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Workers End Standoff at South Korean Auto Plant
New York Times (08/06/09) Sang-Hun, Choe
The violent 77-day standoff between police and laid off workers at the Ssangyong Motor Co. plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, ended August 6 when the bankrupt automaker agreed to keep roughly half the jobs at the facility instead of eliminating them all as originally planned. Ssangyong also said that it would allow the majority of workers who participated in the protest at the factory to keep their jobs. In addition, members of management said they would not press criminal charges against roughly 100 union members who are suspected of inciting the violence. The agreement between Ssangyong and the union representing the workers came one day after a dramatic raid by South Korean police that ended with about 500 employees being cornered in a paint shop at the factory. The police also carried out raids on the plant earlier this week as part of an effort to end the standoff. Those raids turned violent when workers began throwing firebombs at police. Hundreds were injured in the incidents.
Hillary Clinton: Reporters 'Excited' to Come Home
Associated Press (08/05/09) Lee, Matthew
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced that the two journalists released from North Korea are "extremely excited" to be back in the United States. During a press conference in Nairobi, Clinton told reporters that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had spoken to journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. President Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of the two reporters who had been arrested along the country's border with China and sentenced to 12 years hard labor. President Clinton and the two journalists have now arrived in Los Angeles. Secretary of State Clinton also denounced rumors that her husband had apologized to North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il for the incident, or that he had discussed other security issues while in Pyongyang.
Four Killed in Pennsylvania Gym Shooting
Agence France Presse (08/04/09)
Four people were killed and 10 others were injured Tuesday night when a gunman walked into the LA Fitness Gym in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bridgeville, Pa., and opened fire with a handgun. According to witnesses, the shooting took place in a dance class that was being held at the gym for about 30 women. Witnesses say the gunman walked into the room where the class was being held, turned off the lights, and opened fire. Police believe that the gunman then took his own life to avoid being apprehended. It remains unclear what the shooter's motive was. Officials say a note was discovered in a gym bag the shooter was carrying, though they did not disclose its contents. In addition, witnesses say that the shooter said nothing during the incident.
Drug Giant is Targeted by Attacks
Wall Street Journal (08/05/09) P. A1; Whalen, Jeanne
Concerns are mounting that animal-rights groups are increasingly attacking drug companies and their employees for their involvement in animal research. The increased concerns come as authorities investigate several attacks on the Switzerland-based drug company Novartis AG and its CEO, Daniel Vasella. Among the attacks was a fire at Vasella's vacation home in Austria earlier this week. Austrian officials say that arson cannot be ruled out as a cause of the fire since fire accelerators were found at the scene. Witnesses, meanwhile, reported hearing an explosion before the fire. Austrian police say they are investigating the fire and do not have any suspects, though officials at Novartis have blamed animal-rights groups. Last month, the ashes of Vasella's mother were stolen from a cemetery in the Swiss village of Chur. Novartis has also blamed animal rights activists for that incident, since the words "Drop HLS [Huntingdon Life Sciences] Now" were found spray painted on Vasella's mother's gravestone. Huntingdon Life Sciences is a U.S. company that has long been targeted by animal rights activist. Novartis, however, says it has not done any work with HLS for several years. The animal rights group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty has denied any involvement in the attacks.
Bank Spy Scandal Widens
Wall Street Journal (08/03/09) Crawford, David; Karnitschnig, Matthew
The detective hired to spy on critics on Deutsche Bank AG reports that the bank may have intended to target as many as 20 people. Bernd Buhner says he received the list of names during a 2006 meeting with Deutsche Bank representatives. The bank had previously said that Buhner had been engaged to spy on just three or four individuals. They had also said that only members of the bank's corporate security department had been involved in the surveillance plans. However, Buhner also said that the meeting he attended included representatives from Deutsche's legal department. In response to Buhner's accusations, Deutsche has said that the list given to the detective was made up of individuals who might provide the bank with information on Michael Bohndorf, but were not meant to be under surveillance themselves. Buhner had been contracted to spy on Bohndorf following a shareholder's meeting in June 2006, when Bohndorf challenged the legitimacy of the banks' supervisory board chairman, Clemens Borsig.
Pakistan Taliban Chief Mehsud May Have Been Killed
Bloomberg (08/07/09) Sharif, Farhan; Rupert, James
Reports indicate that Pakistan's top Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud, may have been killed in a recent U.S. missile strike. Pakistan's government is currently in the process of trying to confirm these reports and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that he "cannot confirm it till we get solid evidence." However, Pakistani Foreign Minister Sha Mehmood Quereshi did confirm that the country's intelligence forces had reported Mehsud's death, but similar accounts have proven false at least twice in the past year. In those cases, Mehsud or a spokesperson called immediately to deny such accounts, there has been no denial yet this time. At least one missile struck the home of one of Mehsud's fathers-in-law before dawn on August 5. Accounts from the strike have yielded contradictory death tolls. One of Mehsud's rivals, has said that Mehsud was indeed killed in the attack and that the Taliban is now attempting to select a new leader. A senior U.S. official also said there was a "strong indication" that Mehsud was killed in the strike by unmanned CIA aircraft, adding that there was a "95 percent chance" he was among those killed in the raid. Earlier reports also indicate that Mehsud's wife had been killed.
