malware say that Conflicker's authors have been monitoring the efforts to restrict the malicious program, and have repeatedly demonstrated that their skills are at the cutting edge of computer technology. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Paul Bresson says the bureau is aware of the worm and is working with security companies to address the problem. A report from SRI International says the latest version of Conflicker, Conflicker C, represents a major rewrite of the software that makes it far more difficult to block communication with the program, but also gives it the ability to disable many commercial antivirus programs and Microsoft's security update features.
(go to web site) "Website-Infecting Attacks Spike to 450,000 a Day"
USA Today (03/17/09) P. 1B ; Acohido, Byron The number of SQL injection attacks, in which hackers target the database layer of Web sites in an effort to create botnets and steal sensitive data such as log-ons and account numbers, is on the rise. IBM Internet Security Services (ISS) has reported that it helped large companies block approximately 5,000 SQL attacks a day during the first five months of 2008. By October, that number exceeded 450,000 a day. In addition, IBM ISS found that there were 50 percent more Web pages that had been the targets of SQL injection attacks during the last quarter of 2008 than there were in all of 2007. Experts attribute the increase to the move away from manual SQL injection attacks and toward automated attacks. Security experts are warning users to protect themselves from such attacks by updating their Web browsers and any related applications, such as Adobe Reader, iTunes, and QuickTime. Experts note that most users currently do not install these updates.
(go to web site) "Malware Attack Uses Geo-Location to Lure Victims"
eWeek (03/17/09) ; Prince, Brian The Waledac botnet tricks email users by redirecting them to rogue news sites that describe terrorist activities occurring locally. Sites controlled by this botnet employ geo-locating so that a user believes the events are happening nearby, and then invite the user to click on an infected video link to find out more information. These spam messages often include subject lines such as "Why did it happen in your city?", followed by a link purporting to be a Reuters page. "We have seen spam--or, more accurately, the Web sites that spam leads you to--doing geo-location before, but I can't at the moment think of previous occasions when it's been used as part of the trap to infect you with malware," says Sophos' Graham Cluley. The worm then lifts email addresses from infected computers and uses them to send more spam attacks, converting infected computers into bots in the process, Cluley says.
(go to web site) "Analyst: Security Elusive in the 'Cloud'"
Security Focus (03/16/09) ; Lemos, Robert Guaranteeing the safety of Internet-based services not possible at this point, compliance expert Michael Dahn told attendees at the recent SOURCE Boston symposium. Dahn, who founded the Society of Payment Security Professionals, told listeners that while cloud services are strong in ensuring business continuity, they are not yet evolved enough to provide 100 percent protection for data. "This is no different than any other type of outsourcing we do," Dahn said. "You just have to realize that you cannot outsource responsibility." Security regulations that were not necessarily written for cloud service providers are still difficult to contend with. Dahn offered the example of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which requires that "only one primary function [exist] per server." Cloud security is possible but unlikely, he concluded.
(go to web site) "Many See Privacy on Web as Big Issue, Survey Says"
New York Times (03/16/09) P. B5 ; Clifford, Stephanie More than 90 percent of U.S. citizens polled in a recent TRUSTe survey said that online privacy is a "really" or "somewhat" important issue, and just 28 percent said they were comfortable with advertisers using behavioral targeting; more than half of respondents said they were not. More than 75 percent of respondents agreed that the Internet is not well regulated, and said that naive users are at risk. In February, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revised its suggestions for behavioral targeting rules for the advertising industry, including that Web sites should disclose when they are participating in behavioral advertising and ask users for permission to use their browsing history. FTC commissioner Jon Leibowitz warns that intervention will be needed if the industry does not respond to the new suggested regulations. "Put simply, this could be the last clear chance to show that self-regulation can--and will--effectively protect consumers' privacy," Leibowitz says. More than half of the respondents in the survey said the government should be "wholly" or "very" responsible for protecting individuals' online privacy, although 75 percent of respondents also said that people should be wholly or very responsible for protecting their own privacy.
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