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Ganging Up on Internet Pirates
Wall Street Journal (07/08/11) Smith, Ethan; Fowler, Geoffrey A.
Several major film studios and record labels have partnered with a number of Internet service providers to create a system that aims to convince Web surfers not to illegally download copyrighted material. Under the system, known as the Copyright Alert System, contractors working for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America would use software to find users offering copyrighted materials on file-sharing services for others to download. These users' ISPs would then be sent a notice that includes information such as the individual's IP address and details about the file that is being shared. Participating ISPs, which include AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast, would then send users who are found to be illegally sharing copyrighted material warnings that could eventually result in their Internet connections being slowed. Some users who are found to be repeatedly offering copyrighted material for others to download could also be redirected to Web sites that include information about copyrights. Some of the participating ISPs refused to say whether they would eventually cut off the Internet access of repeat offenders, though Comcast explicitly said that it would not. The RIAA, meanwhile, left open the possibility that habitual file sharers could be sued. The introduction of the Copyright Alert System, which is expected to be operational at some ISPs later this year, comes as the illegal online sharing of films and TV shows is becoming a growing problem.
Workplace Violence Stats 'Seem Low'
TVNZ Interactive (New Zealand) (07/08/11)
A recent study conducted by Massey University in New Zealand indicates that a third of employees have suffered violence in the workplace. However, anti-occupational violence activists say that figure may be low because workplace violence can be psychological as well as physical. The Massey University survey identified 2,466 cases of workplace violence, a fifth of which involved physical injury. A total of 175 cases led to lost time and/or hospitalization while 572 lost working days were attributed to workplace violence. The health sector was found to have the highest rate of workplace violence, followed by agriculture. Employers need to take proactive steps to prevent workplace violence, experts say, including improved security or de-escalation training for workers.
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Says Client-Data CDs Lost
Wall Street Journal (07/07/11) Cummings, Jennifer Hoyt; Benoit, David
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney reports that two CDs containing personal information belonging to 34,000 investment clients was lost when the company mailed them to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Information on the CDs included names, addresses, account and tax identification numbers, income earned on the investments in 2010, and some clients' Social Security numbers. While the CDs were password protected, they were not encrypted. The package appeared to be intact when it reached the department, but the CDs had disappeared by the time they reached the intended recipient. Thus far, no criminal misuse of information on the CDs have been observed, and the company says it plans to offer credit-monitoring services to clients whose Social Security numbers were included on the CDs.
Scandal Grows in Britain Over Hacking of Girl's Cell
New York Times (07/06/11) Lyall, Sarah; Cowell, Alan
Allegations have emerged this week that reporters from the British tabloid News of the World hacked into the voicemail of a teenage girl who was kidnapped and killed in 2002. According to an attorney for the girl's family, the reporters intercepted messages left in the girl's voicemail and also deleted some of the messages after the mailbox filled up so that they could make room for more messages and listen to those. The attorney noted that these actions resulted in investigators believing that the girl was still alive. There are also allegations that News of the World reporters hacked into the voicemails of some of the families of the victims of the July 2005 London subway and bus bombings. Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of the News International, which owns News of the World, said that she planned to launch an investigation into the allegations of hacking but that she did not intend to resign her post. Brooks served as the editor of News of the World during the time in which the voicemail of the missing girl was allegedly hacked. Meanwhile, some are speculating that other British newspapers may have hacked the voicemails of others as well. Police are currently investigating murders, kidnaps, and assaults involving children since 2001 to uncover evidence of additional hackings.
Strauss-Kahn Charges 'to Be Dropped' in US
Agence France-Presse (07/05/11)
Sources say that prosecutors will drop all sex assault charges against former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn within the next two weeks. Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest on July 1 after the maid he is accused of raping in his New York City hotel suite last month was found to have lied to a grand jury. Sources say that it will be impossible to build a case against Strauss-Kahn that is based on the maid's testimony, given her lack of credibility. The defense has said that the maid leveled the accusations of rape against Strauss-Kahn because he did not pay her for the consensual sex they had in his hotel suite.
US Cities Cover Open Drinking Water Reservoirs
Associated Press (07/07/11)
The case of the Portland, Ore., man who recently urinated into an uncovered city reservoir has highlighted concerns about possible terrorist threats to the nation's drinking water. There are roughly 30 uncovered reservoirs across the country that contain drinking water, some of which are accessible to the public. Although water systems across the country have installed fences and surveillance cameras in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in an effort to protect their reservoirs, there is concern that terrorists could introduce a toxic chemical into a reservoir in an attempt to sicken or kill people. University of Maryland professor Gregory Baecher said in a 2004 paper that there are a number of toxins, bacteria, and viruses that terrorists could use to contaminate water systems, though he now says that such things could be diluted in the water. He added that attacking a water system may not be the easiest thing for terrorists to do, and that terrorists might be more inclined to attack an open building, which is a softer target than a water system. Meanwhile, water systems across the country are working to comply with rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2006 that ban the use of open reservoirs for storing treated drinking water, though those rules were developed more to counter the threat from certain parasites than to address the threat from terrorists.