Obama's Battle Against Terrorism To Go Beyond Bombs and Bullets
Washington Post (08/06/09) Hsu, Spencer S.; Warrick, Joby
The Obama Administration has announced that it will be releasing a comprehensive statement detailing its long-term strategy to combat global terrorism. President Barack Obama's senior counterterrorism advisor, John O. Brennan, said that the new strategy would combine continued "unrelenting" pressure on terrorist havens; such as the Afghan-Pakistani border, in Yemen, and in Somalia; with the sustained use of economic, diplomatic, and cultural strategies designed to diminish Islamic radicalization. Brennan indicates that an important part of this strategy will be to advance American ideals that promote political participation and economic development. "We are not saying that poverty causes terrorism, or disenfranchisement causes terrorism, but we cant' mistake there are certain phenomena that contribute to it," Brennan said. However, even though the Obama administration plans to soften U.S. rhetoric regarding terrorism, there appears to be no plans to cease attacks on suspected al-Qaida safe houses inside Pakistan's autonomous tribal region. Recent reports indicate that a missile apparently launched by a CIA Predator drone struck a house in Pakistan and killed a women identified as the wife of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud. Unmanned drones have struck targets in Pakistan at least 31 times in 2009, killing more than 360 people. Some Defense officials oppose these attacks because of concerns that they will fuel anti-Western sentiment in the area. While Brennan declined to comment on such operations he acknowledged that, "It's important to maintain the offensive against what are clearly terrorist training facilities and camps, and we're working closely with the Afghanistan and Pakistan governments to root out these facilities."
Australia Foils Terrorist Plot to Attack Army Base
Washington Post (08/04/09) Crosling, David
Australian police have arrested four Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese descent in connection with an alleged terrorist plot in the country. According to Australian Federal Police Acting Commissioner Tony Negus, the suspects--who are between the ages of 22 and 26 years old and are believed to have ties to the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab--were planning to storm an Australian military base and open fire on military personnel with automatic weapons. Negus added that the suspects were prepared to shoot as many people as they could before they were shot and killed themselves. Officials say the suspects were considering attacking several different military facilities, including Holsworthy Barracks, which is located on the outskirts of Sydney. The suspects are also believed to have carried out surveillance on other bases, though Negus refused to identify them. Police say that if the attack had been carried out, it could have been one of the worst terrorist attacks on Australian soil in the country's history.
Iran Says 3 Americans Arrested for Illegal Entry
Associated Press (08/04/09) Karimi, Nasser
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday appealed to Tehran to provide the U.S. with information about the whereabouts of three American citizens who were detained after crossing from Iraq into Iran. According to media reports, the three Americans--Shane Bauer, a freelance journalist and photographer, his girlfriend Sarah Shourd, and friend Joshua Fattal--were hiking along the poorly marked border between Iran and Iraq's Kurdistan region on July 31 when they accidentally crossed the frontier and were detained by Iranian border guards. Iran's state-run media, however, has said it doubts claims that the three were really hikers who got lost. "While BBC said they were mountain hikers, some Web sites say they were journalists," said a newscaster on the Iranian state news channel Khabar TV. "Since occupation of Iraq by the U.S.-led forces, American journalists in Iraq have traveled to neighboring countries illegally." But those who know Bauer say the doubt he intended to go Iran, since he does not speak Farsi and because he never expressed any interest in going to the country. Swiss diplomats are assisting the U.S. in its efforts to obtain details from the Iranians about the location of three Americans, since Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Tehran.
Military-Civilian Terror Prison Reportedly Eyed
Associated Press (08/03/09) Jakes, Lara
Several senior U.S. sources who spoke on condition of anonymity recently told the Associated Press that the Obama administration is considering bringing some terrorism detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the U.S. mainland. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are still being reviewed, one option being considered by the administration calls for creating a hybrid courtroom-prison facility at one of two locations: the soon-to-be-closed Standish maximum-security state prison in Michigan or the military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Military or criminal defendants would be tried at the court, which would eliminate the need to transport the defendants to other locations in the U.S. for trials. Under the plans, the Pentagon would oversee the detainees who would be tried in military tribunals, while the Bureau of Prisons would oversee defendants tried in federal courts. The plans also call for detainees who will not be tried but cannot be released to be held at the facility, along with detainees who have been released but have no where to go because no country is willing to take them. The plan is facing criticism from some, including Scott Silliman, the director of Duke University's Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security. Silliman said Congress would need to be involved in the plan because a lack of congressional involvement would simply create a new Guantanamo on the U.S. mainland. Some lawmakers from Michigan and Kansas also oppose the plans. However, several Democratic Michigan lawmakers have said they would support the plan so long as there is broad support among residents near the prison.
