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R. Allen Stanford Sentenced to 110 Years for Ponzi Scheme
Los Angeles Times (CA) (06/15/12) Hennessy-Fiske, Molly
A Texas financier many have called a "mini Madoff" was sentenced on Thursday to 110 years in prison for running a 20-year, $7 billion Ponzi scheme. R. Allen Stanford was found guilty in March on 13 fraud charges related to the scheme, which he is thought to have used to enrich himself to the tune of $7 billion. Stanford was quiet on Thursday as two of his former investors spoke against him and when Judge David Hittner read the sentence, but has been more vocal out of court, accusing the government of scapegoating him using "Gestapo tactics" and "dismembering" his business. While millions of dollars have been seized from Stanford's bank accounts, it is unlikely his former investors will see even a fraction of the money they invested with him returned.
Buffalo Hospital Shooting: Manhunt Continues for Surgeon After Home Search
ABC News (06/14/12) Esposito, Richard; Boettcher, Carlos; Wlach, Jennifer
Police are hunting for a decorated former Army Special Forces surgeon after he allegedly shot to death his ex-girlfriend at the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, N.Y. Witnesses say that Dr. Timothy V. Jorden, 49, shot his former girlfriend, 33-year-old nursing student Jackie Wisniewski, at the hospital around 8 am Wednesday morning. After Wisniewski was found dead in a covered passageway connecting two wings of the hospital campus, police converged on the medical center, locking it down until noon, when it became clear that the shooter was no longer on the premises. Police searched Jorden's apartment Wednesday night, apparently not finding the former career solider. Jorden, a 1996 graduate from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine, had served in the military for 18 years, during which time he received several medals and commendations. There is not yet a clear motive for the shooting, though officials report that Jorden was experiencing "emotional problems" leading up to Wednesday's incident.
NH Explores Drug Use by Hospital Employees in Major Hepatits C Outbreak
Bangor Daily News (Maine) (06/12/12) Haddadin, Jim
Health officials are investigating an outbreak of hepatitis C at a hospital in Exeter, N.H. Thus far 14 patients from the hospital's cardiac catheterization lab have been found to be infected out of a possible 879. Among the possible causes officials are investigating is the use of contaminated needles traceable to narcotics use by hospital staff. Though no evidence of such behavior has yet been shown and the outbreak may be the result of a more mundane lapse in the observance of hospital safety procedures, there have been high-profile cases of such behavior in recent memory. Last month a medical technician at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., confessed to having infected two patients with hepatitis C after they were treated using contaminated syringes he used to cover up his illegal use of hospital narcotics.
System Improves Automated Monitoring of Security Cameras
MIT News (06/05/12)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed a system that can analyze several surveillance cameras more accurately and in less time than it would take a human operator. The system, known as partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), uses mathematics to reach a compromise between accuracy and speed to enable security staff to act on an intrusion as quickly as possible. The system first conducts a learning phase, in which it assesses how each piece of software works in the type of setting in which it is being applied. The system then adds the information to its mathematical framework, which determines which of the available algorithms to run on the situation. "We plug all of the things we have learned into the POMDP framework, and it comes up with a policy that might tell you to start out with a skin analysis, for example, and then depending what you find out you might run an analysis to try to figure out who the person is, or use a tracking system to figure out where they are [in each frame]," says MIT's Christopher Amato. The system also can take context into account when analyzing a set of images.
Organized Retail Crime
Security Technology Executive (05/12) P. 30 Wren, Andrew
A recent wave of Organized Retail Crime (ORC), in which thieves stole large amounts of Tide laundry detergent from store shelves, cost retailers hundreds of thousands of dollars. All told, ORC is a multi-billion problem that could eventually target other products besides laundry detergent, including baby formula and razor blades. Items that are already popular among ORC rings include sought-after products that can easily be sold online, in pawn shops, in black market storefronts, and at flea markets, such as over-the-counter drugs, smoking cessation products, and DVDs. There are a number of things that retailers can do to fight back against ORC, including sharing information with law enforcement and other retailers about trends and anomalies in inventory. This can help identify geographic patterns in ORC thefts, the types of items that are being stolen, and what times of day criminals tend to carry out their thefts. Technology can also be helpful in preventing ORC. For example, fire exit doors with a delayed-opening mechanism can slow down criminals who are trying to push carts of stolen items out of the store. Public view monitors should also be used in aisles that contain popular products, like cosmetics, electronics, and baby formula. There are also low-tech approaches to fighting ORC, including performing regular walkthroughs of the store to identify anything that might be out of the ordinary.