Bomb Implants Emerge as Airline Terror Threat
Wall Street Journal (07/07/11) Johnson, Keith; Gorman, Siobhan
U.S. officials said Wednesday that they have intercepted intelligence that indicates that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is considering implanting explosive devices inside the bodies of would-be suicide bombers. Militants have also discussed which part of the body would be the best place to surgically implant an explosive device, though a U.S. counterterrorism official refused to say which area of the body they had settled on. However, security officials have said that an explosive device could be surgically implanted inside a person's abdomen, buttocks, or breasts. The device would be detonated by a inserting a syringe containing a chemical into the plastic bag used to hold the explosives. The Department of Homeland Security has not said that there is a specific plot involving surgically-implanted explosives, though security has already been beefed up at U.S. airports and overseas airports with flights to the U.S. Those security measures include additional questioning of passengers by security agents, said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nick Kimball. The full-body scanners that are in use at some airports are unable to detect surgically-implanted explosives.
Bulger Pleads Not Guilty Before Many Watchful Eyes
Boston Globe (07/07/11) Murphy, Shelley; Cramer, Maria
James "Whitey" Bulger appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to 32 counts of racketeering, extortion, money laundering, and weapons charges. The charges are related to crimes Bulger allegedly committed while running a Boston-based criminal enterprise, including the murders of 19 people. More than half of those murders were committed while Bulger was working as an informant for the FBI. Bulger was exposed as an FBI informant after he was warned by his handler at the bureau, John J. Connolly Jr., to go on the run before he was indicted on racketeering charges in 1995. That case has since been dropped so that prosecutors can focus on the murder charges against Bulger. After Bulger fled, his former associates then began working with investigators, helping them find secret graves. That cooperation led to another indictment in 2000 that accused Bulger of the 19 murders. Bulger's trial is likely to take a minimum of four weeks, during which time the government is expected to call between 30 and 40 witnesses. Bulger is expected to face life in prison if convicted. Meanwhile, an attorney for Bulger has said that his client does not suffer from Alzheimer's, despite claims by Bulger's neighbors in Santa Monica, Calif., where he was living when he was apprehended on June 22.
Terror Suspect Detained on Ship
Washington Post (07/06/11) P. A1 DeYoung, Karen; Miller, Greg; Jaffe, Greg
The Obama administration has announced the capture of Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who is believed to have provided material support to the Somali militant group al-Shabab and al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Warsame was taken into custody by U.S. officials on April 19 as he was traveling by boat with another individual from Yemen to Somalia. He was then interrogated secretly by military and intelligence officials for two months on board a U.S. Navy ship before law enforcement officials were brought in to question him so that he could be indicted. Warsame has since been flown to New York and has been indicted on federal terrorism charges. The case appears to be an attempt by the Obama administration to find a middle ground between its desire to put as many terrorism suspects as possible on trial in civilian courts and the Bush administration's approach of indefinitely detaining suspects in secret prisons. However, some experts on human rights and international law said that the Obama administration's efforts to find a middle ground do not go far enough, as the administration is at least partly returning to the Bush administration's practice of using the CIA's black site prisons. Some lawmakers have also criticized the Obama administration for notifying Congress of Wearisome's transfer to New York after the fact.
Mob Figure May Unearth Corruption of Lawmen
New York Times (07/01/11) Cooper, Michael; Oppel Jr., Richard A.
There is speculation that James "Whitey" Bulger could give investigators information about corruption at the FBI's Boston office as part of an effort to settle scores with the bureau now that he is back in custody. Robert Fitzpatrick, who served as an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office in the 1980s, said that there are a number of corrupt individuals in the FBI that Bulger could identify. Some of the corruption at the FBI's Boston office is already known. For example, John Connolly, the FBI agent who handled Bulger and his partner Stephen Flemmi, was convicted on charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice in 2002 in part for telling Bulger in the mid-1990s that he was about to be indicted. Connolly was also convicted of second-degree murder several years ago for telling Bulger in 1982 that a man was about to implicate him in a number of murders. Meanwhile, Connolly's supervisor, John Morris, has admitted to taking $7,000 in bribes from Bulger and Flemmi. Morris was not prosecuted for corruption because he agreed to cooperate with the government. Indeed, many of the allegedly corrupt FBI agents at the Boston office may not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has passed on most of the crimes that Bulger could tell investigators about. Many of the former FBI agents who worked in the FBI's Boston office are also retired or dead. Additionally, the government may be hesitant to revisit allegations of corruption by agents at the Boston office.