Russians Launched Twitter Attack to Hit Georgian Blogger Cyxymu
Times Online (United Kingdom) (08/07/09) Harvey, Mike
Facebook senior security executive Max Kelly told CNET News that Thursday's denial-of-service attack on Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal and Google may have been the work of Russian hackers. Kelly noted that the attack may have been an effort by the hackers to silence a pro-Georgian blogger who has accounts on all the sites. During the attack, which came almost one year to the day after the five-day war between Russia and Georgia, users of the micro-blogging site Twitter were unable to access the service for several hours. Facebook users, meanwhile, experienced delays in logging into the social networking site and in posting to their profiles. LiveJournal was also affected, while Google managed to fend off the attack. In addition to launching the denial of service attack, hackers also used a botnet to send out a large number of spam messages containing links to pages on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites written by the pro-Georgian blogger. Recipients were taken to the blogger's legitimate Web sites when they clicked on the links, though the process of loading pages for so many users overwhelmed servers and disrupted service at those sites. It remains unclear how the spam messages were related to the denial of service attack, though a Facebook spokesman said they could not have crashed sites on their own.
U.S. Marine Corps Bans Social Networking Sites
Business Week (08/04/09) King, Rachel
The United States Marine Corps. has banned access to social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. The Pentagon is also currently reviewing the social networking policy for the entire Department of Defense, which is expected to be completed by the end of September 2009. At this point, the Army does allow access to such sites at military bases. Security vendor, Sophos, have said that Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have all experienced attacks in 2009 that could cause sensitive information to be stolen from user's computers. Approximately 63 percent of 709 system administrators polled by Sophos also said that they were concerned about employees sharing too much information on the sites. The Sophos survey also showed that 21 percent of respondents had been a victim of targeted malware or phishing attacks that could lead them to reveal confidential information.
Top Cybersecurity Aide at White House Resigns
The Washington Post (08/04/09) P. A3; Nakashima, Ellen
Melissa E. Hathaway, the Obama administration's senior aide on cybersecurity, is stepping down from her role due to delays in the choosing of an administrator to lead the government's initiative to fortify the U.S.'s cyberinfrastructure. Hathaway, who was appointed by the Bush administration, had been a top choice for the cybersecurity coordinator job. But in an statement she said she was no longer applying for the job. "I wasn't willing to continue to wait any longer, because I'm not empowered right now to continue to drive the change," Hathaway said. "I've concluded that I can do more now from a different role," possibly working for a private company. Hathaway called President Obama out on his statement two months ago that he would hand pick a cybersecurity coordinator to spearhead the initiative. "We've made a lot of progress in the last 30 months that I've been in government, and now it's time to move on," Hathaway said. "It's up to the administration to take the next step." A former government official says the administration has interviewed 30 people for the job, and others have expressed frustration with the appointment's delays. The new cybersecurity coordinator will be responsible for developing a national cybersecurity strategy involving military, civilian, and intelligence agencies.
New DNS Vulnerability Has Organizations Scrambling
Government Computer News (08/04/09) Jackson, William
Organizations employing the BIND 9 DNS server are advised to update and fix their servers to patch a zero-day weakness that can permit remote hackers to carry out denial-of-service campaigns against them. The Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), which administers BIND, a popular open-source DNS server, revealed late in July that an exploit attack for the vulnerability is already making rounds, and can force servers running BIND 9 to stop working. Patching is non-negotiable, ISC urged when making the announcement. "Access controls will not provide an effective workaround," ISC warned. According to ISC, when many versions of BIND 9 are formatted as a principal server, the acceptance of a specially designed dynamic update message can push the server to its breaking point. "Testing indicates that the attack packet has to be formulated against a zone for which that machine is a master," the alert stated. "Launching the attack against slave zones does not trigger the assert" that precipitates the crash. "This vulnerability affects all servers that are masters for one or more zones--it is not limited to those that are configured to allow dynamic updates."
Net Attacks Triple in Two Years
Federal Times (08/03/09) Vol. 45, No. 22, P. 1; Carlstrom, Gregg
There were more than 18,000 cyberattacks on civilian federal agencies' computer networks last year—a number that is more than 250 percent higher than it was in 2006, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. However, the problem is likely worse, since the figures do not take into account attacks on Defense Department and intelligence agency networks, which are tracked by the Defense Information Systems Agency. In addition, federal agencies cannot monitor every intrusion on their networks. Nevertheless, experts say the data is a fairly representative sample of the cybersecurity threats facing the federal government. Among the most common threats are "improper usage" incidents, which include such things as copying sensitive information to a home computer or logging onto a secure government Web site from a device that is not secure. There were 3,762 such incidents in 2008, a 490 percent increase compared with 2006. Malicious code attacks, or attacks involving worms, viruses, and Trojans, rose roughly 50 percent between 2006 and 2008. Experts say that these and other common types of attack could be prevented if the federal government made several basic management changes, including centrally managing information technology systems, providing employees with better education and training, and implementing stricter access control.
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