Contractors Run U.S. Spying Missions in Africa
Washington Post (06/15/12) P. A1
The U.S. military's intelligence gathering operations in Africa, which are focused on finding members of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, have largely been outsourced to private contractors. Under the arrangement, contractors participating in the two operations that are focused on finding Kony and AQIM members supply their own aircraft, pilots, and other personnel. The aircraft used in the operations are Pilatus PC-12s, which are nondescript and do not arouse suspicion. The turboprop planes are outfitted with high-tech sensors, including sensors that can identify targets in darkness and under thick jungle canopy, and cameras that can spot people from 10 miles away. All of the equipment is placed on retractable mounting so that it can be concealed within an aircraft's body. Since the launch of the operation focused on finding Kony, which is known as Tusker Sand, the number of surveillance flights has gradually been ramped up. The use of contractors in the spying programs can be beneficial because they are less likely than uniformed troops to attract attention. In addition, using private contractors can allow the Pentagon to deny being involved in the operations, said Brookings Institution senior fellow Peter W. Singer. However, he noted that the Pentagon is rarely able to deny involvement when an operation that uses private contractors goes wrong, since the contractors either complain about being abandoned or they engage in some type of abuse and are not held accountable because of a lack of political will to address the situation and a lack of clear legal guidelines.
U.S. Expands Secret Intelligence Operations in Africa
Washington Post (06/14/12) Whitlock, Craig
Information contained in unclassified military reports, U.S. government contracting documents, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, and other sources indicates that the U.S. is expanding its efforts to conduct secret intelligence operations in Africa. Those operations are run out of the roughly 12 air bases that have been set up in a number of different African nations since 2007, including Burkina Faso, which was chosen because it is located near a region where al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is active. Most of the intelligence operations are conducted with manned single-engine aircraft that are equipped with video cameras, infrared sensors that can track heat patterns, and receivers that can pick up radio and cell phone signals. The planes that are based in Burkina Faso are flown north to Mali, Mauritania, and the Sahara desert, where pilots conduct surveillance to find members of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. Other surveillance flights are flown out of Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Seychelles. Some of those air bases, including the ones in the Seychelles, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, host Predator and Reaper drones that are used to attack militants in Yemen. Some U.S. officials believe that the surveillance operations are necessary to track terrorists in Africa. According to the foreign minister of Burkina Faso, the surveillance program there has been critical to efforts to contain al-Qaida fighters in the region. However, some State Department officials say that they are worried about the increased militarization of the nation's foreign policy in Africa. There is also concern that the presence of the U.S. in Africa could create a backlash among local populations, much as it has done in Yemen.
Senate Republicans Call for Special Prosecutor in White House Leaks Probe
Washington Post (06/13/12) Horwitz, Sari
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and several other GOP members of the Senate introduced a resolution on Tuesday that asks Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate alleged leaks by the White House. Those leaks are believed to involve national security information about U.S. military and intelligence operations being given to reporters. Among the military and intelligence operations that are at the center of the controversy is the foiled al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula terrorist plot that was reported on by the Associated Press, the expanded U.S. drone campaign in Yemen that was discussed in a number of articles in several different publications, and the so-called "kill lists" that President Obama approved before CIA drone attacks were carried. Stories about the "kill lists," as well as stories about the use of the Stuxnet virus against the Iranian nuclear program, were featured in the New York Times. The senators who supported the resolution said that a special counsel is necessary because the U.S. attorneys investigating the leaks work for the Justice Department and thus cannot be independent. In his remarks at a Senate Judiciary Committee before the passage of the resolution, Holder defended his decision to appoint the U.S. attorneys to head the investigation. Holder also said that he and FBI Director Robert Mueller have taken part in what he said were "serious" interviews about the alleged leaks.