IG: Homeland Security System Flaws Stymie Ability to Secure Cyberspace
NextGov.com (07/07/11) Sternstein, Aliya
The Department of Homeland Security's assistant inspector general for information technology audits has released a report on an investigation that discovered security vulnerabilities in DHS systems that store information about vital U.S. networks. According to Frank W. Deffer, one of those systems, known as the Automated Critical Asset Management System (ACAMS), had a number of "significant" access and setup flaws. Among them were system configuration and account access control deficiencies that could put the system and the data it stores, known as protected critical infrastructure information (PCII), at risk of being accessed inappropriately, disclosed, or misused, Deffer wrote in his report. PCII includes security reviews of vital private and public sector networks and structures, not including federal networks and structures, that is voluntarily submitted by companies and local governments. Deffer's report also found that more than 80 percent of ACAMS users should have had their login accounts deactivated in compliance with DHS rules that such accounts be retired after 45 days of inactivity in order to prevent sensitive information from being accessed without authorization and to reduce the chances that the system would be misused. However, Deffer's report did say that DHS' outreach campaigns to raise awareness about cybersecurity issues and its efforts to swap tips with network operators around the world have been beneficial.
Hackers Expose Flaw in Apple iPad, iPhone Software
Reuters (07/07/11) Finkle, Jim
Code that can be used to modify Apple iOS through a process called jailbreaking also could be used to exploit a security flaw in the operating system, security experts say. Hackers could download code from the Web site jailbreakme.com and reverse engineer it to identify the security vulnerability in iOS and develop malware that could exploit the flaw within a period of several days. The malware could be embedded in a PDF document that could infect iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices—all of which run iOS—when the document is opened, says Websense's Patrik Runald. He says that after the device has been infected with malware, hackers could control it remotely and steal passwords, documents, and emails. Apple has said that it is aware of the problem and that it is working on a patch to correct the vulnerability.
Attacks Take Energy Labs Offline
Federal Computer Week (07/06/11) Jackson, William
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the Thomas Jefferson Laboratory National Accelerator Facility were targeted in a recent cyberattack. Officials became aware of the attack, which knocked the public Web sites of both Energy Department research facilities offline, on July 1. All network services were initially shut down at PNNL following the attack, although external and internal email and some intranet connections have since been restored. Officials at PNNL plan to keep external connections closed until the malicious code used in the attack can be isolated and removed, and until patches can be installed to protect the vulnerabilities that were exploited in the attack from being targeted again. It does not appear that any classified information was taken in the attack. Although officials have obtained some information about the nature of the attack and its source, it remains unclear exactly who carried out the breach. An Energy Department spokesman said no other facilities were attacked. However, the Battelle Memorial Institute, which manages PNNL and several other Energy Department facilities, also was targeted by a cyberattack on July 1. It remains unclear whether that attack is associated with the attacks on PNNL and the Jefferson Lab.
Hackers Select a New Target: Other Hackers
New York Times (07/05/11) Sengupta, Somini; Bilton, Nick
Rivalries and political and ideological differences are pushing hackers to attack other hackers. For example, a group of hackers known as the A-Team recently released private information, including the names, aliases, and addresses of members of the hacker group LulzSec. The A-Team also said in a posting that LulzSec's core members do not have the skills to do more than attack "the low-hanging fruit." The A-Team's actions were seen by some as an attempt to belittle the group and to help law enforcement track the hackers down. LulzSec has been a tempting target for other hacker groups as well, due to its flamboyant style and its attacks on the CIA, Sony, the Arizona state police, and others. A group known as the Web Ninjas, which maintains a blog known as LulzSec Exposed, has said that it plans to keep "doxing" the group until its members are locked up. Doxing is a slang term used by hackers to refer to unmasking the identity of a hacker. Hackers revealing the identities of other hackers may be the best way for law enforcement officials to shut these groups down, says Packet Clearing House's Bill Woodcock.
Fox Says Hackers Hit Twitter Feed
Wall Street Journal (07/05/11) Sherr, Ian
The Twitter feed for "Fox News Politics" was broken into by hackers on July 4, Fox News has said. After breaking into the Fox News Twitter feed, the hackers sent out fake messages to the feed's 37,500 followers that President Obama had been assassinated in an Iowa restaurant. Fox News was unable to correct the false reports for several hours because the hackers had changed the password for the Twitter account. Fox News has said that it is working with Twitter to determine how its account was broken into, and will also look into taking steps to ensure that such hacks do not take place again in the future. The U.S. Secret Service is also investigating the attack. Although no one has taken responsibility for the hack, the attack is thought to be the work of a group known as the Script Kiddies. The attack comes in the wake of a series of attacks by the hacker group Anonymous and LulzSec, another hacking group that has since split up. Those groups were responsible for stealing and releasing customer databases and sensitive company documents, as well as personal information about police officers in Arizona. The latter hack was part of a protest against Arizona's controversial immigration law.
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