Imported Fake IDs Fool Best Security
USA Today (06/11/12) P. A1 McAuliff, John
Security experts are concerned about the possibility of sophisticated fake IDs being used by terrorists. The fraudulent IDs, which are often sold over the Internet by companies in China and other countries, feature the same digital holograms that are used in legitimate forms of identification. In addition, the fake IDs are made with the same PVC plastic that is used to make credit cards, and they also feature special ink that is designed to be visible only under ultraviolet light. Those inclusion of those features in the IDs allows them to fool even trained professionals, said Andrew Meehan, a policy analyst for the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License. That could make it possible for terrorists to access a number of protected targets, including the aviation sector, experts say. Meehan said that the use of the fraudulent IDs also poses problems for immigration enforcement and employment verification. He added that the only way to deal with the problem of fake IDs from China is to either file a complaint with the World Trade Organization or make a request to the Chinese government that it takes steps to crackdown on the problem.
Al-Qaida Goes to the Bench, Seeks Next-Generation Leader
MSNBC (06/11/12) Windrem, Robert
There are a number of members of al-Qaida who could potentially take over for Abu Yahya al-Libi, the group's second-in-command who was killed in a drone attack in Pakistan last week. Among the potential replacements for al-Libi is a 46-year-old Egyptian named Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri, who also goes by the name Abd al-Aziz al-Masri. Although not much is known about al-Bakri, he is believed to be an expert on explosives and chemical weapons and is thought to have trained al-Qaida operatives as far back as the late 1990s. In addition, the National Counter Terrorism Center believes that al-Bakri is continuing to train al-Qaida terrorists and other extremists. Another possible replacement for al-Libi is 33-year-old Adam Gadahn, an American who also goes by the name Azzam al Amriki. Gadhan had previously served as a propagandist for al-Qaida, and is now thought to be more of a strategist. One American official who is familiar with counterterrorism strategy said that none of the possible replacements for al-Libi are as capable as he was, nor do they have the same profile or following in the extremist movement.
Microsoft Scrambles as It Patches 26 Bugs, Warns Users of Active Attacks
Computerworld (06/13/12) Keizer, Gregg
Microsoft has patched 26 flaws, including one 13-bug patch set that impacts all versions of Internet Explorer and which addressed a critical vulnerability that is already being exploited in the wild. The 26 vulnerabilities included 10 deemed critical, 14 that were important, and two that were considered moderate. Researchers almost unanimously cited MS12-037 as the Windows update users should download first, since Microsoft admitted that this patch affects IE8. Another update, MS12-036, patches just one flaw in the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), but researchers say the RDP bug was the most malicious. The vulnerability, which affects all versions of Windows, could be exploited by an attacker who simply sends specially written data packets to a system that is RDP-enabled. Microsoft patched a very similar RDP vulnerability in March, and analysts at the time said they were "spooked" by the bug and its potential as part of a network-attacking worm. Other security updates amended holes in the .Net framework, the company's Lync enterprise instant messaging product, Windows' kernel and kernel mode drivers, and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, an enterprise resource planning program. Microsoft also is currently investigating a critical unpatched flaw in all versions of Windows, in addition to Office 2003 and Office 2007, which is being exploited by hackers who trick users into visiting compromised Web sites. Microsoft's Angela Gunn urges users to run the free Fixit tool Microsoft made to block attacks aimed at IE users.
Hackers Claim to Steal 110,000 SSNs From Tenn. School System
Computerworld (06/13/12) Vijayan, Jaikumar
Spex Security, a previously unknown hacking group, claimed responsibility for a data breach of the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) in Tennessee, which may have exposed the names, Social Security numbers, and other personal information of roughly 110,000 people. According to CMCSS officials, the group later posted 14,500 of the compromised records online and has threatened to post more, and those affected include an unknown number of current and former CMCSS students and employees. A representative of the hacking group posted a message on Pastebin.com implying that CMCSS was warned about a possible attack, and that the breach was carried out to punish the U.S. government and the educational system for various offenses. CMCSS' Elise Shelton says the Clarksville Police Department informed them of the breach, which was confirmed on June 11. The site was taken down immediately and was still down as of June 13, and Shelton says investigators are still trying to figure out what happened and will put the site up again as soon as possible. CMCSS has contacted all of its current employees and about 31,400 enrolled students about the possible breach of their data, but Shelton says the real challenge will be notifying former students and employees and figuring out the full extent of the breach.
New Virtualization Vulnerability Allows Escape to Hypervisor Attacks
InformationWeek (06/13/12) Schwartz, Mathew J.
Bromium researcher Rafal Wojtczu has discovered a vulnerability in a number of different virtualization products. The security flaw exists on all systems running 64-bit Xen hypervisor running 64-bit para-virtualized guests on Intel CPUs. By exploiting this flaw, an attacker could obtain administrator rights in the hypervisor in order to run arbitrary code or access any account he wants. In Microsoft's Windows User Model Scheduler, for example, an attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can run arbitrary code in the kernel mode, thereby allowing him to install new software, view, alter, or delete data, or create new administrator accounts. Microsoft notes that the flaw exists in Intel x64-based versions of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows XP SP3, and Server 2003 SP 2. However, Microsoft says an attacker needs to obtain authentic logon credentials and successfully log on locally in order to exploit the flaw. As a result, remote or anonymous users cannot take advantage of the vulnerability to launch an attack. Microsoft has released a patch for the flaw, as have a number of other vendors and providers of virtualization products. Apple, Intel, and VMWare say their products do not contain the vulnerability, while Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and others have not yet confirmed whether their software is vulnerable.
Researchers Find Direct Link Between Flame, Stuxnet Malware
Computerworld (06/11/12) Keizer, Gregg
The Moscow-based cyber security team Kaspersky Lab says that it has found a direct link between the Flame and Stuxnet computer viruses. According to Kaspersky researchers, the two viruses appear to share some of their source code, which they say indicates that whoever developed them had to have worked together at some point. The Stuxnet virus was first discovered in 2010, but is believed to have been used to attack hardware for Iran’s nuclear program since June 2009. The Flame virus, on the other hand, was recently discovered and originated in at least 2010. However, Kaspersky says that the virus was created in 2008, perhaps earlier. Flame, unlike Stuxnet, is not believed to have been used for attack but for information gathering. Based on these findings, Kaspersky believes that Flame was actually a predecessor for Stuxnet, and that the teams that developed them then went their separate ways in 2010. They are not sure why the split occurred, but researchers speculate it was because the original version of Stuxnet relied on a Windows vulnerability patched by Microsoft several months after its creation, and the Stuxnet researchers did not want to jeopardize the Flame operation. Researchers from other security firms say that their findings back up Kaspersky’s conclusions. In fact, a report by Symantec indicated that Flame may have even been used to spy on Windows machines or networks that could be later attacked by Stuxnet.
LinkedIn Defends Reaction in Wake of Password Theft
Wall Street Journal (06/10/12) Raice, Shayndi; Worthen, Ben
Officials at LinkedIn are defending themselves and attempting to reassure users after the discovery last week that 6.5 million user passwords had been published in an online hacker forum. LinkedIn Director Vincente Silveira assured users in a blog post that the social networking site is working closely with the FBI and that an investigation had been launched immediately after the company learned of the breach. LinkedIn received a great deal of criticism in the wake of the password theft, including charges that its security was out of date and that it lacked a chief security officer. Silveira claims that the company had been working with its India-based technology center to update password security at the time of the theft, but this has yet to be confirmed. LinkedIn does not believe any user accounts have been breached as many of the passwords were encoded and did not appear with any corresponding user information. However, the breach has still prompted many to remind computer users of the need to change their passwords on a regular basis.
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